Washington [US], April 5 : Director Paul Schrader, who is the screenwriter for 'Taxi Driver', 'Raging Bull', 'American Gigolo' and 'Affliction', has been accused of sexually harassing his former assistant and backing out of making settlement payments, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In a lawsuit filed in New York on Thursday, the 26-year-old woman, named as Jane Doe, claimed Schrader sexually assaulted her at the Cannes Film Festival last year "by luring her into a hotel room and forcibly grabbing her and kissing her, despite her verbal protests." Schrader was at Cannes for the premiere of his film, 'Oh, Canada'.
The woman, who worked for Schrader from May 2021 to September 2024 managed to free herself and flee the hotel room, the suit states, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
According to lawsuit, three days later, the woman went back to the screenwriter's hotel room after "receiving numerous calls and angry text messages, in which Defendant Schrader claimed that he was 'dying' and could not pack his own bags."
The lawsuit claimed Schrader "repeatedly demonstrated in writing that he understood his conduct was unwelcome and offensive" to his former assistant, "yet he knowingly proceeded to harass and forcibly touch her," as per the outlet.
The complaint included emails the screenwriter allegedly sent to Jane Doe, such as writing to her on May 22, 2023, "I sense you are uncomfortable with my affection for you."
The suit alleged, Schrader sent his former assistant an email in "full acknowledgment of his unlawful and predatory behavior," writing, "So I fucked up. Big time. ... If I have become a Harvey Weinstein in your mind then of course you have no choice but to put me in the rearview mirror," as per the outlet.
Schrader's attorney, Philip Kessler, said earlier that the legal filing is a "desperate, opportunistic and frivolous lawsuit to enforce a settlement that was never signed by Schrader."
Kessler noted that the accusations in the suit are "in many respects inaccurate, in other respects materially misleading and exaggerated. Mr. Schrader never had sex with his former assistant. He never tried to have sex with his former assistant. The circumstances here will be shown to have been blown very wildly out of proportion to reality." He added, "We intend to vigorously defend the case," as per The Hollywood Reporter.
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