Lainey at LaineyGossip has been saying this whole time that Brett Ratner is the one we should be keeping our eyes on in the unfolding sexual harassment/abuse scandal rocking Hollywood. Harvey Weinstein was important, of course, but his power was already waning before the NY Times and New Yorker broke their stories. Brett Ratner was and is an incredibly powerful person still, and he has connections to a lot of the current power players operating in Hollywood today. Ratner’s RatPac-Dune helped produce Wonder Woman for Warner Bros, as well as the Batfleck movies and Justice League. Ratner and Warner Bros already “severed ties” with each other two weeks ago. And now Gal Gadot is using whatever power she has to say that she will not take part in another Wonder Woman movie if Ratner is in any way involved:
“Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot is continuing to battle accused Hollywood sexual harasser Brett Ratner by refusing to sign for a superhero sequel unless the movie-maker is completely killed from the franchise. A Hollywood source tells Page Six that Gadot — who last month backed out of a dinner honoring Ratner, where she was due to present him with an award — is taking a strong stance on sexual harassment in Hollywood and doesn’t want her hit “Wonder Woman” franchise to benefit a man accused of sexual misconduct.
Ratner’s production company RatPac-Dune Entertainment helped produce “Wonder Woman” as part of its co-financing deal with Warner Bros. The movie has grossed more than $400 million internationally, and Ratner’s company will take a healthy share of the profits. A Warner Bros. insider explained, “Brett made a lot of money from the success of ‘Wonder Woman,’ thanks to his company having helped finance the first movie. Now Gadot is saying she won’t sign for the sequel unless Warner Bros. buys Brett out [of his financing deal] and gets rid of him.”
The source added of Israeli-born Gadot, “She’s tough and stands by her principles. She also knows the best way to hit people like Brett Ratner is in the wallet. She also knows that Warner Bros. has to side with her on this issue as it develops. They can’t have a movie rooted in women’s empowerment being part-financed by a man accused of sexual misconduct against women.”
Earlier this month, Gadot posted on Instagram: “Bullying and sexual harassment is unacceptable! I stand by all the courageous women confronting their fears and speaking out. Together we stand. We are all united in this time of change.”
Reps for Gadot and Ratner did not comment. A rep for Warner Bros said only, “False.”
It honestly sounded like Warner Bros and Ratner were already working out their divorce, and Ratner was probably unlikely to have anything to do with the Wonder Woman franchise from here on out, but good on Gadot for insisting on it and throwing her weight around. They honestly couldn’t do a WW sequel without her – like, what are they going to do, recast the role after the enormous success of the first film? Of course not. I kind of wonder if Gadot has a personal story about Ratner too.
Photos courtesy of Warner Bros and Getty.
so much applause. Gal, I take back any criticism I ever lobbed at you. Gal is Wonder Woman, a hero we need, in the movies and out.
Oh god no she isn’t.
shhhh let me be hyperbolic here, Diana. It’s one of my strong suits. plus she’s being a BAMF and deserves applause.
In this instance, she really is doing the right thing.
LOL detritus.
she really was casted well. off screen and on she is very charming.
She is on par with Rihanna in my book of ladies who I find incredibly attractive while also being in awe of their utter badassery. She is a f*cking rock star.
I’m with you, Shambles. My already massive crush on her just grew by leaps and bounds.
Yes she is. I like that she used her leverage.
She’s def my girl crush 🙂
Nahh she isn’t. All pr.
Good for her!
Love her
Hear hear!!! Three cheers for Gal Gadot!!!!
Good for her for using her position well.
I’m disgusted that any money from the first WW movie went into his pockets, but very glad he’s been outed publicly for what he is, and is suffering some consequences.
Not only him but our tax thief in chief, Steven Mnuchin. How come he is allowed to keep his side job while he’s on the taxpayer dime?
Excellent feminism.
This is a bold move and I applaud her for it, it also makes me sad because so many actresses have never been able to exercise this type of power before, they would have just replaced them, and I hope that everyone doesn’t turn around and blame them all for working with these type of men.
