Last week was a tough one for The Predator.
Not only did Shane Black’s franchise reinvention struggle to leave much of an impression among critics, but it also came to light that the writer-director had knowingly cast Steven Wilder Striegel, a registered sex offender, for a scene with former X-Men star Olivia Munn.
What makes this all the more shocking is that said scene involved Striegel’s nondescript character making “repeated sexual advances” towards Munn’s Casey Bracket, and it wasn’t until the actress alerted 20th Century Fox that the brief exchange was pulled from The Predator‘s theatrical cut.
Shane Black’s subsequent apology hasn’t been received well, either (more on that later), though over on Twitter, Olivia Munn’s co-star Sterling K. Brown has now voiced solidarity with the actress, and echoed her concerns about Black withholding such crucial information from the ensemble cast.
Via Twitter:
Our studio was not given that opportunity, and neither was our cast. Especially @oliviamunn who was the only member of the principal cast who had to work with him. I so appreciate that you “didn’t leave well enough alone,” & again, I’m sorry you feel isolated in taking action.
— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018
Thank you to @20thcenturyfox for taking quick action in deleting the scene. @oliviamunn I hope you don’t feel quite so alone. You did the right thing. 🕉
— Sterling K Brown (@SterlingKBrown) September 9, 2018
Like we said before, Munn outright rejected Shane Black’s apology on the belief that it should’ve been sent to her privately, rather than being posted online in what can be seen as a desperate attempt to rectify a pretty gross situation.
The actress has since provided a little more insight into the situation via The Hollywood Reporter, where she admitted that while the scene in question was deleted from The Predator, it really shouldn’t have been there to begin with.
I did see his apology that he put out. I appreciate the apology. I would have appreciated it more if it was directed toward me privately before it went public and I had to see it online with everyone else. It’s honestly disheartening to have to fight for something so hard that is just so obvious to me. I don’t know why this has to be such a hard fight. I do feel like I’ve been treated by some people that I’m the one who went to jail or I’m the one that put this guy on set.
I found out, and [it] was really important to me to have the scene deleted. When the press found out, they asked for a statement, I gave a statement. I found out those details like everybody else did. It was shocking and disturbing. Now when I’m being asked about it, I don’t know how to lie about it. I don’t know how to pretend, I don’t know how to skirt around the issue. I just know how to be honest about it.
The Predator is due to hit theaters this Friday, September 14th, and while Shane Black was clearly hoping to put a pin in this whole ordeal, it’s not hard to imagine some people outright boycotting his sci-fi feature for this controversy.
