As Shane Black’s The Predator made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday, it did so amidst controversy, as it was found that the director had cast registered sex offender Steven Wilder Striegel in the movie without telling anyone about his friend’s past.
Since this revelation came to light, it was announced that 20th Century Fox had removed a scene from the sci-fi sequel featuring the actor, who had previously held roles in the Black-helmed films Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys. Black has also issued a public apology, while claiming he’d been misled about his friend’s record. The Predator star Olivia Munn, however, believes that these measures aren’t enough, telling The Los Angeles Times that she doesn’t accept the filmmaker’s apology.
“I don’t accept Shane’s apology,” Munn said. “It wasn’t given to me personally… A real apology has to be done privately — not just read publicly and I read it with the rest of the world.”
In the new action film, Munn plays Casey Bracket, a science teacher and biologist who crosses paths with the titular extra-terrestrial of the Predator series. Munn took to Twitter earlier this month to express her disapproval of Black’s actions, and she expands on her point further in this latest interview.
“Whatever small amount of power or fame that I’ve created, I’m not willing to share it with someone like that,” Munn said. “And if Shane wants to share his platform and his power with someone like that, that’s on him. But I deserve to make that choice for myself.”
Indeed, Black himself has stated that the second chance he offered to Striegel was not as warranted as he previously thought, having now looked further into the details and transcripts surrounding the actor’s sentence.
However things work out for Black and Munn, you can expect some of this tension to still be in the air by the time The Predator hits US theaters on September 14th.
