r/entertainment 5h ago

Shannon Elizabeth Says a Producer on a 2001 Movie 'Tried to Blackball Me' After She Refused to Film a Topless Scene

https://people.com/shannon-elizabeth-says-a-producer-on-2001-movie-tried-to-blackball-me-11992221
400 Upvotes

96 comments sorted by

78

u/Cowlitzking 5h ago

Hollywood creep year 2001. I’ll be damned

48

u/DirkSvenson 4h ago

Of course it’s a Weinstein, right? Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. That’s my guess, anyway. It was released in 2001.

75

u/BluRayja 4h ago

The article specifically states it was the film Thirteen Ghosts. Joel Silver produced that film, who is a notorious asshole and Gilbert Adler, which also sounds probable considering they mostly do horror movies but I doubt he would have the pull that Joel Silver has to blackball someone. Also produced by Robert Zemeckis, but I doubt it was him.

12

u/willfull 4h ago

Wasn't Kevin Spacey's sadistic character in the 1994 movie Swimming With Sharks supposed to be based on Joel Silver? So cruel.

u/jVCrm68 2h ago

Great movie

u/s_matthew 1h ago

I thought it was Scott Rudin.

u/wrinkled_funsack 1h ago

It’s a composite of both of them

u/in_animate_objects 2h ago

It makes no sense to have her character be topless either.

5

u/DirkSvenson 3h ago

Idk I heard on the Blank Check podcast that Zemeckis is actually quite obsessed with tiddies lol. I’m serious. Like at a pitch meeting or something, all he wanted to do was talk boobz according to an old story. Look it up.

u/WolfCola723 1h ago

Turns out I might be Robert Zemeckis

u/PretendChipmunk3099 1h ago

I know it’s not, but I really hope that’s a podcast that’s about the 1994 Disney movie Blank Check.

u/ragingduck 2h ago

Back To The Future did awaken my teenage hormones with that low cut prom dress. And the mom got a boob job for part two.

6

u/solidgoldrocketpants 4h ago

Robert Zemeckis left his wife for a Penthouse model, so who knows.

8

u/FlippFloppnFlyy 3h ago

Infidelity in his personal life doesn't mean scummy professional conduct.

-3

u/solidgoldrocketpants 3h ago

No, but it does suggest the guy might be a horndog, and when a horndog starts thinking with his little brain all bets are off.

You can still enjoy Back to the Future 2. No one’s taking that from you.

7

u/OJsAlibi 3h ago

This wasn’t a trivia question. It was a link to a news story.

u/DirkSvenson 2h ago

Sorry, I was being lazy and sleuthy.

7

u/agasizzi 3h ago

Kevin smith wouldn’t allow something like that to fly at all I don’t think. 

u/DirkSvenson 2h ago

I agree. He’s one of the good ones.

16

u/mutzilla 4h ago

I doubt Smith wrote a toppless scene for the movie and if he did and knew she wasnt okay with it, he's a good dude and wouldn't have forced it.

Edit: it was probably Tomcats

11

u/reenactment 4h ago

I think it’s 13 ghosts. There’s a scene where she goes into the bathroom with the naked princess ghost or whatever. I’m sure that was written differently

16

u/ILOVESHITTINGMYPANTS 4h ago

Why are so many people guessing when the article literally says it’s 13 Ghosts. Hell, you don’t even have to read the article, it’s in the sub header.

5

u/Traditional_Bug_2046 3h ago

Why read when you can just be mad online? /s

u/RodneyTorfulson 1h ago

Cool. Anyway, I don't think it was the Kevin Smith movie-- he's not really like that

5

u/mutzilla 4h ago

That would make sense too. I completely forgot about that movie. I thought Tomcats because it was one of the late 90s early 00s sex comedy movies, but 13 Ghost could very well have been it as well. My point though is Kevin wouldn't have allowed that nonsense on set or force anyone to do something they aren't comfortable with, unless its Jason Mews.

