Lorne Michaels Denies Claim He Pressured 'SNL' Star Into Having Sex with Director to Get Film Made
The “SNL” alum writes in his memoir that he was pressured to sleep with “Clueless” director Amy Heckerling so she might direct “A Night at the Roxbury.”
Chris Kattan accused "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels of pressuring him to sleep with a director in order to assure his movie got made, but "SNL" says it never happened.
A spokesperson for the long-running NBC show told Page Six simply, "This did not happen." They also said that no one from Kattan’s publisher contacted them to verify his claims.
The comedian made the shocking declaration in his new memoir, "Baby Don’t Hurt Me," as captured by a journalist on Twitter. He alleges that "Clueless" director Amy Heckerling was slated to direct "A Night at the Roxbury" in 1989 when she made a pass, which he turned down. Kattan was 27 at the time, while Heckerling was 43.
According to the memoir, Kattan shortly got a "furious" call from Michaels saying that Heckerling was backing out of the project. Kattan writes that Michaels told him, ‘Chris, I’m not saying you have to f–k her, but it wouldn’t hurt.’"
Kattan says that Michaels told him the film would not be greenlit unless Heckerling signed on as director. He then claims that he and Heckerlng did ultimately have a consensual sexual encounter, with the director actually wanting to do it on Michaels’ desk.
"I said a polite ‘F–k, no!’ to that," Kattan wrote. "So we ended up going to her office and having sex on … yep, you guessed it, the ‘casting couch.’"
While he admitted to being attracted to Heckerling, he also wrote that he "was very afraid of the power she and Lorne wielded over my career," which puts this whole story into very murky waters in the #MeToo era. Consensual perhaps, but also heavily pressured if it went down as Kattan alleges.
In the end, Heckerling did not direct the film after all, signing on instead as a producer. And the film was still release, directed by John Fortenberry.
You can see a more detailed account of the allegations from Chris Kattan in his memoir excerpt below:
Source: Read Full Article