They are complicated times for Kevin Costner. The actor and director now presented a year ago in Cannes the first part of Horizona saga of films for which it has mortgaged its heritage. However, the reception of critics was cold and that of the public, later, practically indifferent. But Horizon Keep giving Costner problems, now legal and much more serious. One of the workers of the film has sued the Californian for sexual harassment, to create a hostile work environment and by breakdown during the filming of the second part of Horizon.
The woman’s lawyers, called Devyn Labella, 34, filed the complaint on Tuesday morning in the upper court of the State of California. They accuse both Costner and its producer, Territory Pictures (a branch of Treehouse Pictures, its main producer, which I believe to produce Horizon), And also to the films, of up to nine crimes. Labella is, in the film, the double of the British actress she Hunt, who plays Juliette. He affirms in his lawsuit that, in May 2023, “he was the victim of an unchanging rape scene and that he was not in the script, directed by Kevin Costner, owner, executive manager and secretary of the Horizon company.” “The impact of this sudden demand for work in Labella has been deep, not only putting up legs a race that Labella has taken years to build, but leaving a permanent trauma that will have to face for years,” says the first paragraph of the same.
As explained in the lawsuit, Labella – said gymnast at school and university and double high -level action since 2016, which has worked on more than 80 titles of CSI: Las Vegas a American Horror Story o Barbie– He joined the production of Horizon 2 In April 2023. On May 1 he shot a scheduled scene of a rape between Juliette’s character and that of SIG (played by Canadian actor Douglas Smith). In the filming plan it was specified that there would be a closed set for it, being a sensitive scene, and that only strictly necessary technicians would be present, as well as Hunt, Labella and Smith. There were previous trials with the double coordinator, as well as with the intimacy coordinator, as she had established by contract; Among all, they created a kind of scheduled choreography so that the actors did not feel uncomfortable. In the early morning they rehearsed the scene and then rolled it, with several shots. At that time, Labella had only shot two sex scenes, throughout her career.
So far, everything went well. However, the next day, on May 2, Labella came to roll a scene in the rain as a double of Hunt and in which Juliette’s character stir some drawers with clothes and find a gun. There was little physical action and also little dialogue. However, the plan changed: according to the demand, Costner decided to add a scene, not planned, in which another actor (Roger Ivens, who plays Birke) climbed on the actress and violently started the skirt. I wasn’t in the script. There was no intimacy coordinator, because it was not scheduled, and Labella had to face such a scene with a new actor of 1.90 meters and 100 kilos in a violent scene and without essays. She did not know, but – always according to her version – she had rejected that scene and had left the set. The US actors union, SAG-AFTRA, prohibits its affiliates (and Labella is) to perform nude or sex scenes that have not had at least 48 hours of notice, so that they can review and negotiate the terms.
According to Labella, Kevin Costner was in charge of the entire direction. Without any trial or preparation, and neither in a closed set, he asked for many shots (although without a shout of “cut”: everything was done without pauses) at different angles and gave the instructions to Ivens to simulate the rape. According to the plaintiff, there was “constant connection and touch”, also of its genitals. “Labella never had the opportunity to prepare or give her consent to participate in this scene, much less to object,” reads the demand. “On the contrary: without discussion, explanation, essay, choreographed session or intimacy coordinator, the defendant, Costner, instructed Labella to lie down while Ivens, who was dirty and covered with sweat, climbed on her and raised her skirt while grabbed her legs so that she did not move.”
As explained in the lawsuit, Costner forced him to get so much the skirt that his underwear and his “intimate parts” were widely exposed, “for his special humiliation, because he was menstruating at that time,” he says. After the recording, he stayed alone on the set. Then, she went to her car and called her husband, crying. At dinner, she told the coordinators, who accused her of not saying not at the time of recording, which made her feel even worse. The following days continued to remember what happened, which made her cry on the set or in her dressing room. He went home for a few days, and when he remembers that the situation was tense and strange. After finishing filming, in June, and returning to his home in Los Angeles, he began to have sleep and intimacy problems, he explains. In addition, they did not hire her for the third part of the film, early 2024, or related projects.
In the complaint, lawyers explain that this legal action “is not only for the damages caused, but to point out the continuous failures that occur at the highest levels of Hollywood production companies, to understand and address the impacts of acting in sexually explicit and violent ‘scenes’ and to demonstrate the need to coordinate intimacy.”
For their part, Costner’s lawyers have denied accusations through a statement sent to the media Variety y Deadlinestating that the actor “always seeks to make sure that everyone works comfortably in their films, and takes security very seriously.” “The statement of Devyn Labella has absolutely no merit, and is completely contradicted by her own actions and the facts,” says the lawyer. “Labella is a series accuser of people from the entertainment industry and has worked with the same lawyer in previous demands. But those blackmail tactics will not work in this case.” They claim that they explained the scene and that there were essays, and that she approved it. They also assure that he spoke with the privacy coordinator and that, at that dinner he speaks of, he never filed any complaints. They have shown messages from the double after finishing the filming where it thanks and claims to be “very happy” of those “wonderful weeks” and “all learning.”
Now, Labella’s lawyers accuse Costner and their producers of having broken their contract – since it was established that he had to keep in mind their intimacy coordinator – as well as sexual harassment, creation of a hostile work environment, to err when preventing discrimination and inflicting him intentionally emotional stress.
The saga Horizon He is costing blood, sweat and tears. In it, the actor of Yellowstone It will try to portray the first settlements of the United States OEST, portraying them in four films that travel 15 years. Written, produced and directed by itself, the entire productive and managerial team is masculine, with only one woman (in the position of second management assistant). The first installment could be seen in Cannes, while the second premiered at the Venice Festival and although its premiere for last summer was planned, it is still stored in a drawer. The third rolled for a couple of weeks in Colorado, while the fourth is supposedly in production. None has an estimated launch date.