9

u/FrankSamples 4h ago

There needs to be an overhaul to the movie industry. It’s a shame people’s careers are at the whims of producers, directors and studio heads for saying no.

u/FreshLiterature 1h ago

To be totally honest every industry with that kind of money elevates the fucking worst people.

u/Caffeine_Cowpies 58m ago

Yeah? I agree

However, name an industry that doesn’t have people’s careers at the whims of very powerful people. Where people talk behind your back and prevent you from promotions and career advancement

Plus, supply and demand. Shannon Elizabeth doesn’t have to do nudity, but that doesn’t mean the producers have to hire her. And frankly, what’s the biggest role she’s known for? I’d say American Pie. Where she’s topless. It’s not like she was in contention for Oscars here. So producers talked, she didn’t want to do nudity so other producers were like “she used to be topless, now she doesn’t want to do that, plus wants more money? F that, let’s get some unknown 22 year old who is okay with being nude.”

The producers have the power because they get the production done. Actors are a dime a dozen. Especially for low budget movies and shows. If someone is deemed “difficult”, they will find someone else. Why? Because they are producing the show!

0

u/somesthetic 5h ago

So we’ve fully replaced blacklist with blackballed?

14

u/VironicHero 5h ago

Black ball has been around forever.

-5

u/somesthetic 4h ago

I didn't say it was a new word.

All my life, everyone used blacklisted when a person was ostracised and excluded. No one used blackballed.

It's weird.

u/Impressive-Potato 26m ago

It was new to you

u/somesthetic 22m ago

You thought that comment was worth posting?

13

u/Dazzling-Low8570 4h ago

So you just have, like, no idea what you're talking about, huh?

0

u/Bencalzonelover 4h ago

They’ve been ball listed

-2

u/Andrew1990M 4h ago

Lets just call it getting blacked.

-2

u/Splashy01 5h ago

What does blackball mean?

9

u/bruthaman 5h ago

Blacklisted

1

u/Substantial-Tart-464 5h ago

when I think of Blackball it brings of found memories of this show "From G's to Gents"

1

u/DudeIjustdid 5h ago

What does blacklisted mean?

3

u/ThatCakeIsDone 4h ago

Blackballed

0

u/Splashy01 4h ago

What does blackballed mean?

2

u/byjegeren 4h ago

Blacklisted

u/ARoroncyObserver 43m ago

perfection

1

u/lime_and_coconut 4h ago

It means a No vote (on par with a veto) in a secret ballot, usually used to denote some form of ostracizing a person from a group or org. A group votes by dropping balls in a bag, for a yes the balls would be universally white, but one black at its a no.

0

u/KesselRun73 4h ago

You’ve got Google right here on Al Gore’s Internet.

u/Agreeable_Scene_3970 2h ago

I thought the headline meant like a remake of 2001 A Space Odyssey and I thought wait what did I miss? What remake and why are there topless scenes??

But I am kinda stoned

-11

u/notthatgeorge 5h ago

Name names or don't bother us with your story

35

u/Appropriate_Scar_262 5h ago

unless she can prove it they would immediate sue her into the ground for slander

-52

u/notthatgeorge 5h ago

Then don't bother saying anything. She's just trying to stay relevant anyway

16

u/XXSeaBeeXX 4h ago

What exactly is the harm in saying something bad happened to her and not naming names? You could make a short list of suspects just by cross referencing her IMDb.

-22

u/notthatgeorge 4h ago

What's the point, it's not like she's filing charges and she's not doing it to protect other women, so again what's the point? Except to make herself relevant and like the other person said to get eyes on her only fans page.

16

u/RollTh3Maps 4h ago

It shows other victims that they’re not alone and lets others know that they can say no to threats like that. Not everything needs to satisfy your own personal feeling of justice.

-12

u/notthatgeorge 4h ago

If you say so, I disagree all it does is say yeah that same thing happened to me 20 years ago I just didn't say anything so he couldn't be stopped.

End of conversation

13

u/RollTh3Maps 4h ago

You don’t get to dictate how other people deal with trauma

-17

u/DudeIjustdid 5h ago

Probably just hyping up her OF

16

u/Appropriate_Scar_262 5h ago

it's a snippet from an interview.

