Kevin Costner was continued by a stuntman from the whole of “Horizon 2“, Which claims to have been placed in an unicenized rape scene without warning or appropriate filming security protocols.
Devyn Labella, 34, filed the trial on Tuesday before the Higher Court of the County of Los Angeles against the Horizon series, the Production Society Territory Pictures and Cost – The director, producer and star of the film series – alleging sexual harassment, a hostile work environment and an intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The rape scene “violent, not scripted and unforeseen” took place during the shooting in Utah on May 2, 2023, according to the criminal complaint. Lebella said that the shooting of the scene has filled him with shame, upset his career and left his permanent trauma.
“Horizon: An American Saga” is a series in four parts written, directed, produced and featuring CostTell the colony of the American West. “Chapter 1” of the series was released in June 2024 and “Chapter 2” made its debut in film festivals, but did not have a theater release.
Marty Singer, Costner lawyer, said in a statement in NBC News on Wednesday that Labella’s complaint had “absolutely no merit” and is “completely contradicted by her own actions”.
“As a stuntman interpret on ‘Horizon 2’ ‘, the scene in question was explained to Ms. Labella, and after interpreting the rehearsal with another actor, she gave her cascade coordinator supervisor a facelift’ ‘and indicated her desire to draw the scene, if necessary (which it was not),” said Singe.
Labella lawyers said the trial sought to “face continuous failures at the highest levels of Hollywood production companies” and the need for intimacy coordination.
The Horizon series and the territory images did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
The scene
According to the trial, Labella had concluded a Sag-Aftra contract with the film company as a main casting double for the main actor in the series, Ella Hunt.
In his role, “Ms. Labella’s work was to intervene for the actor during the physical scenes and to cascade while the cameras were rolling. Such scenes are generally repeated and choreographed to ensure safety and precision, ”said the complaint.
During the first weeks on the set in spring 2023, she made her stunts without incident. Then things “changed radically” on May 2, said the complaint.
When Hunt arrived to settle that day, she learned that Costner had asked for additional scenes not on the call sheet in which actor Roger Ivens had to climb on her and hike violently in her skirt, simulating a rape scene, said the complaint.
The scene was not specified for this day, no closed ensemble has been specified and no provision was taken for the intimacy coordinator of the whole to be present during the shooting, said the file.
“Due to the ad hoc and violent nature of the sudden script change request, as well as not to secure an intimacy coordinator required contractually for the scene, Ms. Hunt has visibly become upset and left the set, refusing to make the scene,” said the complaint.
Labella was not aware that Hunt had gone, and Costner asked him to “stand” for Hunt “align (a) drawn”, said the complaint.
Labella was not a replacement artist and such a task was not in her scope as a double blow, but she accepted.
She was not informed of the sexual nature of the scene, and first learned it when Ivens was already above her in a cart and violently went up her skirt, said the complaint, noting that Costner was fully responsible for carrying out the filmed action that day.
“Without notice, consent, preparation or safeguarding measures appropriate in place, such as the project’s intimacy coordinator, the defendant Costner ordered Mr. Ivens to make a violent rape simulated on Ms. Labella,” said the complaint.
The prosecution indicates that such a scene is in violation of the rules of Sag-Aftra who oblige an artist to make a scene simulating sex must have a prior written consent in the form of a rider who must be provided at least 48 hours before the call of appeal. SAG-AFTRA also prohibits the last-minute changes.
The set of films failed to provide the details of the scene on the call sheet in advance, failed to repeat, did not provide a intimacy coordinator and the whole was not closed, according to the complaint.
In addition, despite the intimacy of the scene, it was publicly broadcast on instructors so that the whole crew is witness while the whole was open. “Indeed, there were several spectators with the producers who watched this scene take place on monitors in the video village,” said the complaint.
Costner would not have announced in a coherent way “the action” and the “cut” to clearly indicate when the scene started or ended. The complaint also said that there was no break in which the actors separated to reset.
Labella could not escape the situation, and all that she could do was “to wait until the nightmare ends,” said the complaint.
The costume noted that the film set had filmed a rape scene the day before May 1 in which, in bright contrast with May 2, all the appropriate security protocols were followed.
The consequences
After the scene, Labella was left in the wagon alone, feeling shocked, embarrassed, humiliated and holding tears, said the complaint.
After its stuntman has seen that she was upset, she was told that the production team would use a double body for such scenes in the future.
She met her cascades coordinator and two other waterfall coordinators for dinner and expressed her concern and indignation, but the male participants would have “blamed not to have spoke,” said the trial.
The singer, Costner’s lawyer, refuted this statement saying that Labella dined with her supervisor stuntman coordinator and was in a good mood and made no complaints to them. “”
The day after filming, Labella also contacted the intimacy coordinator and told him what happened, according to the trial.
Labella has undergone access to crying and deactivation in the following days, said the complaint. She returned home to spend time with family for a few days. But when she returned to the platform, she discovered that the production team was “now very prudent” around her and she was invited to be alone in her trailer and not to be present on the set.
In June 2023, Labella began therapy to treat symptoms of traumatic experience, “including painful intrusive memories”, sleep disorders, fears of intimacy and anxiety.
After her complaints of sexual harassment on the set, Labella was not hired to continue as doubled for “Horizon 3”, which began to film in early 2024. She was also not hired for other projects by her cascade coordinator.
“That day, I was exposed, unprotected and deeply betrayed by a system that promised security and professionalism. What happened to me broke my confidence and changed the way I go through this industry forever,” Labella said in a statement on Wednesday. “This experience has triggered in me a mission for life to be the lawyer I used to need, guaranteeing that no one else remains as vulnerable as me.”
The pursuit alleges sexual discrimination, sexual harassment, the creation of a hostile work environment based on sex, the fact of not remedy / prevent discrimination and harassment, reprisals and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
He is looking for compensatory and punitive damages, according to which defendants submit to anti-sexual harassment and training on anti-sexual violence, that defendants must initiate an intimacy coordinator on all future productions, and that the defendants have public excuses at Labella.