I hope she can continue to use her power, but the minute she is in a flop, they could turn on her easy, so she better get some really good allies in her corner and do another movie ASAP.
I am not a fan of WW myself and don’t really buy its ‘feminist’ accolades but if any woman can try to show her power against these guys I support it.
They really think people are that dumb. They were already distancing themselves from Ratner. It’s just a PR move to distract from Jenkins and Affleck, another perv.
Gal Gadot is brave, the deal between Ratner and WB is still in tact, no matter how much distancing the studio does in public. Gail is using her power for good and she deserves props.
http://www.refinery29.com/2017/11/180715/gal-gadot-wonder-woman-brett-ratner
Exactly. She outed the behind the scenes nonsense. Good.
Thanks for this info! Liked her before, love her now!
Diana you are right.
Hope this is true. She has clout now; Hollywood needs women with clout to push back and hold men accountable.
I’m still scratching my head about Patty Jenkins .. I mean, I guess she had a perfectly fine experience with him but he was a known sleaze with lots of terrible stories, and she must have wondered why Gadot pulled out.
I think Ratner gave Jenkins her start in the business. That’s what I read so there is a somewhat show of gratitude there. I’m sure she’s not longer friendly with him.
I mean it lines up with the fact that she skipped honoring him last month as well. Its funny though because they didn’t lock her into a multi picture deal and now she has the power to throw her weight around. Shot themselves in the foot there
They really underestimated her and the movie, didn’t they? And now view her as the savior for the whole Justice League franchise.
Good on you, Gal.
One the one hand, yes, it sounds like Ratner was already out, but honestly? Hollywood doesn’t take kindly to actors throwing their weight around, especially women, so making this stand was braver than it seems. And yes… if she pissed the wrong person off, I could totally see a slew of Gal is hard to work with-Gal’s ego is just out of control-Gal is being too difficult-Gal wants too much money type stories.
So Thank you Ms. Gadot, for doing what Diana would do.
Agreed. This is awesome.
Yes!
I think that in light of all the recent revelations about what is done to keep these women in line and not speak out, we are all more aware.
If they try to pull the Gal is hard to work with and has Diva tendencies BS we don’t buy that sort of thing anymore.
“If they try to pull the Gal is hard to work with and has Diva tendencies BS we don’t buy that sort of thing anymore.”
Exactly. Keep an eye on this and don’t be fooled. The entertainment press has swung away from the misogynists because it suits them; they’ll swing back though if we are not careful.
You comment made me barf in my mouth…Princess Diana would have never supported someone who supports apartheid.
Not so fast, this is not an inevitable or easy thing she is forcing Warner Brother’s hand on, it’s a big effing deal. Steven Mnuchin (yes that Steven Mnuchin) is one of the guys who helped make the Ratner-WB deal possible. Severing that deal will cause a firestorm, litigation, settlements.
This is a bold move, done in a classy way, for Gal Gadot.
While I have always been pretty lukewarm about Gadot for various reasons I did really enjoy WW and I applaud her using her clout to stand up to Ratner. He’s is an epic sleazebag and has gotten away with his behavior for far too long.
If he was already out then what was the point of what she did?? Anyone that knows anything about her knows she’s not the face we want for feminism or for anything.
Ratner was not already out, his deal with WB runs through March 2018 (and probably beyond, given the way movies are made). She is brave and deserves credit. http://www.refinery29.com/2017/11/180715/gal-gadot-wonder-woman-brett-ratner
Who are the “we” that you’re speaking of? We each have the right to admire any woman who takes a private or public stand on matters important to women. In this instance, I personally appreciated her statement. It does matter, it does make a difference, and it sets an example especially to the young women and girls who look up to Wonder Woman and the actresses playing her.
She’s ONE face of feminism.
We as in Arab women who know her history and know better than to be fooled. I should’ve made myself more clear.
I hope you don’t purport to speak for all Arab women… because the ones I know have pretty diverse opinions on different things, including Gal.
