Its been clear for months that Rebel Wilson was going to formally hit back against the litigating producers of her film The Deb with a lawsuit of her own, and now she has.
Just more than a week after the musical drama had its world premiere on the closing night of the Toronto Film Festival, Deb director Wilson and her lawyer Bryan Freedman assert in a September 26-filed counter-complaint that the Pitch Perfect star is “determined to fight not only for herself but also for The Deb and for all those who have silently suffered” from producer Amanda Ghost’s “reprehensible actions over the years.”
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“At its core are three co-producers — Ghost, Cameron, and Holden — who operated under the delusion that they could act at the expense of others with complete impunity,” says Wilson’s nine-claim breach of contract suit against Ghost and fellow Deb producers Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden.
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“Their involvement in the Film was marked by a troubling pattern of egregious and illicit behaviors, including theft, bullying, and sexual misconduct,” the 35-page filing in Los Angeles Superior Court states of the trio called “absolute f*ckwits” by Wilson in late July. “When these despicable actions were reported by Rebel Wilson — the film’s director, writer, and star actress — the trio resorted to the ‘Amanda Ghost strategy’ of intimidation and bullying to silence her and evade accountability. This strategy embodies a relentless cycle of manipulation and coercion that Wilson has endured since October 2023, showing no signs of abating.”
Read Rebel Wilson’s counter-complaint against The Deb producers here
As well as accusing the producers of getting their hands on “AU $900,000 from the film’s budget to be split between them,” Wilson’s counter-complaint follows up with specifics on the alleged treatment of MacInnes. The counter-complaint says that Ghost “forced MacInnes to live in her Bondi Beach penthouse apartment with her,” and the producer “took a shower and a bath with MacInnes.” The filing adds that “Ghost was overheard making overtly sexual remarks to MacInnes on set.”
This war of words and writs started back in the summer, when Wilson took to social media to chastise the producers for nixing The Deb‘s TIFF premiere, playing fast and loose with the film’s funds, and “inappropriate behavior towards the film’s lead actress” Charlotte MacInnes. The trio first responded to Wilson’s claims by terming them “false, defamatory, and disappointing.” They quickly followed that up on July 12 with a defamation lawsuit. On July 16, The Deb was officially on as the TIFF closing-night film, and on July 18, Wilson hired the pugilistic Freedman to go into legal battle for her.
Which bring us to this counter-complaint, and the unspecified damages it seeks.
“Amanda Ghost, Cameron Gregor, and Vince Holden attempted to manipulate the narrative by recklessly filing an outlandish lawsuit,” Freedman said in a statement outside of the filing.
The attorney went on to say: “Their real problem? Only a fraction of their outrageous conduct has been revealed thus far. In their desperation to shift the story, they neglected to consider that this strategy would only lead to RW’s filing of a cross-complaint which exhibits a plethora of their shocking misconduct which there are many witnesses to. Many brave people have come forward who have had similar dealings with Amanda Ghost. While unfortunate, this was not a surprise. Stay tuned, this is just the tip of the iceberg. There is much more to come.”
There always is.