It's been a rough month for Armie Hammer. The actor, who was most recently seen in the Netflix film Rebecca, has been faced with some serious allegations online regarding his sexual fantasies, which appear to include cannibalism, along with the possibility that many of the DMs which were shared and said to be from him were sent to women who were not his wife at the time, Elizabeth Chambers. Hammer has already backed out of one high profile project, Shotgun Wedding, where he would have starred with Jennifer Lopez, and now he'll no longer be starring in the upcoming Paramount+ series, The Offer.
There aren't a lot of details right now, but according to Variety, Armie Hammer recently exited The Offer. It had just been announced as a starring vehicle for Hammer in early December, with him set to portray The Godfather producer Al Ruddy, and follow Ruddy's experience behind the scenes as he made the 1972 classic mob movie. Producers for the 10-episode series are currently on the hunt for a new lead to replace Hammer.
Again, this comes just about a week after Armie Hammer released a statement saying that he was dropping out of production for Shotgun Wedding, which is set to begin filming soon. Hammer called the allegations about his sexual fantasies "bullshit," and said the online attacks he'd been receiving because of those supposed DMs from him to various women were "vicious and spurious," leading him to make the decision that staying near his children and not heading off to the Dominican Republic to shoot was for the best right now.
This all started on January 10, when an anonymous Instagram account which goes by House of Effie began posting direct messages supposedly sent by Armie Hammer which detail a number of fantasies and sex acts he allegedly either enjoyed or had wanted to perform on the women he was corresponding with. Obviously, everyone has their own sexual tastes, and if you're able to find a consenting adult with which to perform any acts, it's not really anyone else's business.
But, the combination of the fact that none of these purported DMs were sent to Hammer's soon-to-be ex-wife, whom he was married to for a decade before she filed for divorce last summer, and the disturbing nature of many of the acts detailed within has kept people talking.
Right now, there's no way to know how this controversy will continue to impact Armie Hammer's career, but not appearing in two high profile projects doesn't seem to be a good sign in the short term. The Offer and Shotgun Wedding are now both under the gun to find a replacement for Armie Hammer so the productions can begin filming as previously planned, and letting the companies behind these productions down in such a way because of personal issues, even though the allegations are still unfounded, likely doesn't send the best message going forward.
In addition, The Offer was set to tell the previously undocumented story of Al Ruddy's experience working on The Godfather, and was set to help launch the rebranding of CBS All Access to Paramount+. And, not only is that another blow to the project if they can't find someone to take over for Hammer soon, but there is sort of a competing movie, Francis and The Godfather, which is set to focus on the making of The Godfather, and will star Oscar Isaac and Jake Gyllenhaal as Francis Ford Coppola and Paramount Pictures head Robert Evans, respectively. So, if it was hoped that The Offer could beat that film to the punch, this controversy might put a dent in those plans.
Basically, while we don't know if any of these allegations against Armie Hammer are true, they're still impacting the actor's work in a negative way, and the next few weeks will tell whether or not him no longer starring in a prestigious show like The Offer anymore is the tip of the iceberg.
