‘BLADE’ STUNNER
Troubled star blames wacky rob tale on ex-colleagues’ publicity stunt, denies boozing
Actress Sean Young says she’s sober – and the real victim in last week’s alleged robbery of two laptops.
The “Blade Runner” star told the Daily News that she was scapegoated by two former colleagues looking to gain attention for their latest project.
“This is a slander campaign in order to create a buzz about their film,” she told The News via email. “I have email confirmations from the owner of the building for permission to pick up my belongings, which is what I was doing.”
A video released last week showed Young and her son leaving the Astoria offices of School of Old/Pendragon Pictures Production carrying the laptops, loading them into a waiting SUV and driving off.
Young, 58, told The News that she was simply reclaiming her property from the Queens building after walking away from a director’s deal for a movie about standup comedian Greg Kritikos.
Film director Timothy Hines and Kritikos called the cops on the “No Way Out” actress last Thursday, alleging that she swiped the two $5,000 MacBooks.
The accusers also charged Young was fired from the project for downing as many as 16 glasses of wine at lunch – an allegation she flatly denied.
“As far as any accusations about drinking while directing the movie, these are false,” said Young, who has fought a very public battle with alcohol. She checked into rehab in 2008 after heckling George Clooney and actress Marion Cotillard at the Directors Guild of America Awards.
While Kritikos blamed Young’s departure from the film on her hard drinking, the actress said she simply quit in early June because of issues with the budget and other conflicts.
“I didn’t end up respecting the people involved in the project,” she explained.
Young said she left behind the laptops and some external hard drives after walking out, and spent the two months trying to get her property returned.
“These fellows were notified of who to call to get back the laptops once I discovered they weren’t mine,” she said. “They didn’t respond and that may have been because they wanted to release their press statements in order to get their free publicity.”
Hines was shooting his latest work in an Astoria park when Young and her son arrived at the offices.
According to Young, she was unaware of any problems with the incident until she received an “insane-sounding voice mail…from Timothy Hines (who was) alleging a burglary had taken place, and I felt it would be safest to call my lawyer.”
Hines did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The NYPD has filed no charges in the case, and Young predicted the whole mess would resolve itself quickly.
“It’s a shame that they couldn’t have found a more ethical way of raising attention for their film than to try and set me up,” she said. “I wish them luck with their film.”