It appears that both Brett Ratner and Warner Bros. tried to get the information out about their separation. Brett Ratner, who was the subject of a sexual harrasment story earlier this week with allegations brought against him by six women, including actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn as well as two actress from the set of Rush Hour 2, said he is “stepping away” from Warner Bros. where he has long has been a producer on the lot. But as soon as he sent out the statement, sources familiar with the situation inside the studio sent out a statement noting that as of right now, Ratner no longer has an office on the Warner Bros.’ lot. He has since been moved off the Goldfinch project, and his first-look deal with Warner Bros. will not be renewed.
RatPac and Dune Entertainment have been fueling Warner Bros.’ slate — the goal of the deal was to encompass 75 films, and the films so far have included Gravity, The LEGO Movie, Annabelle, American Sniper, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice, The Conjuring 2, Lights Out, Suicide Squad, The LEGO Batman Movie, Kong: Skull Island, Wonder Woman, Justice League and It.
While Ratner started RatPac with James Packer, the latter exited after a bad run at Warner Bros, and was replaced by Len Blavatnik. The RatPac deal became a passive slate financing deal and that will play itself out through March of next year. However, it is suspected that if the company continued under Blavatnik, the deal could be extended but all that remains to be seen. For the time being, it’s clear that Ratner is now toxic to Warner Bros.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story, The Los Angeles Times expose begins with Henstridge’s allegation: She was a 19-year-old fashion model and he a music video director in his 20s when, after a small party of friends at his New York apartment, Ratner prevented Henstridge from leaving, forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
“He strong-armed me in a real way,” the Species actress says in the Times article. “He physically forced himself on me. At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.”
The Times article details “a range of sexual harassment and misconduct that allegedly took place in private homes, on movie sets or at industry events. As is often the case, none of the women reported the allegations to the police.”
Actress Olivia Munn wrote about an incident involving Ratner — she didn’t use his name — in a 2010 memoir, writing that in 2004 while visiting the set of the director’s After the Sunset, Munn delivered a meal to his trailer and the director masturbated in front of her. A year later, on a TV show, Ratner “claimed that he had ‘banged’ her,” the Times writes, “something he later said was not true.” At a CAA party he “boasted of ejaculating on magazine covers featuring her image.” Munn has since named the director.
In addition to Munn and Henstridge, other women quoted in the Times article are:
- The Punisher actress Jaime Ray Newman, who was on the same Air Canada flight as Ratner in 2005, during which the director swapped seats so he could sit next to her, then “began loudly describing sex acts he wanted to perform on her in explicit detail. He also showed her nude photos of his then-girlfriend.”
- Actress Katharine Towne, who describes a 2005 encounter with Ratner. The What Lies Beneath actress says that at an L.A. party Ratner made “extreme” advances before following Towne into a bathroom. In an attempt to put the director off, Towne gave him her phone number. She said Ratner’s assistant called her for the next six months, unsuccessfully trying to arrange a dinner for her and the filmmaker.
- Eri Sasaki, was at 21 a part-time model and aspiring singer when she appeared as an extra in a scene in Ratner’s Rush Hour 2. Dressed in a “skimpy outfit” that exposed her midriff, Sasaki was waiting for filming to begin when Ratner “approached her, ran his index finger down her bare stomach and asked if she wanted to go into a bathroom with him. When she said no, she recalled Ratner saying, ‘Don’t you want to be famous?’ “
- Jorina King, who also worked as a Rush Hour 2 background actress, says Ratner first discussed the possibility of a speaking part, then arrived in her trailer “and told her he needed to see her breasts. King said she rejected his request and hid in a restroom. ‘I figured if I could stay out of his eyesight, if I could stay away from him, he will forget about me and he will choose someone else, and that is exactly what happened.’
