Web of Sex Scandals

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Precious Doll
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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This is getting more messy by the day: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/entert ... 4zz75.html
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Precious Doll wrote:Given all the recent Asia Argento publicity I will take this opportunity to recommend a film that she directed and co-wrote which I understand to have autobiographical elements titled Incompresa (Misunderstood) from 2014. Argento herself has an unbilled small role in the film. It's on Amazon Prime.
I haven't seen this one.

Also - let me add (since there are all kinds of rumors in Italy now) that while a victim of sexual harassment is, of course, always THE victim, a victim of sexual harassment who in turns, blackmails his or her harasser is also guilty - though of another type of crime. I'm not saying that this is what happened in this case, but it CAN happen, though I'm sure this will shock the many puritans here.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Given all the recent Asia Argento publicity I will take this opportunity to recommend a film that she directed and co-wrote which I understand to have autobiographical elements titled Incompresa (Misunderstood) from 2014. Argento herself has an unbilled small role in the film. It's on Amazon Prime.

Can't say I share the same enthusiasm for The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things which is bound to receive a lot of renewed interest. To be honest I can't even remember the film but I know that I have seen it.

I had to chuckle when I read Magilla post of not knowing of Asia Argento until #MeToo because I'd never heard of Anthony Bourdain until his death made headlines and I only read just a couple of weeks ago that he and Asia had been a couple.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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In Italy she's very famous, though I'd say more for her private and quite eventful life than for her work as an actress and as a director. As an actress, she's always been more an interesting presence than a true talent, and as a director her movies, while dealing with strong issues, have always been quite disappointing and amateurish.
Of course, being the daughter of such a popularl director means that she's famous since she was a child.
"Messy" is the right word to describe this situation - but also to describe Argento's life which, while obviously privileged, has always been controversial. To her credit, I have always felt - and I've met her a few times - that she's at least "honestly" controversial, that her public fights, her unhappy love affairs often with very problematic men, her shocking statements were at least genuine. Only in this Weinstein case I felt that - while, again, probably sincere - she was also using it to get back to international fame. (Even in Italy she had just taken part as a contestant in our edition of Dancing with the Stars, which at least here is a sign of having seen better days).
And for a short time she actually was internationally famous - she made movies in France, Uk, and in the US - the most commercially successful being xXx with Vin Diesel - when Vin Diesel was a star.
Now, again I can't say anything about this last turn of so many turns in her complicated life. Like Big Magilla, even I have found her version not totally plausible, but with Asia Argento you never know (by the way, this could make her lose a very well-paid job as a judge in the next Italian edition of the talent show X Factor, which she's supposed to start in September). But definitely, her confused and often contradictory words and actions, on many subjects, not just this one, didn't make her the ideal spokeperson of a movement which I already had some problems with (I am talking about the movement only, not the cause itself of course).
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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I don't know her and I don't know him, but his story sounds more plausible.

I never heard of Asia Argento before the #MeToo Movement and then only as Anthony Bourdain's girlfriend. I thought she was some minor actress. I had no idea she was Dario Argento's daughter or that she was a successful actress/director.

Turns out I have seen Jimmy Bennett in a few things, most notably as Michelle Monaghan's son in 2008's Trucker, but the name didn't mean anything to me.

In one of the articles about her denial, not the one I referenced, she cites the fact that Bennett sued his parents for money as evidence of his being no good. Show business history is full of former child stars who sued their parents for stealing their money. If it's true that he thought of her as a second mother as indicated in some of the coverage, then her plying him with alcohol and raping him would explain the trauma. First she says there was no sexual activity n that hotel room, then she says she fell asleeep and woke up with hm on top of her. Still, his coming to her for hush money instead of going to the authorities with his story constitutes extortion and doesn't put him in a good light either.

Very messy business, this.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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True or not, I love crazy Italians :D
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Next Saturday week I'm going to a talk being given by Ronan Farrow titled 'Finding the truth'. It will be interesting to see how much time he spends speaking on his investigations into the allegations against Harvey Weinstein. There will be no Q&A as far as I know.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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The minute I saw this story in the news yesterday, my first thought was: "Get ready for more conversation than this board has seen in a while."

The older I get, my favorite response to any question has become "What's your point?" And for many people, everybody's point about Asia Argento is very clear. I trust I don't even need to say it. To quote from Slate: "Will these new revelations “undermine #MeToo,” as some have fretted? Probably only in corners that were eager to see the movement undermined anyway."

My position on the Me Too movement remains largely unchanged, that this was a process that was ultimately going to sort itself out. I'll add one significant caveat: man, we are a planet of trolls, aren't we? There is no past-time more enjoyed than pointing one's finger and saying "SEE???" I used to love trolls. I used to find them hilarious. Now... goddamn.

