Hello Sunday Wrap readers,

With Paramount poised to amass even more power in Hollywood by taking over Warner Bros. Discovery, Umberto Gonzalez explores how the company is “hiring so many men with troubled pasts,” including screenwriter Max Landis, actor Johnny Depp, animation chief John Lasseter and director Brett Ratner.

It’s a timely — and sobering — look at the state of #MeToo nearly a decade after a reckoning that shook the foundations of entertainment, media, and politics. The signal Paramount is sending, says Cornell professor Samantha Sheppard, is that “the boys are back in charge.”

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Michael Calderone
Media Editor
michael.calderone@thewrap.com

Why Is Paramount Hiring So Many Men With Troubled Pasts?

The hiring of Max Landis is just the latest example of Paramount betting on men who have been accused of sexual misconduct

By Umberto Gonzalez

David Ellison and Paramount Pictures have a message for Hollywood’s canceled #MeToo men: We’re hiring.

Barely six months after merging with Skydance, Paramount counts in its ranks screenwriter Max Landis, actor Johnny Depp, animation chief John Lasseter, director Brett Ratner and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, who has served as president since the Skydance takeover. All five men faced accusations of sexual misconduct before they were hired, some more serious than others, with Lasseter and Shell losing senior positions at Hollywood studios over their allegations.

After being accused of physical assault, Depp fought ex-wife Amber Heard in a defamation case and won. Ratner faced serious allegations of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct, with at least six women — including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge — publicly accusing him in 2017, but criminal charges were never filed. In a 2019 Daily Beast article, Landis was accused by multiple women of sexual assault, physical violence, emotional abuse and on-set harassment although as with Ratner, charges were not filed.

The career rehabilitation of these men at Paramount Skydance ...

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