Olivia Munn has courageously unveiled her ordeal at the hands of a director during her tenure on the acclaimed series, "The Newsroom." In a recent podcast appearance on "Armchair Expert," Munn disclosed that while working on Aaron Sorkin's former HBO hit, she encountered a director who sought to "derail" her career by spreading false narratives about her professionalism within the industry, stemming from a disagreement over her portrayal of Sloan Sabbith.
"There was a pivotal storyline where my character and Tom Sadoski's character embarked on a romantic journey," recounted the actress, who also starred in "Your Friends & Neighbors." "[The director] repeatedly pressured me to solely shoulder the emotional weight of this narrative. He'd say things like, 'Can you gaze at him and beam a smile?' To which I'd respond, 'Why? She's engrossed in this task!' Or, 'Could you halt and cozy up to him, or flirtatiously engage?' Even, 'Can you plant a kiss on him?' And I'd think, 'This is amidst a high-stakes work scenario!'"
Munn refrained from disclosing the director's identity but later discovered that he had maliciously misrepresented their collaborative experience to other filmmakers who might consider hiring her. "I was inches away from securing a film role when my manager rang, informing me, 'You're about to land the part. However, there's another director they know, who claims that on 'The Newsroom,' you were perpetually tardy and highly confrontational,'" she recounted.
"I resided merely seven minutes away from the set. I was punctuality personified. I knew exactly who was behind this smear campaign," she reminisced. "He was determined to tarnish my reputation. I instructed my agents, 'Please relay this to the directors,'" she continued. "Though I ultimately secured the role, I'll forever bear the scar of how, due to our differing approaches to a character, he tried to extinguish my prospects of landing anything else."
The Hollywood Reporter reached out to HBO for comment regarding these allegations.
