We all know by now that Scott Rudin is a nightmare boss who allegedly abused his underlings both physically and emotionally. And given what we read in those hacked Sony emails from way back when (2014 might as well have been last century. Oh wait.) we know he ain’t got respect for any-damn-body. And apparently, that includes Rita Wilson. BEFORE Chet Hanks really started wilding out! According to People, Rita says that Scott went out of his way to find a legal way to fire her from a Broadway play after she revealed she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Rita told the New York Times that Scott was the type of person who makes people feel “worthless, unvaluable and replaceable” making it crystal clear that Scott never got the chance to hear Rita rap!
In 2015, Rita was working with Scott on the Larry David play Fish in The Dark on Broadway when she was diagnosed with breast cancer for which she ultimately endured a bilateral mastectomy. People reports:
Wilson told the Times that after Rudin learned about her diagnosis, “he complained that she would need time off during Tony voting season and asked to see her medical records, while Anna Shapiro, the director, grew upset about having to find a replacement.”
“A few days later, just before the curtains rose, Ms. Wilson received a call from her agent, saying her surgeon needed to call the insurance adjuster immediately, per Mr. Rudin’s demands,” the publication continued to recount on Wilson’s behalf. “The memory still pains her.”
Wilson claimed Rudin’s actions were meant to scare and bully her. “I felt like he was trying to find a way to fire me legally,” the actress told the Times. “He is the kind of person who makes someone feel worthless, unvaluable and replaceable.”
Scott sure does put the Rude in Rudin! People says a rep for Rudin claims he was merely looking out for Rita as if she needed his input on what to do about her own damn titties.
Rick Miramontez, a spokesman for Rudin, told the publication that “his recollection was that Ms. Wilson had wanted to open the show and then leave, but that he and the director had not wanted her to delay treatment.”
After the Hollywood Reporter exposé came out (and a detailed follow-up by Vulture, not to mention this scathing letter from long-time collaborator Michael Chabon), Scott announced he was “stepping back” from his Broadway projects. Now, Scott is also taking a break from his film projects as well.
“I am stepping back from my film and streaming projects in addition to my work on Broadway,” Rudin said in a statement on Tuesday obtained by Deadline. “I am doing so to take the time to work on personal issues I should have long ago. When I commented over the weekend, I was focused on Broadway reopening successfully and not wanting my previous behavior to detract from everyone’s efforts to return. It’s clear to me I should take the same path in film and streaming.”
Rudin added, “I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior has caused and I take this step with a commitment to grow and change.”
I think at this point the only project anybody is ever going to want to see with Scott Rudin’s name on it is going to be Christian Bale’s inevitable Oscar-winning transformation for the film Give My Regards: The Scott Rudin Story which will, of course, eventually become a hit Broadway musical, probably produced by Scott himself because we will have learned absolutely nothing.
Pic: Wenn.com
