Open Secret Movie - allegations against Hollywood’s elite, Director James Toback Accused of Sexual Harassment By More Than 30 Women

- Child abuse documentary Hollywood 'didn't want you to see' goes viral
- 38 women have come forward to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment
- Director James Toback Accused of Sexual Harassment By More Than 30 Women
- James Toback Rants Against Sexual Harassment Allegations Made by Julianne Moore, Others

Child abuse documentary Hollywood 'didn't want you to see' goes viral

The film An Open Secret died upon release in 2015, but is seeing a renewed interest online amid a cascade of allegations against Hollywood’s elite  Rory Carroll in Los Angeles Wednesday 1 November 2017

....“We got zero Hollywood offers to distribute the film. Not even one. Literally no offers for any price whatsoever,” said Gabe Hoffman, a Florida-based hedge fund manager who financed the film.

It did not seem to matter that it was directed by an Oscar-nominated director, Amy Berg, or that it uncovered damning evidence of the sexual abuse of teenage boys by figures in the film industry.

“There was nowhere to see it,” said Lorien Haynes, the film’s writer. “I don’t think it impacted at all. Nobody saw it. We released a film that didn’t [seem to] exist.”

Now, two years later, multiple “open secrets” of predatory behaviour are detonating across Hollywood and the documentary that blew the whistle is getting millions of viewers – but still no distribution deal.

Hoffman released the film for free on the video-sharing website Vimeo this month after reports about Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults set off a chain-reaction, with James Toback, Tyler Grasham and Kevin Spacey among those accused of harassment and worse.

....Berg, the director, had earned an Oscar nomination for her film Deliver Us from Evil, about sex abuse in the Catholic church.

Her team obtained evidence of a paedophile ring in Hollywood – managers, agents, publicists and directors – that preyed on young boys and teenagers seeking entry to the industry.

Some hosted lavish parties where men allegedly plied the boys with alcohol and drugs and traded them for sex. Others spent years grooming victims, and winning the confidence of their families, before starting sexual assaults.

A handful were caught and served relatively brief jail sentences before returning to the industry. Brian Peck, an actor and acting coach who worked for Nickelodeon and the X-Men franchise, was convicted of two counts of lewd acts with a child. He is now working in the industry again.

The documentary features interviews with Evan Henzi, who was 11 years old when his manager, Martin Weiss, started assaulting him. Weiss pleaded no contest in 2012 to two counts of child molestation, and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years’ probation. He was freed immediately due to time served.

....Haynes, who wrote the script, said mid-ranking television executives seemed eager to buy the film, only to be overruled. “At the top of the food chain is where we got the ‘no’. It did feel that people were scared to run it. It is complete anathema to release a film about corruption in Hollywood in Hollywood.”

She acknowledged another factor: a harrowing film about child abuse was a tough sell. “You’re expecting a lot of an audience to sit through that.”

For two years An Open Secret existed in film purgatory, available only in pirated online versions, few people aware that here was evidence of abuse, collusion and cover-up in the heart of Tinseltown....
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/01/an-open-secret-hollywood-child-abuse-documentary



38 women have come forward to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment - LA Times
By Glenn Whipp October 22, 2017
He prowled the streets of Manhattan looking for attractive young women, usually in their early 20s, sometimes college students, on occasion a high schooler. He approached them in Central Park, standing in line at a bank or drug store or at a copy center while they worked on their resumes.

His opening line had a few variations. One went: “My name’s James Toback. I’m a movie director. Have you ever seen ‘Black and White’ or ‘Two Girls and a Guy’?”

Probably not. So he’d start to drop names. He had an Oscar nomination for writing the Warren Beatty movie “Bugsy.” He directed Robert Downey Jr., in three movies. The actor, Toback claimed, was a close friend; he had “invented him.” If you didn’t believe him, he would pull out a business card or an article that had been written about him to prove he had some juice in Hollywood. That he could make you a star.

But first, he’d need to get to know you. Intimately. Trust him, he’d say. It’s all part of his process.