I have a huge problem with her blinkered support of the IDF atrocities against the Palestinians. There is defending your territory and then there’s wholesale oppression in the name of punishing the innocent for the terrorists.
But I can still applaud her stance on this matter because it matters. She is the first headliner of a female super hero movie and while it could blow up in her face, I think she is indeed doing credit to her image of a true fighter for principles and justice. Her fans need to see women willing to risk big instead of just playing along.
Women are not saints or sinners, whores or madonnas, there are plenty of wrong in this world and we need to be able to have space to disagree on some ISSUES without devaluing every thing good about that person. We need to see beyond labels, to criticize or credit the specifics without it devolving into broad stroke -isms. A
You don’t speak for women, because amazingly we are not a hive mind.
Gal is a hero and she is absolutely the face I want for Jewish feminism, especially considering how anti-semitic many online feminist spaces are.
What are you talking about? Can all of these remarks really be because Gal is Israeli? This can’t be about that can it? What has she done? I have NO problem having her as one face of feminism. I don’t think any one person is THE face of feminism.
But let’s be clear. STOP making these remarks, come out of hiding, and put your cards on the table: WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?
Well, Gal is Jewish and Israeli, so yes there are going to be people who hate her and want to exclude her from everything and anything, even feminism, solely because of her religion/ethnicity and nationality.
See the clarifying comment above – she is saying Gal Gadot can’t be a feminist or a role model because she is Jewish, Israeli, former IDF and supportive of her country and the military she served (mandatorily, I might add).
Jewish women can’t be feminists. Laughable if anyone is aware of history, but it persists. Considering Gloria Steinem, Naomi Klein, Naomi Woolf, Erica Jong, Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, Bella Abzug and Betty Friedan are all Jewish feminists I fail to see how Gal isn’t.
The israeli brigade is acting like victims all while hurling insults and accusations against two people who have differing opinions. Disgusting. The hypocrisy is of the lot of you is off the charts.
There are a lot of people who think that israel uses extensive force against Palestinians. Many of those are not antisemitic, it’s a truth you just gonna have to live with.
She’s definitely not a feminist hero to me. Up until the WW role she was one of the “I’m a humanist not a feminist” crowd. Granted she was unknown in HW back then. This is PR crap.
That’s probably bc so much feminism is anti-Isarel and anti-semitic. See some of the above comments. See Linda Sarsour, leader of the women’s march, calling Jews “creepy.” But it’s not PR at all, she is putting her career on the line, which is more than we can say for just about any actress out there.
JG, what?? Lol!!!
JG, you called it. There are more Jewish women out there than people realize, who are frankly not that enamored of the women’s march, the Chicago march, and all the other places where everything is acceptable except being Jewish.
@Izzy and JG.
Some of my feminist heroes have made me distance myself from them. It is the same quality that makes white feminism and liberals insufferable sometimes. They run to a cause with biased information because other liberals do without any sense of irony or history or research.
Then you should cancel Alice Walker. She believes that too but I guess you don’t know you can be both.
Oh god, I cannot stand Sarsour. Well, I am not Jewish, I am Italian/Irish. I don’t march or consort with anti-semites. I certainly would never march with Sarsour, who besides being hateful is half a lunatic.
I absolutely LOVE LOVE Gadot. Too bad.
Diana thank you for standing up. A dog is more protected by animal rights than a Palestinian child is by human rights.
Oh here we go…Sigh.
Of course… eyeroll
Just wanted to say you are all amazing. Thank you for supporting Gal Gadot. Let’s hope more celebs start using their clout in the same way. X 🙂
I’m not sure I understand what you are referring to, can you expand on this?
Some people hate her because she’s Israeli and has the audacity to be pro her own country. The social justice warrior community has a serious problem with anti-semitism and it’s become popular for SJWs/parts of the online feminist community to hold Israel up as a black and white example of an evil oppressor where Jews=evil Arabs=victims.
