Samantha Morton appeared on a new episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast and recalled her tumultuous history with Harvey Weinstein, who is currently imprisoned as a convicted rapist. The Minority Report actor said Weinstein blackballed her on his films such as 2005s The Brothers Grimm after she turned down one of his movies years prior. That film was the 2000 romantic comedy About Adam, starring Kate Hudson, Stuart Townsend and Frances OConnor.
According to Morton, Weinstein was impressed with her performance in 1997s Under the Skin and courted her to star in About Adam.
I said, I dont like it, Morton said about turning down the offer. I think the film is really misogynistic and I dont want to be part of it. The casting director came back with, You dont say no to Harvey. Well its not to him. I just dont want to do this film and I had just worked with Stuart Townsend on Under the Skin. It was just not interesting to me. I was uber-polite.
I [then] had a phone call saying, You cant say no, she continued. The no wasnt being listened to. So they kept coming back with this role and I was told unequivocally, Youre not going to work again unless you do this role. Im going to make your life hell. You will not work again.
Morton stood her ground, but she said that cost her future roles in Weinstein-produced projects such as The Brothers Grimm. According to the actor, Weinstein said he didnt want her for the Matt Damon and Heath Ledger-starring fantasy film because she was unfuckable. Lena Headey was ultimately cast in the role.
It made me question why he was anti me? Morton remembered thinking, before realizing it all tied back to her refusal to star in About Adam.
I forgot about it because it was years earlier, she added. And then all these years later, I realized that [when] I get an offer, get a letter from a director, if Miramax or then the Weinstein Company had anything to do with it, it was just awful for me He had a reason, a deep-seated reason, to just try and destroy my career He categorically couldnt, because I kept working, doing independent cinema all over the world.
Morton continued to find work in Hollywood, be it in Steven Spielbergs Minority Report or on AMCs The Walking Dead. She most recently appeared in A24s Oscar winner The Whale and the #MeToo drama She Said, which centers on The New York Times investigation into Weinsteins sexual assault.