Hollywood producer Scott Rudin's former employees accuse him of abusive behaviour
Apr 08, 2021
Washington [US], April 8 : Hollywood producer and EGOT winner Scott Rudin is currently facing allegations of alleged abuse, which were detailed by several of his former staffers in a new report.
The new report from The Hollywood Reporter stated that several of Rudin's former employees have accused the 62-year-old producer of violent outbursts on numerous occasions while they were working for both him and his production company, Scott Rudin Productions. No charges are known to have been filed against him.
A staffer at the time told The Hollywood Reporter that Rudin allegedly smashed an Apple computer monitor on an assistant's hand in October 2012, after the employee was unable to get him a seat on a sold-out flight. The assistant was left bleeding and was treated at the emergency room.
Andrew Coles, a then-assistant and now-manager and producer, said, "We were all shocked because we didn't know that that sort of thing could happen in that office. We knew a lot could happen. There were the guys that were sleeping in the office, the guys whose hair was falling out and were developing ulcers."
Speaking about the workplace environment he added, "It was a very intense environment, but that just felt different. It was a new level of unhinged -- a level of lack of control that I had never seen before in a workplace."
Caroline Rugo, who began working for Scott Rudin Productions as an executive coordinator in the fall of 2018, also divulged alleged instances of abuse by Rudin at the New York City office.
Rugo said, "He threw a laptop at the window in the conference room and then went into the kitchen and we could hear him beating on the napkin dispenser."
"Then another time he threw a glass bowl at [a colleague]. It's hard to say if he threw it in the general direction or specifically at [the colleague], but the glass bowl hit the wall and smashed everywhere. The HR person left in an ambulance due to a panic attack. That was the environment," she added.
Ryan Nelson, who served as Rudin's executive assistant from 2018 to 2019, told The Hollywood Reporter that he reportedly witnessed and experienced severe mistreatment by Rudin. He claimed Rudin once threw a stapler at a theater assistant and called him a "retard."
Nelson, who has since left the industry altogether said, "Every day was exhausting and horrific. Not even the way he abused me but watching the way he abused the people around me who started to become my very close friends. You're spending 14 hours a day with the same people, enduring the same abuse. It became this collective bond with these people."
Rudin's filmography includes 'No Country for Old Men', which won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2008, as well as 'Lady Bird', 'Fences', 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', 'School of Rock', 'Clueless', 'The Social Network' and 'Zoolander'.
He also produced Broadway shows including 'To Kill a Mockingbird', 'The Book of Mormon', 'Hello', 'Dolly!' and 'Passion'. He's won 17 Tony awards.
As per People magazine, his latest project, psychological thriller 'The Woman in the Window', will be released by Netflix on May 14. The Joe Wright-directed film stars Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Wyatt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Julianne Moore.