Luck runs out as star quits
In a letter to Skydance Media, Emma Thompson has outlined why she refused to work with former Pixar executive John Lasseter and was quitting the animated film Luck.
Thompson left the project shortly after Skydance hired Lasseter, the Pixar co-founder and former Walt Disney Co animation chief. Lasseter last year was forced out at Disney after acknowledging “missteps” in his behaviour with female staff.
In her letter, Thompson said it was very odd Skydance would consider hiring someone with Lasseter’s pattern of misconduct given the present climate.
“If a man has been touching women inappropriately for decades, why would a woman want to work for him if the only reason he’s not touching them inappropriately now is that it says in his contract that he must behave ‘professionally’?” wrote Thompson. “If a man has made women at his companies feel undervalued and disrespected for decades, why should the women at his new company think that any respect he shows them is anything other than an act that he’s required to perform by his coach, his therapist and his employment agreement?”
Lasseter’s hiring provoked a backlash from some who said he didn’t deserve a second chance so quickly. Time’s Up, the nonprofit body formed to combat sexual harassment in Hollywood, said his hiring “endorses and perpetuates a broken system that allows powerful men to act without consequence”.
Shortly after allegations were made against Harvey Weinstein in fall 2017, Lasseter announced he was taking a six-month sabbatical from Disney and apologised “to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug” or any other gesture that made them feel “disrespected or uncomfortable”. Disney permanently cut ties with him last June.