Earlier this week, The Daily Beast posted a damning article on Hollywood screenwriter, producer and scumbag Max Landis, which included multiple allegations of sexual assault and abuse from numerous women dating back many years.
In response to the shocking allegations in the expose, MGM has confirmed via IndieWire that it has decided to drop the Landis-penned sci-fi thriller Deeper, which was set to see Baltasar Kormakur (Everest) directing and Idris Elba (Thor: Ragnarok) starring, while Landis’ management company have also severed all ties.
Landis – whose credits include the likes of Chronicle, American Ultra, Victor Frankenstein and Bright – has long been criticised for misogynistic statements, and back in December 2017 he was accused of sexual assault by actress and comedian Anna Akana. His alleged abuse of women was described as an “open secret” in Hollywood, with claims that he’d avoided being called to task due to his status as a rising talent, who also happened to be the son of a respected filmmaker in John Landis.
That appears to have well and truly deserted Landis now, however, with many of his peers speaking out against him in condemnation of his actions, including Chronicle director Josh Trank.
I 100% believe every word of this article about Max. I banned him from visiting principal photography of Chronicle, and I haven't spoken to him since 2012. To read about the terror he's inflicted on so many women since then makes me sick to my stomach. Heartbroken beyond measure.
— Josh Trank (@joshuatrank) June 18, 2019
Deeper isn’t the first of Landis’ projects to be impacted by the allegations, with Chloe Grace Moretz revealing earlier this year that he had been removed as a producer on the World War II horror Shadow in the Cloud and that “We’ve completely distanced ourselves from him. We’ve rewritten it several times now. His name is kind of far away from the project.”
For now, Landis still has a number of projects in active development, although one would suspect it’s only a matter of time before he finds himself removed from them too.