Rebel Wilson has been branded a ‘malicious bully’ by producers of her new film The Deb as the fallout from the movie’s bungled premiere continues to deteriorate.
The actress, 44, was sued for defamation this month by the producers, Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden, in a scathing lawsuit.
It came after Wilson shared an Instagram video berating the producers for allegedly blocking the movie from premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.
In response, the producers accused her of ‘shirking her responsibilities’ as a director by disappearing from set for extended periods, bullying staff, falsely claiming writing credits, and repeating a ‘fictitious’ claim Ghost had sexually harassed a lead actor in the film.
In an amendment to the lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com, the producers have now cited Wilson’s allegations against Sacha Baron Cohen that she made in her autobiography earlier this year.
They claimed the ‘false’ allegations were ‘used to promote the sale of her book’, as she ‘hypocritically played the victim in order to elicit public sympathy in the hope that it would advance her professional self-interest.’
Rebel Wilson, 44, has been accused of making ‘false’ allegations against actor Sacha Baron Cohen ‘to promote the sale of her book’ earlier this year, by the producers of her latest film who sued her for defamation
In her memoir Rebel Rising, the Australian actress, 44, made shock claims about her experience filming The Brothers Grimsby with ‘a**hole’ comedian Sacha Baron Cohen – which he strenuously denied
Wilson’s sexual harassment allegations against Sacha Baron Cohen caused a media storm earlier this year as she claimed her experience with the actor triggered an eating disorder.
She alleged that on the set of 2016 comedy The Brothers Grimsby, Sacha would ask her to strip off for scenes despite her ‘no nudity’ rule, in a string of claims which Sacha has strenuously denied.
But in the updated lawsuit, the producers cited this episode as they countered her claims about The Deb, as they alleged Wilson has ‘a history of fabricating false and malicious lies to hide her own lack of professionalism and advance her own self-interest.’
‘This is par for the course for Rebel,’ the lawsuit continued.
‘In her autobiography, Rebel included false allegations about well-known actor Sacha Baron Cohen’s alleged inappropriate behavior.
‘Due to these false allegations, portions of her autobiography were redacted when published in the United Kingdom and Australia.
‘Nevertheless, Rebel successfully used the furor around such allegations to promote the sale of her book. As with this situation, Rebel hypocritically played the victim in order to elicit public sympathy.’
They said that following the actress’ latest allegations against the producers of The Deb, ‘Rebel has run this playbook one time too many.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Wilson’s representatives for comment on the updated lawsuit.
The defamation suit against Wilson stems from her accusations that the producers of her new film The Deb blocked the movie from premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in September
Rebel in a scene from the musical comedy The Deb, which was filmed in Australia last year
The lawsuit was filed by producers Vincent Holden (left), Gregor Cameron and Amanda Ghost (pictured together right), who branded Wilson a ‘malicious bully’
The trio of producers are being represented in their lawsuit against Wilson by Johnny Depp’s former attorney Camille Vasquez, and are seeking more than $35,000 in damages.
The legal battle was kicked off when Wilson alleged in an Instagram video that The Deb was set to close out the Toronto Film Festival, but it was blocked by Ghost, Cameron and Holden.
She also accused the producers of ‘bad behavior’ on set, embezzling funds from the film and branding them ‘vile and disgusting’.
After the producers of Wilson’s film have claimed the allegations are ‘false’ and launched their defamation lawsuit, Wilson again took to Instagram to scathe her former colleagues.
She claimed that ‘it’s not defamation if it’s the truth’, adding: ‘Let our cool movie play at Toronto and stop messing about with a rubbish defamation suit against me!’
In the lawsuit against her, Wilson is accused of being a ‘bully’ on set who would make ‘unreasonable demands.’
When these demands weren’t met, according to the lawsuit, the actress would ‘spread vicious lies without regard for the irreparable damage her reckless words would cause on the hard-earned personal and professional reputations of Plaintiffs.’
The legal battle was kicked off when Wilson accused the producers of her movie of ‘bad behavior’ on set, embezzling funds from the film, as she branded them ‘vile and disgusting’
‘For years, Rebel has played the affable funny girl on the big screen and, off screen, portrayed herself as a champion of other female artists and whistleblower against abusive conduct within the film industry,’ the lawsuit continued.
‘This public persona, however, is a farce. Rebel is a bully who will disregard the interests of others to promote her own.’
Another shock claim levied by the producers is that Wilson hired a young writer – Hannah Reilly – to develop a screenplay for The Deb – before attempting to steal credit for herself.
The suit reads: ‘She granted a young artist a scholarship to develop a screenplay for “The Deb” (the “Film”), and then tried to claim writing credit for herself.
‘And, when Rebel did not get her way in business negotiations with the Plaintiffs concerning “The Deb” (including the writing credit), Rebel tried to intimidate Plaintiffs into giving her what she wanted by leveraging her persona and platform, with many millions of followers, to spread malicious lies about the Plaintiffs.’
The plaintiffs allege they ‘took a chance on Rebel’ who is a ‘novice’ to directing and producing but claim ‘she flatly refused to collaborate with Plaintiffs’ and exhibited ‘reckless conduct.’
Wilson’s allegations against Sacha Baron Cohen came shortly before he announced his split from actress wife Isla Fisher (pictured together in 2022)
The Deb, which stars Wilson and comedian Shane Jacobson, centers on a country school girl getting ready for her debutante ball.
The film will also feature actress Natalie Abbott from the ABC series Aftertaste, as well as newcomer Charlotte McInnes.
Locations include country towns such as Carcoar, Blayney, and Orange, as well as Sydney.
Last October, Rebel revealed that she turned down major offers in the States, so she could make her directorial debut Down Under.
‘If I was directing a movie it was only going to be in Australia because that’s authentic to me,’ Rebel told The Daily Telegraph at the time.
‘I didn’t want to do the studio ones I was offered in America because I didn’t feel like I had that heart connection,’ she explained.
Wilson said that during filming, she ‘discovered bad behavior’ on the part of the producers, and after powering through to finish the film, she was told she couldn’t release it at the Toronto film festival.
‘This is work of hundreds of people and this behavior is absolutely vile and disgusting.
‘I will speak the truth and warn people about people in the industry that are not behaving ethically. That is my dilemma if that movie doesn’t play at Toronto, it’s because of these absolute f**kwits,’ she said at the time.
