Bryan Singer May Get Paid $10 Million To Direct ‘Red Sonja,’ Despite Years of Sexual Assault Allegations
Today marks one year since the Harvey Weinstein allegations broke in the New York Times‘ initial exposé, effectively kicking the #MeToo movement into full motion in Hollywood. But of course, living in the world we live in, the one year anniversary of an industry finally beginning to listen to survivors of sexual assault brings news that one accused abuser is getting a heft million-dollar payday.
Bryan Singer is one of the few men who has somehow emerged out of the #MeToo movement seemingly unscathed and welcomed back to Hollywood with open arms. Just as Louis C.K. returned a month ago, the director behind the X-Men franchise is trying to make a comeback despite numerous allegations of rape and abuse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Singer is negotiating a fee of up to $10 million to direct a female-led comic book movie. Turns out, a powerful white man in Hollywood can be accused of raping multiple men and still, a year into #MeToo, it’ll have no effect on his career!
Last month we heard Singer was in talks to direct an adaptation of Red Sonja, a comic book about “female empowerment” that follows a young woman exacting revenge on her rapists. Yup, definitely a great idea to hand a project like that to a man accused of rape. To make this even more abysmal, the production company behind Red Sonja, Millennium Films, faced a sexual harassment lawsuit last year. The company was accused of “foster[ing] a culture that was demeaning towards actresses and female employees,” according to Variety. An alleged abuser directing a movie about a survivor of sexual assault produced by a company accused of harassment; yup awesome great. #MeToo has really made a difference, huh?
In case you’ve forgotten, the accusations against Singer aren’t anything new, but date back to 1997. Back then, a 14-year-old extra on the set of Singer’s film Apt Pupil filed a lawsuit claiming the director ordered him and other minors to strip naked for a shower scene. In 2014, an actor named Michael Egan III claimed the director drugged and sexually assaulted him on multiple occasions in 1999. And last December, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman filed a lawsuit against Singer, accusing the director of raping Sanchez-Guzman when he was 17 years old and threatening to ruin his career at the time if he spoke of the incident.
But like I said, Singer isn’t the only accused figure in Hollywood who still manages to have some sense of a career. Beyond C.K.’s attempt at a return, good ol’ Roman Polanski recently announced a new movie. What’s next? A new Woody Allen film starring C.K., Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Jeffrey Tambor as they go on European vacation? Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised.