Who is Actor X?

James Franco?

Bea Arthur?

George Clooney

Dick Van Dyke?

Mel Brooks?

Henry Cavill

^ BAH!

I'm glad Jim Field Smith is speaking out, but I'm surprised that he thought addressing this issue only with the actor's agent and the actor himself would lead to the actor (and apparently director, as per the "and behind the camera" reference) not working anymore. Of course, such heinous activity SHOULD at least lead to an actor being dropped by his powerful agency, but did Smith really believe that would actually happen?

It seems "Actor X" is working "behind and in front of" the camera. Since Franco's career is effectively over, I'd say Bradley Cooper.

Ben Affleck?

Kenneth Branaugh

It would be interesting if it *is* Clooney

Baffleck

DiCaprio

It's not me you fags!

Christian Bale?

It’s someone who’s British and might be David Walliams (sp?) .

Jason Bateman

It says a "Hollywood" actor so probably not a guy who is primarily known in Britain

Why is he protecting this person? If he knows that he is an abuser, out him.

Jason Sudeikis

Ryan Reynolds

Jonah Hill

Sounds like another case for the Rape Brigade.

Leo?

Attention whoring by the douchey director. If you are going to accuse, accuse.

Cruise? Thinly veiled threats sounds like Co$.

R25 I felt that way too. Lame to call it out unless you are going to NAME NAMES.

He's probably put himself in a terrible position by saying it the way he said it, because if even a second Brand type emerges, there's a lot of pressure on everybody to say what they know.

Would it be very hard to figure? Check out IMDB and see the director's projects, then see if there's anything to indicate a casting of someone when someone else had been in discussions or rumoured to be in discussions. It doesn't always stay quiet who was up for a part.

I thought all the bad people (Harvey, Casey Affleck, James Franco, Bryan Singer, Mel Gibson) were purged.

^ Mel Gibson still works, he hasn't been "purged" at all

His IMDb profile shows mainly British tv shows and series. The only thing of note is the 2010 movie “She’s out of my League” with Jay Baruchel and T. J. Miller. Nothing that would interest the likes of Cruise or DiCaprio or Gibson.

Casey Affleck still works.

Has any female ever been me too'ed?

Does this revelation mean the perp is definitely a sexual predator or perhaps just an ass that no one wants to work with (Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper)?

Oops, meant to post IMDB link.

I’ll guess Ben Stiller.

In any case, this guy is a wuss for being cryptic about this person’s identity. If he doesn’t want to name names, he should have taken this information to Ronan Farrow or another investigative reporter.

Noel Clarke

[quote]In any case, this guy is a wuss for being cryptic about this person’s identity

Never heard of libel laws?

[quote] If he doesn’t want to name names, he should have taken this information to Ronan Farrow or another investigative reporter.

And what? They wouldn't publish anything without flawless evidence, again - libel laws.

bump

Seth Rogen

R40 I was thinking of him too.

Rogen and Franco seem to be, generally speaking, in fewer and fewer projects which may mean bridges burned. They struck me as the likeliest candidates.

Cooper seems unlikely. Clooney, possibly? But he doesn't seem super likely either.

Cruise has long been an asshole and, clam issues aside, his peculiarities are not new news.

This is turning into a witch hunt, yet again. If you’re not willing to name names (McCarthy, anyone), then keep your trap shut. It just comes off as attention-seeing.

Are any of us really surprised that people are shooting up pizza parlors? More hysteria.

If you have a problem, go to the police and make a report. I have absolutely no sympathy if you don’t. If you’re willing to sacrifice your self-respect for a career, that’s on you. There’s a price to pay. It’s like Rose McGowan who took money and then cried rape years later and now wants to be the hero.

This hysteria over sex is really getting insane, and I say this as someone who was raped.

My first thought was Franco, who still works, though not as often as before.

[quote]Are any of us really surprised that people are shooting up pizza parlors? More hysteria.

You're a fucking moron.

And once again people, the guy is a British TV director, it's going to be a Brit, not Hollywood

What did the actor do? The article mentions nothing specific.

Sean Penn? He's known for being a violent asshole, works in front of and behind the camera. Seems to wield a lot of power in Hollywood. Beat up Madonna and Robin Wright when he was with them.

R44, the article describes him as a "Hollywood" actor

r47 And yet the actual thread on Twitter does not mention Hollywood at all. And that's why you should always go to primary sources rather than rely on something written by a professional wrestling "journalist"

And while I'm at it, I'll also point out that Smith says he continues to work in front of and behind the camera. So further limit the guesses.

Mark Wahlberg, reverting to type

Smith has directed several American actors. Just because he's a Brit doesn't mean the "A-list actor" is British.

It could be Clooney if he was confronted about Lake Como rumors and denied them.

r50 Again "A-list actor" is not in the tweet thread

[quote] But of course several years later X is still working, in front of and behind camera.

Tom Hanks?

R52 Not in so many words, but he refers to "their" "very powerful agency." I doubt that all of Hollywood would be contorting itself to protect some minor player. It could be a woman for all the detail in those tweets. And it could be absolutely anybody, or nobody at all. The whole thing could be made up.

