Kevin Costner Sued by ‘Horizon 2' Stunt Performer Over Unscripted Rape Scene
A stunt performer for Kevin Costner's upcoming film 'Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2' has sued the director and the producers of the film, claiming that she was tasked with performing a violent rape scene without notice or consent and without the intimacy coordinator required by union rules present.
LaBella also claims that she faced retaliation for reporting the incident by not being called back for subsequent work on the 'Horizon' film series and never being hired again by the stunt coordinator for the film, with whom she worked previously.
'On that day, I was left exposed, unprotected, and deeply betrayed by a system that promised safety and professionalism. What happened to me shattered my trust and forever changed how I move through this industry,' LaBella said in a statement.
In a statement provided to TheWrap, attorneys for Costner said that the accusations have 'absolutely no merit.' 'As a stunt performer on 'Horizon 2,' the scene in question was explained to Ms. LaBella, and after she performed the rehearsal in character with another actor, she gave her Stunt Coordinator supervisor a 'thumbs up' and indicated her willingness to then shoot the scene, if needed (which she was not),' the statement read.
According to the lawsuit obtained by TheWrap, LaBella had been cast as a stunt double for actress Ella Hunt, who plays a British woman that is part of a wagon train traveling through the Santa Fe Trail. LaBella was tasked with shooting a scripted rape scene that had been rehearsed and overseen by an intimacy coordinator that was shot without incident.
But the lawsuit alleges that on the following day, when LaBella was expecting to double for Hunt for a pair of non-sexual scenes, she was instructed to lay down on a wagon for what turned out to be a non-scripted rape scene with no rehearsal and an intimacy coordinator not present, in violation of SAG-AFTRA rules.
The lawsuit claims that, unbeknownst to LaBella, Hunt had walked off the set 'visibly upset' after being told by Costner about the impromptu scene. The rape scene was not listed on the day's call sheet, and LaBella did not know that the scene would involve rape until another stunt performer was called on to perform simulated sex on top of her.
LaBella claims in the lawsuit that she made complaints about the alleged incident to several stunt coordinators and the film's intimacy coordinator, and while she received apologies from some crew members, she was not used as a stunt performer for several days.
'This suit is filed not only for the damages Plaintiff has sustained, but to address the continued failures at the highest levels of Hollywood production companies to comprehend and address the impacts of performing in sexually explicit and violent 'scenes' and the need for intimacy coordination,' LaBella's attorney, James A. Vagnini, said in a statement.
Costner's attorneys disputed the performer's recount of events, claiming that LaBella had dinner with the film's stunt coordinator and assistant stunt coordinator the night following the scene and continued to work on 'Horizon' for several more weeks. The attorneys also provided screenshots of a text exchange between the coordinator and LaBella in which LaBella thanked the coordinator for hiring her.
'The facts are clear and we are beyond confident that Kevin will prevail,' Costner's reps said. LaBella's lawsuit was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
The post Kevin Costner Sued by 'Horizon 2' Stunt Performer Over Unscripted Rape Scene appeared first on TheWrap.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
7 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Sunken Bayesian superyacht lifted from waters off Sicily as salvage operation completed
PORTICELLO, Italy — A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing U.K. tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, was lifted from the water Saturday as salvage recovery crews completed the complex operation to bring it ashore for further investigation. The white top and blue hull of the 56-meter (184-foot) Bayesian, covered with algae and mud, was visibly clear of the sea in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge off the Sicilian port of Porticello. 'The hull of the superyacht Bayesian has today been successfully and safely recovered from the sea off the coast of northern Sicily,' said TMC Maritime, the company conducting the recovery. 'This follows a delicate lifting procedure that began early today.' TMC added that the hull will continue to be held 'in an elevated position to allow expert salvage personnel to complete checks and preparations' ahead of its transportation into the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese on Sunday. The floating crane platform will move the Bayesian to the port, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it. The vessel will be then made available for investigators to help determine the cause of the sinking. The Bayesian sank Aug. 19 off Porticello, near Palermo, during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the U.S. on fraud charges. Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef. Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation. The vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50 meters (165-feet) down, over the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel. Eight steel lifting straps were used to put the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water Saturday. As the superyacht was raised, seawater was pumped out of the hull. The Bayesian is missing its 72-meter (236-foot) mast, which was cut off and left on the seabed for future removal. The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be raised. British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by 'extreme wind' and couldn't recover. The report said the crew of the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms. Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (81 mph) at the time of the sinking and 'violently' knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds. Lynch, who sold Autonomy, a software maker he founded in 1996, to Hewlett-Packard for $11 billion in 2011, had been acquitted of fraud charges in June 2024 by a federal court jury in San Francisco.
Epoch Times
8 hours ago
- Epoch Times
A Joint Museum Acquisition of a Rare British Self-Portrait
The British Baroque artist William Dobson (1611–1646) is not a household name, but that may be changing with the international news that London's Tate and the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) have jointly acquired one of his rare self-portraits. The purchase Among modern scholars, Dobson's paintings have been critically acclaimed, especially after two 20th-century exhibitions. Art historians have found similarities between his work and that of such illustrious figures as Caravaggio and Rembrandt, two artists who also have important self-portraiture legacies. However, Dobson has long been forgotten by the general public due to personal and historical circumstances.
USA Today
8 hours ago
- USA Today
Is there a post credit scene in 28 Years Later?
The newest sequel in the 28 Days Later franchise hit theaters on Friday, with audiences heading to see what the rage virus had done to the United Kingdom in the nearly three decades since it began. The story picks up with Spike (Alfie Williams) and his dad (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) heading onto the mainland from the safety of their island refuge for a coming-of-age hunting trip. Warning: Spoilers for 28 Years Later follow! Eventually Spike and his mother Isla (the wonderful Jodie Comer) go on a search for a doctor (Ralph Fiennes) that can hopefully help her migraines and bouts of confusion. They, of course, run into a lot of trouble with hordes of infected and a particularly difficult Alpha (the more evolved and stronger infected). After finding Dr. Kelson, Spike has to come to grips with grief and death in a new way, and he decides to stay out on the mainland to learn more about himself. So, is there a post-credit scene in 28 Years Later? The short answer is no, you can leave when the credits start to roll. The longer answer is that there should have been one. Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland ended the movie with a bizarre scene that involves track-suited, karate fighting killers in blond wigs, led by ringleader Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell). It's a deep cut reference to disgraced British television host Jimmy Savile, but it's also a drastic tonal shift from the rest of the movie. The newest movie is actually the launching point for a hopeful new trilogy, starting with 28 Years Later and continuing with the January 2026 release of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Since the final scene seems to be more of a lead-in to that follow up film, it would have been less of a vibe shift had it followed a wave of credits.
