Producers of Rebel Wilson’s Directorial Debut File Defamation Suit as ‘Pitch Perfect’ Star Alleges Embezzlement and Misconduct (EXCLUSIVE)

Three producers behind Rebel Wilson’s movie “The Deb” have sued her for defamation in California after the “Pitch Perfect” star accused them of embezzling funds and sabotaging her feature directorial debut. Variety has also exclusively obtained a letter of demand sent by Wilson to the producers in June, detailing previous allegations of financial impropriety and sexual harassment.

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On Wednesday, Wilson posted a video message to Instagram captioned “If my movie gets buried at least you know why,” and went on to accuse producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and executive producer Vince Holden of “embezzling funds” from the project, as well as “absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior” in the aftermath. In the producers’ filing, they denied these accusations and claimed that Wilson has attempted to hold the film hostage over credits for screenwriting and musical recordings.

The defamation suit alleges unprofessional conduct on Wilson’s part – including claims she disappeared from set for extended periods of time and threatened financiers with “exposing” them to her roughly 11 million Instagram followers.

At the center of the defamation filing is a dispute over credits. Wilson sought co-authorship of the screenplay as well as rights to the film’s original music. Hannah Riley, the original screenwriter who producers called Wilson’s “protégé,” was awarded full credit by the Australian Writers Guild on the “The Deb” following an appeal, the suit says. Wilson was granted an “additional writing by” credit on the script, which the producers said she was not satisfied with following the decision earlier this year.

Wilson, in her demand letter, said she was forced to sign over rights under “duress” at the hands her producers, who she says resorted to physical intimidation and threats of sabotage throughout production on “The Deb.” The producers denied this adamantly in their defamation suit.

Wilson’s Wednesday social media post was spurred by her assertion that the film, about two girls in a small Australian town who attend a debutante ball, was offered the closing night slot at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. The post implied that Ghost, Cameron and Holden were not only blocking the movie from premiering at the prestigious festival but also had misappropriated $900,000 Australian dollars and forced Wilson to hire private security for the film shoot. Producers said this accusation has no basis in fact, and Wilson is aware of that.

“Rebel is a bully who will disregard the interests of others to promote her own,” said a lawyer for the producers in the filing. While Wilson said she had proof of their financial misconduct, the producers said she “has run this playbook one time too many,” and had “jeopardized the success of the film, as Rebel’s statements carry the clear and unmistakable defamatory meaning: that [the producers] criminally embezzled funds from the film.”

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Wilson asserts both Ghost and Cameron committed “flagrant misconduct” surrounding the film’s budget and also engaged in unprofessional behavior with one of the film’s actors.

“[Wilson] revived a fictitious story about Ms. Ghost sexually harassing a lead actor in ‘The Deb’ that has absolutely no basis in reality, as the actor that is the subject of this defamatory tale has repeatedly confirmed,” said the producers’ filing.

WME is the sales agent of record for “The Deb,” and declined to comment on the matter. Despite internal feuds, there’s confusion about why the accused producers would deny the film a premiere at TIFF in the first place given that it’s a destination for studios and streamers looking for movies to purchase. The suit addresses this decision.

Ghost, Cameron and Holden had to “consider carefully whether to proceed with marketing the film while it was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes instigated by Rebel. Plaintiffs continuously attempted to resolve the disputes in good faith, but Rebel had other ideas. Even though the plan was always to show the film at TIFF, Rebel attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies.”

Representatives for Wilson had no immediate comment on the defamation suit.

William Earl contributed to this post.

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