When should true-crime ties shut a project down?
the true crime that's worth your time
I know I’m not the only person who shudders at the Miramax logo as it rolls before a movie or TV show — I think one of you even noted that a Project Runway rewatch was marred by the specter of Harvey Weinstein floating above it all. In other cases, though, it’s a harder thing to get past (think Robert Blake being a creep in Lost Highway just a few years before he allegedly shot and killed his wife, for example). And I suspect that few people are catching up on Billy Jensen’s podcast work these days, for obvious reasons.
It’s stuff that distracts us from the program at hand, through no fault of most of the folks (we assume/hope!) who made the TV show, film or podcast. But what about projects that have yet to be released, but are already under a cloud? At what point does their relationship to a crime or ongoing investigation mean executives should put it on the shelf?
Sarah and I started talking about this as we grappled with how to cover The Flash star Ezra Miller, who is facing a multitude of criminal allegations, including an arrest earlier this week for allegedly stealing a couple of bottles of booze from a Vermont home.
Most of the claims against Miller are fairly benign when taken on their own — compare the booze theft allegation, for example, to the wild bar fight during the making of Domestic Disturbance that ended with stab wounds for actor Steve Buscemi, while Vince Vaughn got a faceful of mace. Filming and release of that movie went forward, no problem.
One can hope that by June 23, 2023, The Flash’s oft-bumped release date, Miller will have received the help they need and their alleged string of criminal behavior will be in the past. That’s likely what its studio is hoping. But calls for The Flash to be shelved are growing ever-louder.
Then there’s Rust. As recently as May, its producers said that they expected to resume production once the investigation into the fatal on-set shooting of Halyna Hutchins is complete. My first reaction to that news was “nope, no thanks” but I also love the movie The Crow, so…
I can tell when we have a good discussion thread idea when I find myself switching sides as I write it, so I feel great about this one! So here’s the question: at what point should a project be shelved — or even removed from circulation! — due to its relationship with a criminal case. Is there a line? If so, where is it? — EB