Accused Actor's Studios Now Have All Dropped Him

Armie Hammer had a full slate of film roles lined up until accusations of sexual assault began surfacing a few months ago. Now, Walden Media has dropped the actor from Billion Dollar Spy, the last job on his schedule. That means all the studios that were working with Hammer when the allegations hit have ended their business relationships with him, Variety reports. No other project has moved past the initial talks phase. Several women have accused Hammer of sexual assault, and Los Angeles police are investigating a rape accusation by a woman who said, "I thought that he was going to kill me." Hammer has said all his sexual relationships have been consensual and called the rape accusation "outrageous." The actor also has been dropped by his talent agency and publicist.

Dropping Hammer doesn't solve the dilemma for studios involving his films that are completed, per Variety. Disney has shuffled releases, postponing Death on the Nile until Valentine's Day 2022. Studios sometimes recast roles in such situations, but Disney evidently has no plans for reshooting. Actors also can stay in the movie but be pulled from publicity campaigns—even movie posters. There's the option now of skipping theatrical releases and sending the film straight to streaming. Studios want to demonstrate respect for any victims, executives said. As for Death on the Nile, an executive at another studio said, "It seems like the only way to go with this is to come out front and say, 'Hundreds of people worked on this project, and we’re not scrapping it because of one individual.'" (More Armie Hammer stories.)