Did he wreck my husband’s career because I said No?
‘He moves right up close to me’
HARVEY Weinstein allegedly propositioned a British actress a day after he screen-tested her actor partner, telling her: ‘Let’s hope it works out for your boyfriend.’
Alice Evans said her now husband Ioan Gruffudd did not get the film role after she rejected the Hollywood mogul, and questioned whether he had blacklisted them.
She recalled Weinstein telling her that Mr Gruffudd was ‘a talented guy’ who had done ‘an incredible job’ in his audition, moments before he tried to force her into a hotel bathroom.
Weinstein was explicit that he wanted to kiss her and grope her breasts, Miss Evans said, and admitted she had actually considered whether she should give in to him because of his influence in the industry.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘A part of me felt, “Well, why don’t you go to his hotel room?” I hate myself for saying that now. There was this fear of offending somebody who was probably the most powerful person in the industry.’
The alleged encounter happened at a cocktail party at the five-star InterContinental Carlton Hotel in Cannes in 2002 after Miss Evans and Mr Gruffudd had starred in the Disney film 102 Dalmatians.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, the actress described how she had hoped to impress Weinstein, despite having heard rumours about him demanding ‘ massages and worse’ from women.
Miss Evans said: ‘Suddenly, out of nowhere, he’s asking me to go into the hotel bathroom with him.
‘I laugh, make a joke. Keep rambling. But he continues. “Just go. I’m right behind you. I want to touch your t***. Kiss you a little.”
‘He moves right up close to me and looks me up and down. I can feel his breath. And it’s not your average tipsy come-on. It’s sinister. The sort of thing that makes you want to run away fast.’
Miss Evans said she made excuses and backed away, but heard Weinstein tell her: ‘Let’s hope it all works out for your boyfriend.’
She said she immediately feared that her career and that of Mr Gruffudd might suffer because of her rejection of the powerful producer.
She said: ‘He propositioned me, overtly, repeatedly, then he turned nasty when I said no, but that’s not illegal. Yet I can’t help feeling I’m the one who has behaved badly here – and that somehow I will be made to pay.’
The next night she saw Weinstein at a party in Cannes and approached him, hoping he might laugh off the episode with ‘friendly banter’. Instead he ‘blanked’ her, asking ‘Do I know you?’ before walking away.
Miss Evans said: ‘I was never again considered for a Weinstein film and neither was Ioan. I’ll never know if my refusal to be sexually available for Mr Weinstein at the moment he fancied his little fix had me blacklisted or whether I’m inflating my own importance in a much bigger picture.’
She also recalled an encounter with a female producer who told her Weinstein ‘would like to sign off personally’ on a role, adding that ‘if you’re on good terms… well, you know’.
Mr Gruffudd went on to star in the superhero film Fantastic Four – produced by 20th Century Fox – but has spoken of his frustration at his rejection for other roles.
Miss Evans remains best known for her role in 102 Dalmatians. She met Mr Gruffudd on the set of this movie. The pair married in 2007 and have two children.