But to recap:
Roughly 95 of the 100 people (or whatever) outed during the Me Too Movement are pieces of shit that deserve to be outed and done with. It remains a remarkable batting average. Find me a quote of somebody saying on this board that the Me Too Movement was never going to be a messy, complicated process. It's already moved on to unpacking celebrity social media sins and James Gunn will never be rehired by Disney again. Just like people of color utilizing social media to share their horrendous experiences with the rest of us, women speaking out about their past abuses was technologically inevitable if not a very good -- if not essential -- thing. But of course, it would be disingenuous to claim that much of what is happening now is not influenced by the fact that our President is a horrifying misogynist who defeated not just the first woman nominated by a major party but one who happens to be as qualified for office as her opponent was unqualified. It would also be disingenuous to say that everything would be happening in the same way if Hillary Clinton was the President. "Trump Derangement Disorder" is an ugly name for a very real thing. But you're all intelligent people. You know that a version of The Me Too Movement was always going to happen. Like so many things under Trump's reign, it's happening a lot shittier than it should be. So, it's up to us to make it less shitty. Not through speaking truth. I hate that phrase. But by speaking empathy as well rationale measured thinking.

I don't know what being "a leader of the Me Too Movement" means. It doesn't come with a pension or a corner office. It seems to me that what it means is speaking out about being raped with a big microphone.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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I hope that the latest news about Asia Argento aren't true. She still hasn't commented on then.

A few months ago I was viciously attacked by some here (and, I must admit, defended by others). I was called pro-rape and some proclaimed that I should be banned from this board. It was, needless to say, very embarassing - a sort-of witch-hunt, headed by fanatics.

But I know Asia Argento. I like her, but I know that she is... well, here I can only say that she's a very emotional woman. VERY emotional. And when I saw that she was considered to be a reliable representative of a cause which by the way I personally believe in, I simply tried to open people's eyes, knowing even too well that a wrong testimonial can damage even the most important and just cause.

Which is unfortunately what's happening today in Italy. Those who attacked Argento in the past are now having a field day. But they are wrong, of course. Because whatever Asia Argento did to that teenage actor (IF it is true) doesn't make what Weinstein did to her and others less terrible. IF and most crucially IN THOSE CASES WHEN he did that. Most importantly, it can't be used to belittle the issue of sexual harassment, especially, let me say it, when it doesn't happen in show-business, but in offices, firms, factories, schools, churches, homes.When it happens to real women (and, less frequently to real men). The stars who wear black, who moved so many on this board to tears, don't have the same effect on me, sorry.

I said - and I was, again, attacked - that this is a risky subject, one where it's not always black-and-white, but often grey, an area where truth may be less easy to decipher, and innocent or at least non-aggressive gestures can be misunderstood, not intentionally maybe. I said - and again the crazed puritans attacked me - that each episode must be considered individually, treated separatedly, and analyzed carefully, because ambiguity is always dangerous and can destroy lives. Nobody here back then understood what I meant. Maybe today someone does.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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The details of this are the as bad as the worst we have heard of the men plying underage girls with alcohol and then raping them.

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander or vice versa as the saying goes.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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dws1982 wrote:Asia Argento, a #MeToo Leader, Made a Deal With Her Own Accuser

Argento is alleged (or maybe not alleged--NY Times says they have the documents) to have paid $380,000 to a former child actor named Jimmy Bennett, who accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17. Bennett played her son (when he was around 7 or 8) in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.
People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones they say but I'm afraid they usually do. If this story is true its a punch in the gut for the MeToo movement. When rightfully accusing H.W. she should have disclosed this at the same time (if true). It was bound to come out but she would have suffered less backlash than she is going to get with the revelation now.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Sabin wrote:She’ll drop out by end of day or tomorrow. I have no difficulty believing she didn’t know. Jessica Chastain strikes me as a very kind but somewhat clueless person. She had zero idea about the pay gap between white actresses and actresses of color until Octavia Spencer informed her. Admittedly, she took immediate action when she found out.
It took a week for Newton to be dropped as director from the project, though given he has written the screenplay one cannot 'unwrite' that. Interestingly Jessica Chastain, despite requests for comment on this has provided nothing. Absolute silence - not always a bad idea but given she has been so vocal in the past, one would have expected something. I have a feeling she won't be making any public comments about ItsTime for sometime. I know I have lots of questions I would like to ask her.

It appears that the 'dropping out' announcement has been left to Newton: https://variety.com/2018/film/news/jess ... 202901812/

I doubt this film will ever be made by Chastain but if Newton can raise money somehow he still may be able to make it.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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Asia Argento, a #MeToo Leader, Made a Deal With Her Own Accuser

Argento is alleged (or maybe not alleged--NY Times says they have the documents) to have paid $380,000 to a former child actor named Jimmy Bennett, who accused her of sexually assaulting him when he was 17. Bennett played her son (when he was around 7 or 8) in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.
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Re: Web of Sex Scandals

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She’ll drop out by end of day or tomorrow. I have no difficulty believing she didn’t know. Jessica Chastain strikes me as a very kind but somewhat clueless person. She had zero idea about the pay gap between white actresses and actresses of color until Octavia Spencer informed her. Admittedly, she took immediate action when she found out.
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