Actress says stunt chief molested her in ’95
Actress Eliza Dushku (Buffy, Dollhouse) has accused s t unt co- ordinator Joel Kramer of sexually assaulting her while filming True Lies in 1995 — when she was 12 and he was 36.
In a Facebook post that quickly went viral on Saturday, Dushku wrote, “I have struggled with how and when to disclose this, if ever. At the time, I shared what happened to me with my parents, two adult friends and one of my older brothers. No one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I. ... It has been indescribably exhausting, bottling this up inside me for all of these years.”
She referenced the # MeToo movement for motivating her to reveal her experience with assault, explaining the way Kramer groomed her throughout the shoot until she felt comfortable with him, “luring” her to his hotel for a swim at the pool and dinner.
In his hotel room, she recalls, with detail, “I remember how he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged, naked, bearing nothing but a small hand towel held flimsy at his mid-section. I remember what I was wearing (my favourite white denim shorts, thankfully, secured enough for me to keep on). I remember how he laid me down on the bed, wrapped me with his gigantic writhing body, and rubbed all over me.”
In the weeks following, Dushku says Kramer “grew cold” toward her, and after a friend of hers confronted him, later that same day she was injured in a stunt he had co- ordinated, breaking two ribs.
Kramer would regularly call her “jailbait” on the set, Dushku recalled; “Whereas he was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser.”
Kramer, who recently did stunt co-ordination for Blade Runner 2049 and Star Trek: Discovery, said to Vanity Fair in response to Dushku’s allegations that they are “atrocious lies.” He confirmed he and some of the True Lies crew had taken Dusku for sushi and a swim at the hotel, but denied taking her to his room and molesting her, also claiming that she was never injured on the set.
Dushku’s legal guardian on the set, Sue Booth-Forbes, has since confirmed she was aware of the molestation, as were Dushku’s mother and brother. She also confirmed that Dushku was indeed hospitalized with broken ribs, labelling Kramer a “pedophile.”
Booth- Forbes said she reported the abuse but was met with “blank stares,” giving her the impression it wasn’t the first time it had happened.
At the 2018 Television Critics Association winter press tour, True Lies director James Cameron, who was on a panel for his new series Visionaries, commented on the news, saying he was not aware of it until Dushku’s Facebook post.
He said, “This is not a reckoning for Hollywood. This is not a reckoning for America. This is a reckoning for the human race. This shit’s been going on since day 1. ... It’s important for all industries and certainly Hollywood to create a safe avenue for speaking up, and anybody who might be a predator or an abuser knows that that system is there, and that there’s no shame around, and there will be consequences.”
Cameron added, “Directors are historically pretty oblivious to the interpersonal things on their set, because they’re so focused. I’m one of the worst offenders in that. ... Had I known about it, there would have been no mercy.”
In an essay for the Huffi ngton Post, True Li e s star Jamie Lee Curtis said Dushku had confided in her about the incident several years ago, though she is still “shocked and saddened” today. She wrote, “What allegedly happened to Eliza, away from the safety net of all of us and our purview is a terrible, terrible thing to learn about and have to reconcile.”
Kramer has since been dropped by his talent agency.