Then, in a hotel room, a movie trailer, a public park, meetings framed as interviews or auditions quickly turned sexual, according to 38 women who, in separate interviews told the Los Angeles Times of similar encounters they had with Toback.

He prowled the streets of Manhattan looking for attractive young women, usually in their early 20s, sometimes college students, on occasion a high schooler. He approached them in Central Park, standing in line at a bank or drug store or at a copy center while they worked on their resumes....

During these meetings, many of the women said, Toback boasted of sexual conquests with the famous and then asked humiliating personal questions. How often do you masturbate? How much pubic hair do you have? He’d tell them, they said, that he couldn’t properly function unless he “jerked off” several times a day. And then he’d dry-hump them or masturbate in front of them, ejaculating into his pants or onto their bodies and then walk away. Meeting over.

The women’s accounts portray James Toback as a man who, for decades, sexually harassed women he hired, women looking for work and women he just saw on the street. The vast majority of these women — 31 of the 38 interviewed — spoke on the record. The Times also interviewed people that the women informed of the incidents when they occurred.

As is often the case, none of them contacted the police at the time. When contacted by The Times, Toback denied the allegations, saying that he had never met any of these women or, if he did, it “was for five minutes and have no recollection.” He also repeatedly claimed that for the last 22 years, it had been “biologically impossible” for him to engage in the behavior described by the women in this story, saying he had diabetes and a heart condition that required medication. Toback declined to offer further details.

The women interviewed during The Times’ investigation offered accounts that differed from Toback’s recollections.

“The way he presented it, it was like, ‘This is how things are done,’” actress Adrienne LaValley said of a 2008 hotel room encounter that ended with Toback trying to rub his crotch against her leg. When she recoiled, he stood up and ejaculated in his pants. “I felt like a prostitute, an utter disappointment to myself, my parents, my friends. And I deserved not to tell anyone.”....
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-mn-james-toback-sexual-harassment-allegations-20171018-story.html

Director James Toback Accused of Sexual Harassment By More Than 30 Women
By Leanne Aciz Stanton October 22, 2017
....Director James Toback has been accused of sexual harassment by more than 30 women in a damning exposé published by the Los Angeles Times.

The Oscar nominee, 72, reportedly preyed upon young women who had dreams of stardom, promising to make them famous before their meetings and auditions turned sexual, according to the article published on Sunday, October 22. The paper interviewed 38 women, 31 of whom went on the record, claiming that not only did Toback make vulgar comments, but in some cases he had rubbed himself against them and even masturbated in front of them.

Veruca Salt vocalist and guitarist Louise Post recounted a harrowing experience with the Black and White director after meeting him while attending college in 1987: “He told me he’d love nothing more than to masturbate while looking into my eyes … Going to his apartment has been the source of shame for the past 30 years, that I allowed myself to be so gullible.” The band tweeted about Toback on Monday, October 17, with the #MeToo hashtag, calling him a “pig.”
Stars at Court

Actress Adrienne LaValley told the Times that Toback once attempted to rub his privates against her leg before ejaculating in his pants, saying, “The way he presented it, it was like, ‘This is how things are done.’” Another woman alleged that the filmmaker — whose most recent film, The Private Life of a Modern Woman, starred Sienna Miller — berated her for not taking off her clothes, before forcing his groin against her. Former As the World Turns actress Teri Conn shared a similar story of Toback humping her leg after he approached her on the street....
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/director-james-toback-accused-of-sexual-harassment-by-more-than-30-women/



James Toback Rants Against Sexual Harassment Allegations Made by Julianne Moore, Others
By Kathy Campbell October 27, 2017
Director James Toback denied sexual harassment allegations made by Julianne Moore, Selma Blair and others in an angry rant to Rolling Stone on Friday, October 27....

In a story published by the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, October 22, more than 30 women accused the director of sexual harassment, which he denied. Several of the women said he approached them on the streets of NYC, offering them a part in an upcoming movie before making an unwanted sexual advance.

In a follow-up story, the Times claimed that an additional 200 women had come forward to detail similar encounters with the Oscar-nominated writer....
https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/james-toback-denies-sexual-harassment-allegations-in-angry-rant/


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