It would be difficult to expose Clooney, he has several layers of protection in place that have served him well since the 2013 incident.

First, he supposedly used the same high powered, ruthless Fixers that Harvey Weinstein used, Sunshine Sachs Fixers. Sunshine's Fixers were able to intimidate Weinstein's victims into silence for many years until he was finally exposed. They've used the same strong-arm tactics to intimidate and silence Clooney's victim and those in the know. Sunshine Sachs is also the real reason Clooney was at Sussex wedding, he owes Sunshine Sachs, they saved his career.

Second, Clooney's beard comes from an arms dealing family which provides another layer of intimidation and protection. The victim and locals don't want to tangle with her scary arms dealing family. Her uncle is Ziad Takieddine.

Third, allegedly there is a Super Injunction in place that prevents media from reporting on Clooney's misdeeds in Italy and which also explains why the Daily Mail hasn't touched the story. A lawyer/beard sure does come in handy for filing super injunction court orders...

Weinstein finally got exposed because he is ugly and unlikable. Clooney is attractive and charming thus it will take longer to expose him, if ever.

Jon Favreau? He seems sleezy enough.

Hugh Jackman?

r54 As I've already said, he doesn't mention Hollywood. Since people seem to have a problem clicking - here's what he actually said:

[quote]I was once dissuaded from hiring Actor X because other actors I was meeting for other roles had heard X might be attached to the project and had said unequivocally they would not work on the project in those circumstances.

[quote]There were no criminal allegations against X, but rather a pattern of behaviour that several people had either noticed or been personally subjected to. When I asked these people why this wasn’t common knowledge, they said that speaking up didn’t seem to make a difference.

[quote]This was really troubling. After not much deliberation, the casting director and I decided not only to cease negotiations with X, but also more importantly to be very open and honest about why we were doing so.

[quote]The fury and thinly-veiled threats I subsequently received from X’s very powerful agency were eye-watering, but not unexpected.

[quote]I was then contacted directly by X. Calmly and - it must be said, somewhat convincingly - they wanted to reassure me that anything I might have heard about them was just gossip. But nonetheless they were keen to know who my “sources” were.

[quote]When I refused to disclose them, X started listing several possible suspects - none of whom, tellingly, were the original sources, thus convincing me we had made the right decision.

[quote]But of course several years later X is still working, in front of and behind camera. Those that had expressed their concerns originally were all right about one thing for sure - speaking up didn’t seem to make a difference.

[quote]The Russell Brand case has brought this all up for me again. If someone in a position of relative power, such as me, can’t really make a dent on a situation like that, then what hope do victims have?

[quote]Are we really surprised that people don’t speak up, when at best it has no effect and at worst it can destroy their own lives further? The onus is not on victims to press charges. There is also not, as Russell Brand seems to think, a statute of limitations on shitty behaviour.

[quote]We should of course hear and enable the victims’ voices. But it’s not them that should be forced to speak up. It’s us.

Please be Chris Pratt

Please be Chris Pratt

Please be Chris Pratt

Three words. Sacha Baron Cohen

R58 - the article itself mentions a “very powerful Hollywood actor”. So I’m guessing that’s what people are going off regardless what the director is quoted as saying.

It's not Clooney. Whatever you may say about him and God knows I have, he's generally well liked.

r61 So the article is wrong.

This director is pretty much exclusively TV in the UK. He hasn’t worked with any big Hollywood actors. I think saying it’s a Hollywood actor as suggested by the author of the article is a bit of a flex (and misinformation). I’d say think bigger name UK actors. Someone that came to mind when he thought of Brand, so maybe someone Brand adjacent?

R60 may be on to something…

[quote]Has any female ever been me too'ed?

This vile cunt:

I don't know who this is, but I was DEFINITELY raped by him.

[quote]As I've already said, he doesn't mention Hollywood.

But he mentions that the person in question has a "very powerful agency." So do you think the person is a British actor represented by a very powerful agency even though he has no presence in Hollywood? Do you think he means a very powerful agency in England, or in the larger sense? Because no agencies in England are "very powerful" relative to U.S. agents like CAA and WME.

R58 Hollywood/A List... Semantics. Who cares? Every news article about this must have gotten it wrong then. I apologize for not studying the director's tweets in detail before responding to a gossip tidbit. The point is that this person is clearly a very big-name actor/director who wields a lot of power and is being protected by the big guns who represents him (her?), no matter which side of the pond s/he's on. I do find it kind of ironic that Smith makes such a big deal about how "we" (not the victims) need to speak up, and yet he doesn't identify the mysterious Actor X.

[quote]I do find it kind of ironic that Smith makes such a big deal about how "we" (not the victims) need to speak up, and yet he doesn't identify the mysterious Actor X.

Yes, I had the same reaction.

Ok so Kenneth Branagh then

Ooh, Branagh is a good guess

No one has even uttered KB's name since the late 90s. You must be shrooming.

Hugh Laurie

Cumberbatch

Idris

Derrrr me. Scratch Idris as he just worked with him. I was mostly joking anyway.

No one else immediately thought of actor/producer Ashton Kutcher? "Behind the camera" doesn't necessarily mean actor/director.

