Oscar-winning actress and screenwriter Emma Thompson has revealed she quit the forthcoming animated film Luck because of a "pattern of misconduct" by embattled former Pixar executive John Lasseter.
Key points:
- Emma Thompson quit the animated film Luck last month, but had not detailed why until now
- The Oscar-winning actress said the decision to hire John Lasseter was "very odd" given his "pattern of misconduct"
- She said she had to take a stand to promote change for her daughter's generation
Ms Thompson, known for her roles in Love Actually and Harry Potter among others, departed the project last month shortly after Skydance chief executive David Ellison hired Mr Lasseter, the Pixar co-founder and former Walt Disney animation chief.
Mr Lasseter was forced out at Disney last year after acknowledging "missteps" in his behaviour with female employees.
In her letter to Mr Ellison, Ms Thompson said she felt it was "very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr Lasseter's pattern of misconduct given the present climate".
"If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he's not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave 'professionally'?" she wrote.
"If a man has made women at his companies feel undervalued and disrespected for decades, why should the women at his new company think that any respect he shows them is anything other than an act that he's required to perform by his coach, his therapist and his employment agreement?"
She concluded by writing that "centuries of entitlement to women's bodies … is not going to change overnight", but that if she did not "take this sort of stand then things are very unlikely to change at anything like the pace required to protect my daughter's generation".
A representative for Ms Thompson confirmed the letter Tuesday, which was first published in The Los Angeles Times. A spokesperson for Skydance declined to comment.
'Broken system' allows men to 'act without consequence'
Mr Lasseter's hiring provoked a backlash from some who said the animation executive didn't deserve a second chance so quickly.
Time's Up, the non-profit organisation formed to combat sexual harassment and gender inequality in Hollywood and elsewhere, said his hiring "endorses and perpetuates a broken system that allows powerful men to act without consequence".
Shortly after allegations were made against Harvey Weinstein in 2017, Mr Lasseter announced that he was taking a six-month "sabbatical" from Disney and apologised "to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug" or any other gesture that made them feel "disrespected or uncomfortable".
Mr Lasseter initially said he would return to Disney, but the studio said it was permanently cutting ties last June.
At the time of his hiring, the former executive, a creative force involved in every Pixar release and numerous Disney hits, said he had spent the previous year in "deep reflection, learning how my actions unintentionally made colleagues uncomfortable, which I deeply regret and apologise for".
Mr Ellison, the 36-year-old son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, said in a memo to staff that he didn't take the decision to hire Mr Lasseter lightly, but maintained Mr Lasseter had been "forthright in taking ownership of his behaviour".
AP/ABC
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