Three producers behind Rebel Wilson’s movie “The Deb” have filed a defamation lawsuit against her in California. The “Pitch Perfect” star had accused them of embezzling funds and sabotaging her directorial debut. Variety has obtained a letter of demand sent by Wilson to the producers in June, detailing previous allegations of financial impropriety and sexual harassment.
On Wednesday, Wilson posted a video message on Instagram, captioned “If my movie gets buried at least you know why.” She accused producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and executive producer Vince Holden of embezzling funds from the project and engaging in retaliatory behavior. The producers denied these accusations in their filing, claiming Wilson has attempted to hold the film hostage over credits for screenwriting and musical recordings.
The defamation suit alleges unprofessional conduct on Wilson’s part, including claims she disappeared from the set for extended periods and threatened financiers with exposing them to her roughly 11 million Instagram followers.
At the center of the defamation filing is a dispute over credits. Wilson sought co-authorship of the screenplay and rights to the film’s original music. Hannah Riley, the original screenwriter whom producers called Wilson’s “protégé,” was awarded full credit by the Australian Writers Guild following an appeal. Wilson was granted an “additional writing by” credit on the script, which the producers said she was not satisfied with.
Wilson, in her demand letter, said she was forced to sign over rights under duress at the hands of her producers, who she claims resorted to physical intimidation and threats of sabotage throughout production on “The Deb.” The producers adamantly denied this in their defamation suit.
Wilson’s social media post was spurred by her assertion that the film, about two girls in a small Australian town who attend a debutante ball, was offered the closing night slot at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The post implied that Ghost, Cameron, and Holden were not only blocking the movie from premiering at the prestigious festival but also had misappropriated 900,000 Australian dollars and forced Wilson to hire private security for the film shoot. Producers said this accusation has no basis in fact, and Wilson is aware of that.
“Rebel is a bully who will disregard the interests of others to promote her own,” said a lawyer for the producers in the filing. While Wilson said she had proof of their financial misconduct, the producers said she “has run this playbook one time too many,” and had “jeopardized the success of the film, as Rebel’s statements carry the clear and unmistakable defamatory meaning: that [the producers] criminally embezzled funds from the film.”
Wilson asserts both Ghost and Cameron committed “flagrant misconduct” surrounding the film’s budget and also engaged in unprofessional behavior with one of the film’s actors.
“[Wilson] revived a fictitious story about Ms. Ghost sexually harassing a lead actor in ‘The Deb’ that has absolutely no basis in reality, as the actor that is the subject of this defamatory tale has repeatedly confirmed,” said the producers’ filing.
WME, the sales agent of record for “The Deb,” declined to comment on the matter. Despite internal feuds, there’s confusion about why the accused producers would deny the film a premiere at TIFF in the first place given that it’s a destination for studios and streamers looking for movies to purchase. The suit addresses this decision.
Ghost, Cameron, and Holden had to “consider carefully whether to proceed with marketing the film while it was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes instigated by Rebel. Plaintiffs continuously attempted to resolve the disputes in good faith, but Rebel had other ideas. Even though the plan was always to show the film at TIFF, Rebel attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies.”
Representatives for Wilson had no immediate comment on the defamation suit.
Rebel Wilson has been sued for defamation by three producers behind her directorial debut, “The Deb,” after she accused them of sexual harassment and embezzlement.
In an Instagram video on Wednesday, Wilson said she reported the producers last year when she “found out not minor things, big things” related to “inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film” and “embezzling funds from the film’s budget.” She accused them of blocking the movie from premiering at the closing spot of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September.
Producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden, in a lawsuit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, say Wilson lied in an attempt to release “The Deb” at TIFF, as well as secure a writing credit on the film.
The complaint details a combative relationship between the producers and Wilson, who allegedly refused to collaborate with them, deserted the production for months at a time, and repeatedly made unauthorized and inappropriate disclosures about the movie. The dispute, they claim, came to a head when she moved to seize writing credit for the movie from Hannah Reilly, a recipient of Wilson’s theatre scholarship, despite a contrary decision from the Australian Writers’ Guild, which found in March that the screenplay credit belongs with Reilly, with Wilson getting an “additional writing by” credit.
When she didn’t get her way, Wilson in 2023 falsely accused Ghost of sexually harassing a lead actress in the film, according to the complaint. The lawsuit says that the actress “soundly denied any claims of inappropriate behavior” by the producer, at which point Wilson admitted she wasn’t aware of any specific allegations of sexual misconduct. In her Wednesday Instagram post, the producers claim she revived the allegations and said that Ghost “has a history of doing this kind of thing, mainly to music artists.”
Other allegedly defamatory statements include accusing Ghost and Cameron of embezzling funds from the film.
Despite “The Deb” being selected to debut at TIFF, the producers were wary because the film was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes allegedly instigated by Wilson. The lawsuit claims she tried to bully the trio into capitulating to her demands by threatening to accuse them of inappropriate behavior on set to her 11 million Instagram followers.
The movie, produced for $22 million, is based on a script by Reilly, which was adapted from a stage play of the same name, also written by the Wilson protégé.
Rebel Wilson has been sued by the producers behind her directorial debut days after calling them out on social media.
On Wednesday, July 10, Wilson, 44, posted a lengthy Instagram video accusing “The Deb” producers Amanda Ghost and Gregor Cameron, and executive producer Vince Holden of “bad behavior” on set.
Wilson claimed she was met “with absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior” after reporting the alleged actions and accused the producers of blocking the film from premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
In a defamation suit filed against Wilson in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, on Friday, July 12, Ghost, Cameron, and Holden denied Wilson’s claims that they embezzled funds from the film’s budget and engaged in inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film. The producers also raised accusations about Wilson’s own conduct.
