Over the weekend, Eliza Dushku became the latest celebrity to speak out about being harmed by a male co-worker on the set of True Lies a movie she filmed when she was only 12-years-old. In a detailed post, she said she had been molested by stunt coordinator Joel Kramer during the making of the film and that after the incident, which occurred in a hotel room, she continued to have to work with the stunt coordinator. Now, True Lies director James Cameron has responded about the incident at TCA, noting he wasn't aware at the time but that there would "have been no mercy" had he known. He said:
Directors are historically pretty oblivious to the inter-personal things that are happening on the set, because they're focused on what they're doing creatively, but had I known about there would have been no mercy. I have daughters. There really would be no mercy now.
There are a lot of moving parts that need to come together to make a movie work. The director has a key hand in a lot of these things, including making decisions on the fly. But although a director is ultimately responsible for the final product, he or she isn't necessarily aware of every single thing happening on -- and off -- of the set each day. Retrospectively, James Cameron can look back and wish he had known more on the set of True Lies, but that wouldn't change what already happened. Really, a person can only look to make things better in the future.
During the TCA event on Saturday (via People), James Cameron also expressed his feelings on Eliza Dushku speaking out about her experience on the set of True Lies.
Eliza is very brave for speaking up. It's just heartbreaking that it happened to her.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Eliza Dushku said that Joel Kramer had taken her back to his hotel room on the pretense of letting her use the pool. Reportedly, he then put a movie on and headed into the bathroom, emerging naked a few minutes later. According to the actress, he then rubbed himself all over her before intimating Dushku should keep what happened a secret. She said she told people involved in her life at the time, but that even adults like her parents were unsure how to handle what happened. She continued working with Joel Kramer on the set of True Lies after the alleged incident.
It's a tough story to read through, and Eliza Dushku is one of many who have come out in recent months as Hollywood has continued to work to clean up behavior that was long swept under the rug and not really spoken of in the industry. We'll keep you updated as more stories and experiences emerge.
