The day The Predator was due to premiere at Toronto International Film Festival news broke via the LA Times that weeks earlier 20th Century Fox had ordered the removal of a small scene starring Steven Wilder Striegel due to the discovery that he was a convicted and registered sex offender.
Striegel played a jogger who hit on Olivia Munn’s character, Casey Brackett. According to the report it was a minor three page role and he shared screen-time exclusively with Munn. At the time she wasn’t aware of Striegel’s past but she later discovered that Striegel was a registered sex offender, convicted of grooming a teenage girl.
Munn went to 20th Century Fox with the information, resulting in the last minute order to remove Striegel’s scene from the film. Fox issued the following statement to the LA Times:
“Our studio was not aware of Mr. Striegel’s background when he was hired,” a Fox spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors.”
Initially Shane Black defended the casting of Striegel, who had been friends for 5 years prior to the conviction, but following the LA Times article and the details it contained within about the specifics of Striegel’s offences, Black issued a second statement to The Hollywood Reporter condemning Striegel and apologising for the casting:
But after reading the Times‘ report, which quoted email correspondences between Striegel and the minor, among other details, Black released another statement where he condemned his friend and apologized.
“Having read this morning’s news reports, it has sadly become clear to me that I was misled by a friend I really wanted to believe was telling me the truth when he described the circumstances of his conviction. I believe strongly in giving people second chances — but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped.”
Black continued: “After learning more about the affidavit, transcripts and additional details surrounding Steve Striegel’s sentence, I am deeply disappointed in myself. I apologize to all of those, past and present, I’ve let down by having Steve around them without giving them a voice in the decision.”
According to Variety, following this news, Shane Black skipped the red carpet at Toronto International Film Festival entirely and Olivia Munn didn’t take interviews, only stopping for photos. You can also see videos of some of the other cast members weighing in on the situation at Variety.
“The Predator” director Shane Black skipped the red carpet in its entirety for the Toronto Film Festival premiere of the Fox film after news broke Thursday that he cast his friend, Steven Wilder Striegel, a registered sex offender, in the film without the cast and crew’s knowledge.
Star Olivia Munn, who appeared opposite Striegel in his only scene, which was cut from the film, did not give interviews on the red carpet, though she did pose for pictures. Munn tweeted shortly before the premiere that she was only continuing to do press because she was contractually obligated and because she and the crew had worked hard on the film.
We believe this to be the shooting of the scene in question.
Olivia Munn has also been tweeting about the casting and her still being on the promotion tour despite the displeasure she seems to be expressing towards Shane Black:
I’m contractually obligated. And from what I’m experiencing, I think they’d prefer I not show up. It would make everyone breathe easier. Also, I worked really hard on this film, as did the rest of the cast and crew. Now that the scene is deleted I think audiences will love it. https://t.co/6MZxb4NZfT
— om (@oliviamunn) 7 September 2018
In addition to this statement, the @latimes also reported that Wilder said Shane was “aware of the facts” of his arrest. He made a “personal choice” to continually work with a convicted sex offender, but I didn’t have a choice. That decision was made for me. And that’s not okay. https://t.co/AHAyV19tJq
— om (@oliviamunn) 6 September 2018
These @latimes excerpts from the arrest affidavit are beyond disturbing and completely contradict Wilder’s version of how he was convicted. https://t.co/QZcGxV7JU9
— om (@oliviamunn) 6 September 2018
The #MeToo movement called out abusers. But they’re not the only ones in the wrong. Those who know about abuse and not only do nothing but continue to put abusers in positions of power are complicit. https://t.co/QngLCk9fzj
— om (@oliviamunn) 6 September 2018
Thank you to everyone who has been emailing in regarding the developments of this disturbing situation.
The first 40 minutes of the movie were not totally bad but it was already very noticeable the awful editing with lots of missing stuff.
This is actually a good point. Put him in a scene with a Pred dog....Munn may not have an issue. I can see how she's not comfortable with the scene. Black was tone deaf on that, that's on him.
Munn tho better wake up and be consistent tho. Her employers are the same thing she's standing against, minus the legality trail to their names.
Oh he definitely should. He can clean the bathrooms at some arctic station that's staffed by 3 or 4 large men with IBS. His pay would simply be room and board. They could set him up in a nice little shed out near the perimeter.
