Rebel Wilson is facing a new lawsuit over her embattled directorial debut, The Deb, with one of the production companies involved claiming she “deliberately undermined” the film’s release, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
The new suit filed in Australia was brought by AI films, a U.K.-based production company that owns the rights to The Deb alongside Wilson’s Camp Sugar. It’s the latest salvo in a legal battle that kicked off last summer when Wilson accused a group of producers on The Deb — Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden — of “bad behavior,” including embezzlement and sexually harassing the film’s lead actress, Charlotte MacInnes.
Ghost, Cameron, and Holden have denied these allegations and sued Wilson for defamation in the U.S. MacInnes has rebuffed Wilson’s claims about her, too.
AI Films, which is Holden’s company, is now accusing Wilson of sabotaging the film’s release in Australia by spreading false information online and breaching her contractual duties.
For instance, it claimed that Wilson “threatened” the film’s Australian distributor by telling them she would get “an injunction to prevent its release,” even though her contract “plainly prevented her from obtaining an injunction.” Nevertheless, the lawsuit said, “As a result of that threat, the Australian distributor withdrew its proposal to distribute the film.”
The AI Films suit also alleged that the statements Wilson made about the producers and MacInnes were intended to hinder The Deb’s release. The complaint reiterated MacInnes’ denial, quoting her as saying, “Making false accusations undermines real victims and I won’t be the subject of a fabricated narrative.”
Along with trying to block The Deb’s release, AI Films suggested that Wilson may have been trying to undermine the value of The Deb and pressure AI Films and another production company (the Australian firm Dunburn Debutantes Commissioning Company) into selling their stakes to Camp Sugar (via The Guardian).
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“These proceedings are regrettable but essential to ensure The Deb’s timely release,” AI Films said in a statement. “It’s a joyous, fun film, and we are sure that audiences are going to love it.”
MacInnes also released a new statement, saying, “I love this film and I can’t wait for it to be released. It would be wonderful if these proceedings can help make that happen.”
Wilson, for her part, rebuked the new suit in a lengthy statement on her Instagram Stories. “I want nothing more than to have this film released and have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get this to happen,” she wrote. “To say otherwise is complete nonsense.”
She continued: “In opinion this is continued bullying and harassment from U.K. financiers of the project Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden after I exposed their dodgy behavior. They tried to prevent the film from premiering there (they lost) and now they’ve tried to stop the film being released because of a baseless US lawsuit and now a further Australian one.”
Wilson then proceeded to share a previously unreleased song from The Deb, called “Fuck My Life,” writing, “If these f**kwits aren’t going to release the movie I may as well. And every day since discovering their dodgy behavior (reported by cast and crew) I have said ‘F**k my life’ but not in the fun way like in the song — in the way of like ‘how on earth did my joyful directorial debut get shat on by vile financiers who spew toxicity ALL because I told the truth about them.’”
Wilson’s lawyers in the U.S. did not immediately return a request for comment.
While The Deb did premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, it has yet to secure a wide release.
From Rolling Stone US
