Distributor reviewing Louis C.K. film release after five women allege sexual misconduct

LOS ANGELES The small distribution company that is handling the release of Louis C.K.’s film “I Love You Daddy” says that it is reviewing the situation and giving careful consideration to the timing and release of the film.

The Orchard released a statement Thursday after a New York Times story reported the accounts of five women alleging sexual misconduct from C.K. The film had been set for a limited theatrical release on Nov. 17.

The statement also said there is never a place for the behaviour detailed in the allegations.

Earlier in the day, the company cancelled the New York premiere of the film. The Orchard acquired C.K.’s film at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year for $5 million.

In the film, C.K. plays a successful TV producer whose 17-year-old daughter begins a relationship with an older director. It spawns a kind of crisis for C.K.’s character, who has his own issues with how he treats women.

Five women — including comedians Dana Min Goodman, Abby Schachner, Julia Wolov and Rebecca Corry — allege C.K. either masturbated in front of them, asked to do so or did so over the phone.

The Emmy-winning star of FX’s “Louie” is known for his candid, warts-and-all personal humour, which also involves bodily fluids and sex.

Elsewhere, director Alfonso Arau is dismissing Debra Messing’s charge that he demeaned her on the set of her first film, “A Walk in the Clouds.”

He accused the “Will & Grace” star of “following fashion” with her accusation but that it had “nothing to do with reality.” He added that she owed him her career because he picked her from “many, many” actresses.

Messing spoke up in February about her experience on the movie, a romance released in 1995 co-starring Keanu Reeves.

And “Prison Break” star Robert Knepper is denying allegations that he forced himself on a costume designer in 1992.

Designer Susan Bertram told The Hollywood Reporter that Knepper sexually assaulted her while filming “Gas Food Lodging.” She alleges he grabbed her and pushed her against a wall in the actor’s trailer. She says she managed to escape.

Knepper responded to Bertram’s allegations on Instagram, saying “I am shocked and devastated to be falsely accused of violence against a woman. That’s just not who I am.”