Given the inflammatory content of Oscar-nominated director Amy Berg’s revealing new documentary centred on child sex abuse in Hollywood, it was only a matter of time until someone expressed their unhappiness.
An Open Secret, which opens in the US today, has been criticised by SAG-AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild, for allegedly implying that the group are to blame for the conduct of a talent manager who previously sat on the union’s Young Performers Committee, within the guild.
“Whatever allegations may have been levelled against [the talent manager] have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with SAG-AFTRA or any of its committees,” one of the union’s outside counsel wrote.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Berg refused to change any of the film’s content to please the guild. The scenes in question revolve around ex-committee member Michael Harrah, whose past association with SAG-AFTRA is captioned on screen. The film has already been modified since release to excise mentions of an abandoned 2014 lawsuit against Bryan Singer. Singer is still mentioned in the film as a friend of convicted sex offender Brian Peck.
Producers Gabe Hoffman and Matt Valentinas told the Guardian they had “weekly, often daily calls” with a first-amendment specialist lawyer to ensure that the film was legally sound. “We’ve not had one lawsuit yet,” Hoffman said. “We’ve not even had one threatening letter from anybody.”
The film has had a difficult road to the big screen but this weekend it begins a small release in Denver and Seattle before going wider in the coming weeks.