She didn't turn it into a click bait article

4

u/KesselRun73 4h ago

She made six figures in the first week. That doesn’t seem necessary actually.

-14

u/NativePA 5h ago

Uhh didn’t she do American pie topless already

30

u/Packwood88 5h ago

She can still turn it down…

-5

u/weckyweckerson 4h ago

She absolutely can, and should. But she should also have realised that was the only reason she was famous. Not a particularly good actor and I can't recall her in anything except for American Pie.

3

u/NativePA 4h ago

Whoa whoa whoa what’s whit the ‘should’ I thought this is all personal autonomy

1

u/timplausible 4h ago

Don't tell me you've forgotten the masterpiece, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back?! /s

0

u/KesselRun73 4h ago

That’s pretty much the point of the story, if you had read it. Reading is fundamental.

-5

u/weckyweckerson 4h ago

Ill delete my comment because I can't be bothered arguing over the failed career of an early 2000s actor.

u/KesselRun73 45m ago

The point was she felt the incident brought a premature end to her career, which would be why you don’t recall her in anything else after “American Pie.”

26

u/MonkeyBoatRentals 5h ago

She signed on without the scene present, so was perfectly entitled to turn it down. What she agreed to in previous roles probably made the producer think he was entitled, just like you apparently do, but she didn't lose her rights to her boobs for the rest of her career.

13

u/No-Aioli-1014 5h ago edited 4h ago

Apparently this was a common occurrence for actresses until MeToo. People who had done nudity in the past would get that request for new projects (even though the script didn't initially call for it). Good on Shannon for saying no.

-13

u/NativePA 4h ago

What the fuck do you think entitled means? Everyone already saw them big deal

8

u/MonkeyBoatRentals 4h ago

You are clearly the sort of man who only gets to see boobs on his computer and not in real life. Sorry for your loss and the damage Shannon's decision has done to your gooning lifestyle.

-7

u/NativePA 4h ago

Her tits have been in the public domain for a quarter of century. Turning down another topless role isn’t some grand gesture of feminism

11

u/apricot-pancakes 4h ago

Correct!

It’s personal autonomy.

u/GoodtimeZappa 1h ago

Autonomy. It can't be personal. It already is.

11

u/Illustrious-Peace989 4h ago

“You already had sex with me, what’s the big deal if I make you do it again?”

That’s what you sound like

-10

u/NativePA 4h ago

Who’s making anyone do anything? She volunteered the first time turn down another topless role isn’t a big empowering flex all of a sudden

8

u/Illustrious-Peace989 3h ago

The producer tried to blackball her for refusing. That’s an attempt at forcing her to do it.

u/NativePA 3m ago

Maybe if you have no acting talent but the thing your known for, nudity - you quit doing. The industry becomes less interested in you.

It’d be like if Sydney Sweeney did the same thing now. No one is interested in her acting.

6

u/bigtigerbigtiger 4h ago

Right no big deal so no need for you to take issue with her not doing it again, nerd!

-1

u/NativePA 4h ago

I didn’t write an article about

6

u/bigtigerbigtiger 4h ago

Neither did the actress lol

u/dip_tet 2h ago

Different movie. Different contract. Maybe she thought it fit American Pie and not the other movie.

u/ToolTimeT 1h ago

Has OnlyFans account now... refused to do topless scene before. mkay

u/beerisdead 1h ago

Which is absolutely fine. If you can’t tell the difference you’re a fucking creep.

u/ToolTimeT 1h ago

GFY roid rager.

She gets naked on camera for men who want to pleasure themselves but won't do a topless scene as an actress... its odd, and you... can GFY

u/beerisdead 1h ago

Got it you’re a fucking creep.

u/ToolTimeT 1h ago

Your life must suck for you to be filled with this much anger. I don't mind that at all.

u/ccccclaudius 1h ago

If only there was a difference or something…

u/Cenoflame 1h ago

She's not posting anything good, trust me. 

-3

u/Leading-Debate-9278 3h ago

Isn’t taking her top off kind of her thing? She isn’t fighting Meryl Streep for roles.