After Oliver Stone’s defense of disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein this week, Oscar-winner Patricia Arquette is alleging that Stone has sexually harassed her in the past.
In a tweet thread Friday, Arquette described a film deal that almost happened “years ago,” but stopped short after she found the 71-year-old director’s behavior “weird.”
“Oliver Stone wanted me to do a movie. We talked about the material, which was very sexual. The meeting was professional,” Arquette wrote. “Then I received from him long stem jungle roses. It’s not uncommon to receive flowers but something about them felt weird. I ignored it.”
Arquette says an assistant then called to make sure she received the roses and invited her to a screening. Uneasy about the gesture, Arquette says she opted to bring her boyfriend as a plus-one to the event, and that’s when Stone’s demeanor changed.
“He said, ‘Why did you bring him?’” she wrote. “I said, ‘Why is it a problem I brought him? It shouldn’t be a problem. Think about THAT Oliver.”
After that conversation, Stone apparently dropped her from the project cold turkey.
“Anyway, never heard about the movie again and didn’t care to,” Arquette said.
She went on to describe the “craggy and uncertain terrain women negotiate” in the entertainment industry and beyond. If she hadn’t brought her boyfriend and Stone had harassed her, she might have been blamed for not bringing a date, she says. If she’d spoken out about it, people might have told her “nothing happened” since there was no proof beyond her own discomfort.
Ultimately, Arquette says, this is a problem that spans far beyond the entertainment industry.
“It’s everywhere.”
Her tweets come one day after Billions showrunner Brian Koppelman tweeted that the one meeting he’s had with Stone—a “huge creative influence” of his—was the “single creepiest meeting [he] was ever in. Loathsome. Sexist. Pig.”
https://twitter.com/briankoppelman/status/918661615662325762
And former Playboy model Carrie Stevens recounted Stone “grabbing [her] boob” once at a party:
When I heard about Harvey, I recalled Oliver walking past me & grabbing my boob as he walked out the front door of a party. Two of a kind!
— Carrie Stevens (@CarrieStevensXO) October 13, 2017
Arquette’s full thread is below:
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918861496024629249
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918861755962466304
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918861932576129024
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918862807642320901
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918865590135279617
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918870731899002880
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918877698864373760
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918870293539704832
https://twitter.com/PattyArquette/status/918882674042863616
