The original Red Sonja, Brigitte Nielsen, said she will call for Bryan Singer to be pulled from the remake if the accusations against him are true.
Nielsen, who starred in the original 1985 action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, told TMZ that although she wasn’t fully informed on the scandal, he should “leave Red Sonja alone” as director of the reboot if he’s guilty.
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“If not, Big Mama here’s gonna have to do a little bit of justice,” she said, shaking her finger at the camera.
When asked if she thinks Singer should be removed from the film as a result of the accusations, the Danish-born actress said, “Like everybody else gets removed [before they are tried for allegations against them]? I think they have to get to the bottom of it before they remove anyone.”
She invoked that people should be “innocent until proven guilty” but said that Singer’s situation is “very uncomfortable.”
“If it’s four people saying something — where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” she said, ultimately saying that she’s not sure how to feel about the accusations.
“If he has done these things, he will be removed from the project,” she added. “That’s for sure.”
The fictional character of Red Sonja is a victim of sexual assault, a fact that has outraged many over Singer’s involvement in the new movie.
This week, four new sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Singer, 53, in a report from The Atlantic. Three new sexual assault allegations were told by men who chose to remain anonymous. Another account alleges a sexual encounter with Singer, but the man is unsure of his age at the time. The report also detailed an allegation from Victor Vadovinos, who said he was molested by Singer on the set of Apt Pupil in 1997 when he was 13 years old.
Singer, who was fired as director of Oscar-nominated Bohemian Rhapsody just weeks before the film wrapped filming, is the subject of misconduct allegations that date back decades. Seattle man Cesar Sanchez-Guzman filed a lawsuit alleging that he had raped him in 2003, when Sanchez-Guzman was 17. A 2014 lawsuit, the first sexual assault allegation Singer faced, was eventually withdrawn by the accuser.
Singer has categorically denied all the accusations against him. His lawyer, Andrew B. Brettler, told The Atlantic that Singer “has never been arrested for or charged with any crime, and that Singer categorically denies ever having sex with, or a preference for, underage men.”
“The last time I posted about this subject, Esquire magazine was preparing to publish an article written by a homophobic journalist who has a bizarre obsession with me dating back to 1997,” Singer said in a statement via a representative this week. “After careful fact-checking and, in consideration of the lack of credible sources, Esquire chose not to publish this piece of vendetta journalism. That didn’t stop this writer from selling it to The Atlantic. It’s sad that The Atlantic would stoop to this low standard of journalistic integrity.”
Singer did not clarify is he was referring to Alex French or Maximillian Potter, the writers of The Atlantic report, nor did he explain his claim of homophobia. The two authors of the report said in a statement: “We feel fortunate that The Atlantic decided to work with us, and we are grateful that the piece has gone through The Atlantic’s thoughtful editorial process, which included another rigorous fact-check and robust legal vetting. We are most grateful that the alleged victims now have a chance to be heard and we hope the substance of their allegations remains the focus.”
