Between Brett Ratner, Bryan Singer, and now TJ Miller, the X-Men franchise has been up to its mutant eyeballs in sexual misconduct allegations. The latest concern Miller, the Deadpool funnyman who played sidekick Weasel in the first movie and will return for Deadpool 2. Recently we learned he had been accused of sexually assaulting and punching a woman, while in a separate instance harassing a transgender woman who used to be his friend. With the total removal of Kevin Spacey from All the Money in the World a new standard has been set for these situations, but Miller doesn’t have to fear Christopher Plummer coming in to take his role. Yet.
Speaking with Rotten Tomatoes, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner has responded to fan requests Miller be replaced by saying that it isn’t likely to happen…
“We’re in the final editing,” she said. “I don’t think so.”
Of course, it COULD be done if she really wanted to, I think. Ridley Scott had Spacey out the door and his scenes reshot with Plummer in just a couple of weeks. Deadpool 2 doesn’t open until this summer.
It’s far more likely that Miller won’t be asked back for Deadpool 3 if there is one, but Donner doesn’t commit to that either, replying with “That’s a whole studio thing. I don’t know” when asked.
Oh, he’s gone alright. You can count on that. Donner probably doesn’t want to say much of anything now that might affect the movie’s bottom line. She takes a much tougher stance when the issue of Ratner is brought up. The director of the worst X-Men movie, period, X-Men: The Last Stand, is alleged to have made demeaning comments to star Ellen Page about her sexuality, along with other sexually abusive statements towards her and other women on set. Donner doesn’t hold back here, admitting that she too was a target of Ratner’s…
“I back her up 100 percent,” Shuler Donner said, referring to Page. “Absolutely. He’s horrible. I’m aware he’s very demeaning to women, extremely demeaning to women, myself included. Yes, I was aware. Anybody that’s female, he’s demeaning.”
When asked if Ratner might be booted from the Hollywood community as a whole, Donner responded with “I hope so.” He’s already been dropped from the Hugh Hefner biopic he had been working on, and I don’t see offers flying his way so she may get her wish.
As for her longtime collaborator Bryan Singer, who was recently expelled from directing Bohemian Rhapsody over some unusual behavior on his part, Donner takes a more hopeful stance…
“Listen, I love Bryan, but Bryan has a lot of demons,” Shuler Donner said. “Bryan has some problems, and Bryan needs to take care of his personal problems. That’s all I can say.”
Soon after, Singer was booted as an exec-producer on Legion, which Donner is a producer on, because of further misconduct allegations. The same may happen on the recently-renewed X-Men series, The Gifted.