The timing was perfect for maximising publicity around the issue as evidenced by the continued press coverage. That certainly has helped the victim according to her own words. And if the movie bombs because a convicted sex offender was knowingly hired (which, let's face it, this was never going to make money), then good. Great in fact. What better way to send a message. As the old saying goes, money is the only language Hollywood understands and this will certainly make some studios think twice.
Ok, i thought he was convicted one time, but he wasn't. Thanks for clarifying that.
None of that would even be possible if the studio had done their due diligence. If safeguards were put in place to where offenders couldn't be involved, then there would be no financial risk to anyone right now. I think Shane knew everything. I don't see how he couldn't. But the studio should've planned for something like this. I'm not sure if any innocent person's career is in jeopardy though.
And frankly, if the movie bombs, I think it will be mostly because it sucks.
My opinion still stands though, the timing was shit. It's no help for the victim or any other campaign for this movie to bomb because of controversy, and threaten careers and employments from people who were out of control of this situation.
She can do this decision for herself, but she did it for the rest of the cast, no matter how good a service she did to the victim or the metoo or any other campaign, that is wrong, and that's the only thing i'm and others are criticising.
What she did was right, how she did it was plain revanchist, and i don't agree with that.
And i have the right to say that, it's my opinion.
Sure the issue could have been dealt with quietly, but this way at least sends a message to the rest of Hollywood that there are people who won't stand for it anymore. To deal with the issue quietly changes little and to approach it with willful silence is to allow it to continue. Not to mention there's the victim's response, who has publicly thanked Olivia Munn for speaking up on the issue, her experience and validating her.
She said she's angry for not having a choice... but she's got no problem trashing her entire cast with this too.
Nope, not working for me.
There are people out there that are heroes, going up and speaking up about abuse, even having experienced it by themselfes, getting attention on the back of a big studio movie for this is not brave, it's hypocritical. She would have been 100 times more a heroe if she would have come out with this in a month from now, she still would have done the right thing and letting people have their dime = Everyone is a winner.
There is nothing to protest against here, the scene got cut, the movie is not a problem anymore and she still felt the need to come out one day before the release, what did she think would happen? That people buy more tickets now?
Ask Boyd Holbrook what he feels like not getting a lead role in a major studio movie anymore because her co-star sank him and his movie over a long closed case that got solved internal long before the movie got released.
Nope, still not working.
people in positions of authority hiring their friends in bad judgment.
Is ultimately more important than how financially successful The Predator, or the Predator franchise is.
This could have been solved in a great way that made everyone a winner (besides Black of course), the movie, the studio and Munn, i think she's really... not the smartest person for doing it this way.
Thanks Hicks, I've had a hard time keeping up with all the threads lately
The article doesn't mention Black later said he didn't know the actual details of the crime until this all came out and appologised for it.
Vanity Fair: Jake Busey Wishes Olivia Munn Had Waited to Speak Up About Predator Sex Offender.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/09/the-predator-olivia-munn-sex-offender-scandal-jake-busey
Beat me to it lol
She may legitimately not have known about the Singer allegations; as far as I know, they were only allegations (ie: not full-on guilty verdict as in this case) and only came out after the movie had been released. In this case, the guy's guilt was a matter of public record AND mirrored the character he played in the movie exactly. It's a slightly different animal, though I can see where you're coming from.
Who is socially acceptable with casting / making Hollywood movies?
Steven Wilder Striegel pleaded guilty to two felonies in 2010 for which he served six months in jail. That's public record.
After this, Wilder was cast in several films including "Iron Man 3".
* In the past it was believed, once a person had served their time, then they could work again. With a registered sex offender, a job was possible as long as children were not involved in the work setting.
- But it seems with Hollywood films, that is no longer true. What is being implied in the reactions to this scandal is that Wilder should never work in movies again.
* Olivia Munn's complaint is that she was not fully informed of Wilder's background while filming "The Predator". True.
But Munn's issue was eventually addressed by the filmmakers.
- Because Wilder's scene was cut from "The Predator".
- Still Munn wanted to expose Shane Black and the producers in the media for what they did (which led to Black's public apology).
She has received a lot of support for her actions.
- Still, that brings up another implied message, that a person who has served time should be black listed from the Hollywood film industry.
* I don't make a judgement if this is right or wrong. The general public will decide over time.
The Hollywood film industry with politicians & political organizations black listed multiple film makers in the 1950s for far left views.