“She flatly refused to collaborate with Plaintiffs, absconded from the Film for months at a time, behaved unprofessionally with employees of the Film, and repeatedly made unauthorized and improper disclosures about the Film,” a portion of the legal document obtained by PEOPLE reads.
The lawsuit claims that “the dispute between Plaintiffs and Rebel came to a head” after the movie star expressed interest in wanting a co-writing credit and rights to the film’s original music.
“Rebel’s goal in these several disputes was to get credit for work she did not do, and to overshadow young, upcoming artists who truly deserved the credit,” the lawsuit claims.
The producers also explained why they withdrew “The Deb” from TIFF.
They “had to consider carefully whether to proceed with marketing the Film while it was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes instigated by Rebel,” they said, alleging that they “continuously attempted to resolve the disputes in good faith but Rebel had other ideas.”
“Even though the plan was always to show the Film at TIFF, Rebel attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies about [the producers] to her 11 million Instagram followers,” the lawsuit alleges. “This was a vindictive attempt to destroy [the producers’] reputations with what she knew were demonstrably false statements.”
Wilson responded to the lawsuit on Instagram by posting an on-set photo, writing, “It’s not defamation if it’s the TRUTH (those ‘producers’ who I mentioned in my last post have just filed a defamation suit against me and sent to the press)! Let our cool movie play at Toronto and stop messing about with a rubbish defamation suit against me!”
Wilson shared additional photos featuring various members of the Australian cast and crew on her Instagram Stories, alongside more comments about the lawsuit.
“They’ve been called out for their bad behavior, and now they file a defamation claim. Ummm I’ve pretty sure I have 200 witnesses to prove what I’m saying is right,” she wrote on top of one of the photos.
A source tells PEOPLE that “the entire cast and crew of ‘The Deb’ are with Rebel and sending her messages of support.”
“If you look on her Instagram page there’s at least 50 comments from people who actually worked on the film supporting her,” adds the source. “At the wrap party for the film, everyone was praising her, and most said, this is the best film they’ve ever worked on.”
Rebel Wilson is being sued for defamation by “The Deb” producers after she alleged they embezzled funds from the movie and had “inappropriate behavior” on set.
In court documents obtained by Page Six Friday, Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden said they were taking legal action against the “Pitch Perfect” star to hold her “accountable for her attempts to bully” them into meeting her “unreasonable demands by spreading vicious lies without regard for the irreparable damage her reckless words would cause” them.
Overall, the plaintiffs described Wilson as someone who acts like “a champion of other female artists and whistleblower against abusive conduct within the film industry” but in reality is “a bully who will disregard the interests of others to promote her own.”
They supported their case by arguing that Wilson, 44, made false accusations against a fellow actor in her memoir, “Rebel Rising.”
She made headlines earlier this year for claiming her “Grimsby” co-star Sacha Baron Cohen tried forcing her to stick her finger in his rear end after she denied participating in a fully nude scene. His name was not mentioned in the lawsuit.
Furthermore, they accused the Australian comedian of granting a young artist — Hannah Reilly — a scholarship to develop the screenplay for “The Deb” and getting upset when she was not given the full writing credit.
They said she publicly dragged them after they could not agree on writing credits for the film.
The plaintiffs accused Wilson of trying to take credit for the full screenplay, which was crafted by rising writer Hannah Reilly.
“Rebel’s goal in these several disputes was to get credit for work she did not do, and to overshadow young, upcoming artists who truly deserved the credit,” the lawsuit states.
“When Rebel did not get her way in these disputes, she revived a fictitious story about Ms. Ghost sexually harassing a lead actor in ‘The Deb’ … [and claimed] that Ms. Ghost and Mr. Cameron were embezzling from the Film’s budget.”
“These statements are false, and Rebel knew they were false at the time she made them,” the producers further argued.
The lawsuit came after Wilson shared an Instagram video accusing Ghost, Cameron, and Holden of purposefully withholding “The Deb” from the Toronto Film Festival.
The Aussie actress claimed they were retaliating against her for reporting their “bad behavior” on set.
She also accused them of “embezzling” funds from the movie.
Wilson’s representatives did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment regarding the lawsuit. However, she had plenty to say on her Instagram Story on Friday.
Over several slides, she profusely denied any allegations within the lawsuit and said she has 200 witnesses in the cast and crew that support her.
“So good luck f–kwit ‘producers trying to prove anything other than I’m a professional who did an amazing job as a first-time female director!” she wrote on one of her slides.
“And it’s not defamation if it’s the TRUTH!” she added after posting several photos of her smiling with members of the film’s production team.
Before the lawsuit was leveraged, Wilson expressed her frustration that “The Deb” — an Australian musical she described as “so cute” — was not going to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
“To have the joy of the movie selected is one thing, but then to have the business partners that are involved in that movie turn around and say, ‘No, that movie can’t premiere,’ is just beyond devastating,” she explained in an Instagram video Wednesday.
She went on to name the plaintiffs and say they have tried burying the movie after she reported their “bad behavior” on set.
The “Senior Year” actress described their alleged behavior as “not minor things,” claiming they acted with “inappropriate behavior towards the lead actress of the film.”
She also accused them of embezzling funds from the film’s budget. “We really needed [the money] because we’re a small movie,” she complained.
“Since I reported that behavior, I have been met with absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior,” Wilson went on.
“Every step of the way, these people I complained about, they’ve tried to make my life Hell. This behavior is absolutely vile and disgusting.”
On the contrary, Ghost, Cameron, and Holden accused Wilson of acting poorly on set, claiming she “flatly refused to collaborate with Plaintiffs, absconded from the Film for months at a time, behaved unprofessionally with employees of the Film, and repeatedly made unauthorized and improper disclosures about the Film.”
Source: Variety, PEOPLE, Page Six, Us Weekly
