Anna Faris accused Ivan Reitman , the director of Ghostbusters who passed away in February, of inappropriate conduct on the set of My Super Ex-girlfriend .
Speaking with Lena Dunham on an episode of her own Unqualified podcast , Faris said that Reitman slapped her on her butt and yelled at her during the making, leaving her “angry, hurt and humiliated.” The actress recounted:
One of my hardest experiences was with Ivan Reitman. The idea of making a comedy in that, so to speak, reign of terror… He was a screamer. He took it out on someone every day. On my first day, it was my turn.
Anna Faris explained that she was late on set due to an accident, and that this delay sparked Reitman’s ire. In the past, the actress had already told the episode, without however mentioning the name of the director:
We were shooting a scene where I was on a ladder and had to take books off a shelf, and he slapped my butt hard in front of the crew. I could only giggle.
When some members of the crew asked her what she was planning to do, she decided to let it go:
I thought, “Well, that’s not serious. Cheer up, Faris. Have a little laugh ”. But she made me feel small. She would never have done it to the male lead.
Faris also revealed that Reitman told his agent he had nice legs:
I remember the director himself telling my agent, who told me, that I had nice legs and that was one of the reasons I was hired. In which, mind you, it’s a great compliment. I love my legs. But that affected the experience with that project. I don’t think the male lead was hired because he had nice legs. So I felt like I was hired for these qualities, not my talent.
Returning to the podcast, Lena Dunham retorted:
I don’t think you’re the first person to report this. And I am very sorry that you have had this experience. Was there no one who stepped forward to say “No”?
“No, it was 2006,” Faris replied. An era when current standards had not yet been promoted far and wide in Hollywood.