Jamie Lee Curtis responds to Eliza Dushku's assault claims as accused Joel Kramer is dropped by talent agency
Jamie Lee Curtis has penned an op-ed in support of Eliza Dushku after her True Lies co-star came forward with assault allegations against stunt coordinator Joel Kramer.
Curtis played Dushku’s mother in the Nineties action film and says she was told of the alleged abuse by her onscreen daughter, who was 12 at time, only in recent years.
Eliza – who famously played Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer – claims Kramer (then 36) took her to a hotel room, got naked and sexually molested her during the production of the 1994 action film.
“[Eliza] had shared that story with me privately a few years ago,” Jamie writes in her Huffington Post blog. “I was shocked and saddened then and still am today.
“We have all started to awaken to the fact that the terrible abuses now commonplace in daily news reports have been going on for a very long time. Unconscionably, those reports frequently come along with claims by the perpetrators that, as adults, those perpetrated against had some part in it.”
True Lies director James Cameron has also spoken out about the alleged assault, telling journalists at a Television Critics’ Association event: “Directors are historically pretty oblivious to the inter-personal things that are happening on the set, because they’re focused on what they’re doing creatively, but had I known about there would have been no mercy.
“I have daughters. There really would be no mercy now. Eliza is very brave for speaking up. It’s just heartbreaking that it happened to her.”
Kramer, who recently worked on Blade Runner 2049, has been dropped by his talent agency following the allegations.
“WPA has elected to part ways with Joel Kramer based on the allegations of misconduct now being reported,” Richard Caleel, the agency’s president and general counsel, said in a statement.
“Such behaviour is unacceptable and entirely at odds with the the standards of conduct we demand of ourselves, and expect from our clients.”
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