Olivia Munn | Recent experience made her consider leaving the industry
Olivia Munn has alleged that her co-stars from Shane Black-directed “The Predator” have shunned her and refused to give interviews with her. Olivia Munn , who shared a scene with registered sex offender Steven Wilder Striegel in a since-deleted scene in the film, had outed the actor and had alerted studio 20th Century Fox of his history.
In 2010, Striegel pleaded guilty to allegations that he tried to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship online. Black originally defended casting Striegel, who has previously appeared in the filmmaker’s “Iron Man 3” and “The Nice Guys”, saying “I personally chose to help a friend”.
But after the Times story, Black said, “It has sadly become clear to me that I was misled by a friend I really wanted to believe was telling me the truth when he described the circumstances of his conviction. I believe strongly in giving people second chances but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped.
The 38-year-old actor Olivia Munn said she was left confused after her co-stars — Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes, and Boyd Holbrook — gave a standing ovation for the director after the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I looked back and I see the guys standing up, and I was just confused, because I hadn’t heard from them during the day. Everybody else was sitting down, it wasn’t like this massive standing ovation for him,” Munn told Vanity Fair.
“I felt it was still appropriate to clap and cheer, but to actually make that gesture to stand up, especially in this moment… and privately I knew that no one reached out to me to say, ‘Are you OK?’ It did feel bad,” she added. The “X-Men: Apocalypse” actor told the outlet that one of her co-stars walked out of an interview with her and others backed out of scheduled press interactions. The actor said she privately encouraged them to talk about the issue but none of them responded.
“I wanted them to not be blindsided the way I was blindsided, and I encouraged them to put out a statement once the LA Times reached out to us. I was surprised that none of them did. Again that’s their prerogative. “Right now the reality is that there will be people who wear Time’s Up pins and say they support Time’s Up, (but) there will be people in Time’s Up who aren’t really down with the cause,” Munn said. On Thursday, The Times published a report that 20th Century Fox had deleted a scene from the upcoming sci-fi thriller that featured Striegel, Black’s friend of 14 years.
“After learning more about the affidavit, transcripts, and additional details surrounding Steve Striegel’s sentence, I am deeply disappointed in myself. I apologise to all of those, past and present, I’ve let down by having Steve around them without giving them a voice in the decision.”
Olivia Munn has been working in Hollywood for over a decade, with recent roles in blockbusters like X-Men: Apocalypse and Ocean’s 8, but said that her recent experience has made her consider leaving the industry behind altogether. “I love being an actor, but if it comes at this cost, who wants it? Who cares? I’m so much more than who I am as an actor, and so many other things going on in my life. I love it, but they can take it, if that’s what it comes down to.”