Max Landis Accused of Sexual & Emotional Abuse By 8 Women

Writer-director Max Landis is being accused of sexual and/or emotional abuse by eight different women. This isn’t the first time the filmmaker – best known for writing movies like Chronicle and Bright, and creating the Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency TV series – has faced allegations of this nature, either. Back in December 2017 (around the time of Bright‘s debut on Netflix), Landis was accused of sexual misconduct and predatory behavior by multiple people on Twitter, including actress Anna Akana and video game developer Zoë Quinn.

The previous allegations against Landis were, of course, raised in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, in which the since-disgraced producer mogul was accused of having committed sexual misconduct and violence over the span of decades. In the months immediately after the scandal broke in early October 2017, others came forward with similar allegations of sexual assault and abuse against other powerful figures in Hollywood, ranging from Kevin Spacey to Brett Ratner, Louis C.K., and Bryan Singer. During the same period of time, John Lasseter stepped down as Pixar and Disney Animation’s CCO, as his own history of sexual misconduct and/or inappropriate behavior in the workplace was brought to light.

In a new article published by The Daily Beast, Landis is accused of having engaged in emotional, physical, and sexual abuse over the course of the last ten years or so. Among the testimonies are those by his ex-girlfriends, friends, or colleagues alleging that Landis – who’s also the son of American filmmaker John Landis – used his money, influence, and/or connections in Hollywood to cover up his misconduct. As for his behavior, Landis is accused of repeatedly raping his partners, engaging in psychological and emotional abuse, choking and/or threatening to kill the women who stood up to him, and either physically assaulting or mentally tormenting the members of his inner social circle at any given point in time. You can go HERE to read the testimonies from these eight women and others in full (content warning: this report contains explicit details of his alleged behavior).

According to The Daily Beast, many of the sources for its article on Landis told them they have been expecting a call about him for years, and expressed their frustration that similar articles have reportedly been shelved by other outlets over the last year. A representative for the upcoming horror-thriller Shadow in the Cloud (which originated with a script by Landis) informed The Daily Beast that they were not aware of the previous allegations against Landis when they initially optioned his screenplay, and have since removed him from the project altogether (with director Roseanne Liang carrying out extensive rewrites of his script draft). Star Chloë Grace Moretz offered similar assurances about the film while she was promoting Greta earlier this year, telling The Guardian“We’ve completely distanced ourselves from [Landis]”.

Landis’ other projects (like his remake of his father’s An American Werewolf in London) have similarly been either indefinitely postponed or cancelled since the initial allegations were made against him in 2017. This new report should only further assure that Landis is held accountable for his alleged behavior and, hopefully, continue to encourage others and make them feel safe about coming forward with their own allegations of sexual misconduct, assault, or emotional abuse.

Source: The Daily Beast