Of course the situation in Israel is a lot more complicated than that, in all kinds of ways, and being pro-Zionism does not make you a bad person, a bad feminist, or non-liberal.
The line between anti-Zionism and anti-semitism is hazy at the best of times and often the crimes of the Israeli government are exploited as an excuse for anti-semitism.
Thanks.
Well said, Meggles.
History is told by the oppressors.
Exactly. The reason it is antisemitic at times because they don’t use the same criteria for nations that are committing crimes against women continually. They don’t even know the makeup of Israel or how other Arab countries treat Palestinians. I automatically know someone didn’t bother to research an issue they say they care about. This is why it will never be solved. The people are used as pawns when the focus should be on helping them.
Meggles/magnoliarose – yes, yes, and thank you.
Meggles and magnoliarose – yes and thank you
I’ve seen a good amount of pushback on her views as an Israeli. I wish we wouldn’t co-mingle all the issues. And I wish we wouldn’t confuse the views of one Israeli with the views of all Jews, too.
She made a perfectly appropriate statement about her unwillingness to work with a known sexual abuser. Isn’t that the goal, for people in victimized groups to have enough power to say, “Enough! No more!” ?
Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of not “co-mingling”, just like minorities don’t have the luxury of saying “I don’t get involved in politics”.
Jews are a minority. And actually more religious-based hate crimes are committed against Jews than any religious group in this country, despite the fact that Jews are a teeny tiny minority. Remember when Nazi marched in Charlottesville chanting about Jews a couple months ago? The 60+ bomb threats against JCC in the beginning of 2017? Those are facilities that hold daycares and preschools. I could go on. It’s purely a function of anti-semitism that intersectional feminism doesn’t care about Jews and perpetuates this ignorant fiction that Jews are not discriminated against and don’t experience racist hate crimes.
@jaygee Just the other day people were marching in Poland and holding signs about Islamic holocaust. Plenty of crimes are committed against Muslims in the US that go unreported. It’s not a competition of who has it worst.
It’s a shame that any criticism against the crimes of the israeli government will label one as antisemitic.
Gal made comments in the past about Palestinians that I’m not comfortable with.
People here cancel celebrities for making a tasteless joke. Gal is not above criticism and yes she’s no feminist icon for me.
@diana yet you’re making it. and that’s your prerogative quit being such a nag that other people do like her.
@diana
Then you must not support several others too or American soldiers who committed atrocities in the Middle East. Gal can’t be proud to be Israeli. The only democracy where women have any rights in the Middle East but ok. The second largest group in Israel are Arabs, and they voted to stay because they didn’t want to be ruled by dictators.
Sure.
Any other actresses you reject based on their nationality or what their countries have done? You are responsible for your government. Own Trump and his policies then. I don’t but since you think human beings are 2-dimensional feel free.
Cancel her sure but at least admit the hypocrisy.
Of course it’s not enough. Jews are held to a different standard, that way it’s so much easier to hate us. We either have to hate ourselves for being Jewish, or be hated.
@monica It’s a public forum and I’ll say what I want. Sit down. You can like her all you want that wasn’t even the point I was making.
And yet I am sure you have no problem supporting Muslims who stone homosexuals, as the do in the Palestinians territories. You’d never blame all Palestinians for that now, would you? But it’s a different story with Jews and Israelis. We know.
Monica and others, you’re entitled to your opinions and we’re entitled to facts. Like Diana said, sit down. No reason for the whole israel firsters brigade to come out because we’ve pointed out her hypocrisy. Jesus!
LOL, at the idea of FACTS coming from a segment of the world that has NO FREE PRESS.
Ummm as far as I know we have free press in the US. But please, continue loling 🙂
How do you know I’m not against all of that as well? Nice deflection though. I live in israel btw and do not support at all Hamas.
Funny you mention free press JG, considering what’s happening in israel as of late.
So you are Palestinian diana? Why don’t you live in the Palestinian territories? Or Egypt or Lebanon or Jordan. Why Israel?