A claim of national security was made then and several people who promoted the 50s black list never apologized for it.
- Black lists are always possible for who is allowed to make Hollywood movies.
Oh ok !
By the way, did anyone saw anything about Munn speaking on Bryan Singer's bad deeds on the same subject ? I saw nothing, and have trouble imagining she doesn't know about it.
Not a man, but thanks!
No problem man ! Mac loves a little fun arguing sometimes !
yeah collider is pretty much scum never liked them and never will.
I guess I'm saying that, whether the scene is gone or not, the stink of this controversy is still gonna hang over the film, but I take your point. We'll just have to agree to disagree about the rest, as I suspect we're coming at it from different directions entirely.
But the scene was cut in The Predator, so that's different. What would they have wanted ? Just one timid sex joke through the entire film for them to not be offended ?
I maintain that our era is definitely more punishing towards men making sex comments about women, yes, totally. 30 or 40 years ago you totally could do more than now, be more provocative in this direction, no doubt about it.
Oh, spare me. We live at a time where Family Guy can joke about rape on a major network and NOT cause a riot - any given episode of that, or South Park, or just about anything else on TV has content on it that would've landed someone in jail in the 50's. I'm sick to death of people whining about how no one can say anything when we live in what is - content-wise - the least restrictive mass media landscape ever.
EDIT: I hope this doesn't come off as overly aggressive; I'm not snapping at you so much as the argument.
SUPER-DUPER EDIT: I think we got side-tracked here. My point was more about the Collider guys than anything; of course they're gonna be thinking of this situation during the movie. I mean, if you watch Moonwalker, the scene where Michael Jackson is chasing two children through a meadow laughing is gonna come off fairly differently to how the director intended. 'Sall I'm saying.
This is a fan board, what are we going to talk about? The thing we are a fan of.
No laws were broken, this whole thing is about one actress letting everyone know she got a scene cut out then she went around complaining people weren't talking to her about this during premiere week. Who wants to talk about her personal decision during premiere week? And let's not forget this was done months ago, saying that she has to speak, this and that, but why didn't she do it when it happened?
PS-yes, PR-wise this was a bad idea from Black.
A lot of people in today's society.
Shane Black hired a pedophile, Olivia Munn spoke out, and the victim of said pedophile has publicly thanked her for doing so; that's what happened. Period. If Fox and Black hadn't tried to brush it under the rug when it happened, maybe it wouldn't have exploded the way it has, but they did, and so here we are. Movies aren't made in a vacuum. The idea that this situation isn't going to color people's perceptions of the movie (which, let's remember, is called "The Predator"), particularly where dirty jokes are concerned... I mean, honestly, who's being "easily offended" here?
Like i said a few page earlier, Predator franchise is done if it's going to Disney. The best bet is it being sold off to Legendary.
Disney torpedoed GotG, which is a way more profitable franchise, they are not going to have any issue letting this one die.
They even said there were too many swears, well it's a Shane Black joint, what did you expect ? Intellectual masturbation lol ?
Spoiler
https://canoe.com/entertainment/celebrity/shane-black-gets-emotional-apologizing-to-olivia-munn-over-predator-controversy
There's no stopping what can't be stopped.
This is dread, mon, very dread.
Very true, you couldn't time it any better if you were rooting for this film to fail. Even I am hardly in the mood to see it this Friday knowing everything behind the scenes - and this has been my most anticipated movie since it was announced in 2014 😅
The franchise ended when they didn't have Arnie starring in this. It would have been huge.
He kind of shot himself in the foot, unfortunately, it ricocheted and hit the predator franchise. I just fail to believe that he didn't know the full scope of what that guy did. If you are arrested and serve freakin' time for a crime involving a child, odds are you didn't just blow kisses in their direction. Friend or not, keeping a guy with that kind of record around was a mess waiting to happen. And here we are.
Shane should have let Munn know though so she could decide and, obviously, she would have made the better call. She is not the villain here but neither are her costars who are receiving a lot of negativity even after voicing their support for her. It's all really aggravating and no doubt this movie and probably the series will suffer for it but that may not be the bigger issue here either.
I agree with you overall. But we can admit Shane Black messed up casting his "friend" many times in hollywood movies... I mean how naive is he to keep doing that, despite knowing this industry very well, and having to keep in mind this could happen anytime ? It happened now, well, that sucks.