Defended Danny Masterson, founded anti-sex abuse charity Thorn from which he just stepped down. Repped by CAA.

And his venture capital firm is called [bold]A[/bold]-Grade Investments ("an A-List actor is allegedly being protected).

Then there was the murder of Kutcher's girlfriend ...

Tobey Maguire produces as well as acts, and he is supposed to be the actor that the sociopathic "Player X" was largely based on in Molly's Game. That player said he didn't enjoy poker, and he didn't enjoy winning, he just enjoyed destroying people.

[quote]The only thing of note is the 2010 movie “She’s out of my League” with Jay Baruchel and T. J. Miller

I wonder if it could be Jonah Hill. Baruchel recently came out saying he didn't get along with Hill during the making of This Is The End or in general. Hill seems like he could have been considered for the Miller role in League.

r41 Franco was unemployable for years and for the most part, still is (he's doing lower budget stuff). Seth Rogen has a popular series on Apple+ and just had a hit movie this summer with the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which he wrote and produced (and actually did both, not just like a credit for work his company did). He also voiced Donkey Kong in Super Mario Bros and they're doing a spinoff starring Donkey Kong. His new major studio movie DUMB MONEY is in limited release and getting a wide release in a few weeks. Sorry for the bio, but if someone wants to stupidly throw names out because a name pops into their head, i'm happy to point out all the studios still working with him. Also a huge fan of his.

Martin Freeman or Jame Corden.

r80 James not Jame. But it's funny to consider the singular version of James

r68 Christ, how fucking dense are you? Or does absolutely everything have to revolve around the US? If you work almost exclusively in the UK, then the British agencies would be rather powerful, wouldn't they? Get it now?

r69 Yeah, what the fuck do facts matter, eh? And another moron who has never heard of libel laws.

I know, R82. People are so dense. This guy directs pretty much only UK tv series, the biggest UK celebrity he’s worked with is Iris Elba, but Ashton Kutcher, Tobey Maguire, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, etc, are wondering why he won’t work with them…This guy doesn’t seem big enough that any Hollywood actors would even know him.

Thought Sean Penn at first. According to blinds, he's involved in a lot of shady business. However, I think it's more likely to do with a Scientologist. They have a reputation for leaning on people.

Not sure how "dense" you two are at R82 / R83 to not realize that "Hollywood actor being protected against ‘troubling’ abuse allegations, director warns" means Hollywood. Not London. So any guess that is not Hollywood is wrong out of the gate. Which is why we are guessing Hollywood names.

WOW YOU TWO ARE DENSE.

R85, some people are noting correctly that the word "Hollywood" appears nowhere in Jim Field Smith's quotes about this whole thing, so they think whoever wrote the article about it may have just assumed it was a Hollywood actor and may have added that word.

Steven Fries

r85 Because a newspaper would surely never lie to increase clicks, would they? Go ahead, click on the "journalist's" name from that article. I'm sure he's massively experienced with Hollywood and deeply connected and....

[quote]Alistair McGeorge | Freelance WWE and Entertainment Reporter Lover of professional wrestling, pop punk and terrible horror films. Contributing reporter covering all things WWE, AEW, IMPACT Wrestling and beyond.

Oh.

But feel free to point out to me where Field Smith himself ever refers to Hollywood. Or feel free to point out to me which one of his projects featured a big Hollywood star.

Not our fault that the article leads with "Hollywood" and not anyone else's fault to guess Hollywood stars. But I understand now that it may be misleading and even wrong, R86 / R88.

I'm wondering if it's Mark Wahlberg. He started his own production company because, in his words, he wasn't getting the parts that were going to Cruise, DiCaprio and others. And he wanted to be in charge of finding properties and getting roles that he wasn't otherwise getting. He has a history.

However, the England thing is throwing me off.

Jude Law?

I don’t think Wahlberg because Wahlberg basically makes his own movies.

Ben Affleck is definitely a contender.

I don’t think it’s Bradley Cooper. I remember Cameron Crowe calling him a “weird bird” to Amy Pascal in the Sony e-mail hacks. I don’t think it’s him.

It would be someone we wouldn’t suspect.

r89 And I wasn't faulting anyone for going off the article. I called someone dense because even after it was pointed out that the article was wrong, they still tried to double down and insist it must be about a Hollywood star.

It will surprise no-one to learn that the Metro is owned by the same company that owns the Daily Mail.

Is there a Madame X?

r95 Funny you should ask. I was looking through Jim Field Smith's likes, in the hope of getting a clue on who he was talking about (unsuccessfully) and he liked this:

[quote]You hear about weird, inappropriate stuff, rarely witness it, but I’ve seen enough over 30 years in TV. eg. The male presenter who insisted on a meeting in his dressing room who then stripped off. The male presenter who wore just a towelling robe to prod meetings and let it fall open. The female presenter who regularly stood in front of my colleague to put her hands down his trousers as I stood beside them on set.

I hope it's not Sacha- looking at his IMDB, he doesn't do much television, aside from his own series.

Ricky Gervais did direct a movie, and done a fair bit of British tv. I hope it's not him either.

No, R85. Some of us are just better at thinking critically than you obviously are.