Your “facts” have a lot of information missing. The interesting thing about you is that you know full well what is happening there and you are spreading falsehoods. If you don’t support Hamas, then you see Bibi isn’t popular and that plenty of Israelis want peace.
So with it being a public forum I can’t tell you what I want? Lol you lot are a genius. And I won’t sit down, you’re annoying and I’ll keep telling you that.
its gross to speculate but im wondering if ratner tried some ish on her, and thats why she’s going extra hard. annihilate him, Diana.
Maybe, or maybe she was a witness, or maybe she simply believes in doing the right thing.
Yeah like I said, its gross to speculate either or its amazing of her to try to use her star power.
This is huge! I love how women are not only calling out the major players but also recognizing how much power they have! Yes Gal, you are A major player
Yes! They really can’t replace Gal and she knows it, so good for her for using her position to call out Ratner. Maybe this will start a trend of women who refuse to work with him.
Time to get rid of Dan Schneider now.
Yes I know. Soon hopefully.
“I kind of wonder if Gadot has a personal story about Ratner too.”
LMAO. She taught self-defense in the IDF. Part of me is thinking that if he had tried anything, he would have ended up in the hospital.
Ratner is twice or thrice her weight. Fighting an opponent this heavy is difficult even for the most skilled fighters.
@curious, I’m guessing you’ve never taken a self-defense course, then! Firstly, self defense is not a fight. You cause your attacker pain, or make him doubt the soundness of his plan, then run, gtfo, get help. If one thinks of it as a conventional fight, like a match, the attacker has already won. Size and weight IS an important factor to consider, but you’d be surprised at how quickly a 300 pound muscle man will crumble if you twist his finger, poke his eye, punch his throat, or kick his crotch. There are countless options to disable the strongest opponent within seconds. The hardest thing train to the point where these tactics become pure instinct. For self defense to be effective, a person has to train to the point where they don’t freeze up and just act. Almost like the mindset of a EMT or First Responder. And overcoming adrenaline is actually a bigger contender than the actual contender. Adrenaline, contrary to popular belief, is a huge handicap, it makes you want to run, it makes you shakey, it severely impacts accuracy and effectiveness. You don’t have the time or luxury to think of being scared because an attacker has probably accounted for that because that’s how predators think
@ brief
Martial Arts several years. Different styles and different clubs.
And nope, you are wrong. If you don’t bring down the muscle man with your first attack he will get angry and attack. And may god have mercy on you … . And twisting fingers or poking eyes doesn’t bring down neither a muscle man nor a Ratner heavyweight. He will simply pull away his fingers hard and due to his weight he would succeed against a lightweighter like Gadot. As for punching throat: Ratner is one of these no-throat-fatties e.g. difficult to punch in the throat because hard to target. If you try to kick a man’s crotch: good luck, they are fast and with a Ratner fattie it is difficult to target his groin properly because his fat belly hangs protectively over his groin. If you try to knee-jerk a man’s scrotch: you gotta get close which you might want to avoid.
@curious,
I’ve taken self defense and martial arts too, and at the end of the day, anatomy is anatomy. Barring neck fatties or something like that, tendons and joints are still weak points. It only takes 30lbs of pressure to take out a knee at a certain angle, doesn’t matter how big that person is. And in courses that are purely self defense it does pay to cause pain, cause a scene and run away. (yelling “FIRE” is most effective, because people will run to stare at a fire but ignore the word ‘HELP”) Most predators aren’t looking for attention or a fight, and many will run if the effort is too much, or if there is more chance of there being witnesses.
He didn’t have to physically force her. “Suck my d or you don’t get the job,” “hey baby, I can help you with my other movies, meet me in my room to discuss scripts,” “there are 10000000 girls just like you who will step in your shoes..” etc. Just saying these things, even with no follow up from him and no response from her would be sexual assault.
Nope, anatomy varies and so do the consequences for martial arts.
Try to twist a muscle man’s arm and you find out that he can twist it backwards due to his strenght. Happened to me when I had the luck to fight a muscle man in an exercise fight (randori) – in these fights weight differences aren’t taken into account because it would take too long (small town judo club).
I also had to fight randori and my opponent had very flexible joints. Which ment that despite me twisting his arm correctly he just wouldn’t give up because he didn’t feel any pain because of his flexibility … *lol* it was hilarious.
Nope, it takes more than 30 lbs pressure to take out the knee of a muscle man. Muscles can stabilize joints very much. That is why the William’s sisters train so hard for muscles. Ask any pro athlete.
And btw you would have to hit the angle properly which is difficult in a fight 😉
Most predators are prepared to knock out their victim – they are smart enough to chose smaller weaker victims hence women are a prime target group. Those predators that are scared off by yelling are rare. Ask the police. Some predators do even get turned on when the victim starts fighting. It is worth a try nevertheless.
And finally the most hilarious part:
In my judo club the recommendation was to allow the attacker to come close: because in judo you can do things like twisting joints or throttle attackers.
In my take won do club the recommendation was to keep the attacker at a distance: because in take won do there are kicks and punches.
In my self-defense for women seminar from the german police they said this from their experience in police work: most men are taller and heavier and faster and stronger than women so women have a disadvantage in a physical fight. The police recommended to try to trick the attacker by promising him to sleep with him: “Why don’t you wait in the bedroom and I will just get my pill from the bathroom…” and close / lock the door … and run and call police / help.
So advice for self defence always depends on whom you ask.
@curious, yes, 30 lbs is sufficient for taking out a knee. The trick is the angle, A leg is designed to take thousands of pounds of pressure from certain angles, but get it from the side, and you can knock the kneecap out like deboning a chicken. An arm rotates a lot because, surprise surprise, its attached to a rotator cuff
And you bring up a good point about some attackers not caring or getting off on an victim yelling. The key is always context, is it not? It helps to think of it from the mindset of a predator who has taken environment into account. Thats why its so important to teach ANYONE not to walk blindly, keep their head up, make eye contact, don’t zone out and text, etc. The examples where the attacker DOES get off on yelling, he’s usually comfortable and relatively safe in the area, IE, taken the victim to “The Second Location”. The whole point is not to get to that stage in the first place. The majority of bets are off in “The Second Location” type scenarios, which is where bargaining, faking stockholm syndrome and other tricks have to come into play as a matter of survival sadly.
He may have said gross things so she knows it is true what he is like.
Again its gross to speculate but plenty of men have dismissed claims b/c they didn’t act on it, i.e. “but he didn’t do anything!!11” bullshit, a man doesn’t have to lay a finger on you to sexually harass you.
Movie: An Open Secret
Revelations about the child abuse in Hollywood. No distributor wanted to distribute this movie. The producers did upload it on vimeo so people can see it:
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/133552013
Complete movie: https://vimeo.com/142444429
Thank you Curious. I’d heard vaguely about this, but had not seen it, so I appreciate your info.
Thanks for posting, Curious. And I just want to say, as an almost-lawyer (have my JD but haven’t taken the bar), the fact that the lawsuit was dropped under extremely flamboyant circumstances does NOT mean the victims had no claim. It may (probably) mean that the victims’ lawyers were bought out. Yes they should/could be disbarred for that, but the world doesn’t always work the way we want it to. I BELIEVE THE VICTIMS.
I saw an open secret…it made me so sad. I recommend it to everyone.
Holy shit, I saw this movie about a year ago online. I was broken after seeing it.
This story has been confirmed by Warner brothers studio that it’s a false story. Gal gadot never said she wouldn’t do wonder woman 2 if ratner was involved. They stated he’s not involved at all. Fake story to garner publicity!
They simply said “false” and declined further comment. Meanwhile, the studio deal with Rattner’s company expires next year, something Gal Gadot wouldn’t have reason to know offhand. So while her threat was moot because of that deadline, it doesn’t mean she didn’t issue the ultimatum. She may well have done it to make sure he’s kept away from the project she’s to be an integral part of.
Totally pr.