Actor Jessica Chastain has been a leading voice for the Time's Up campaign and an active proponent for gender equality in the film industry. In 2016, Chastain launched Freckle Films, an all-female production company. She's called out "disturbing" representations of women in film. And in an interview following Harvey Weinstein's ouster from Hollywood, she said that abuse allegations are a factor she considers when choosing people to work with.
So why then did Jessica Chastain hire known-abuser Matthew Newton to direct Eve, a new film Chastain will produce and star in?The Australian director has a history of violent abuse against multiple women. In 2007, Newton pleaded guilty to physically assaulting then-girlfriend, actor Brooke Satchwell. Three years later, actor Rachael Taylor, Newton's fiancée at the time, accused him of "two unprovoked assaults," resulting in a two-year domestic violence order against him, which he later broke.
The details of the assaults are horrifying. According to court documents, Taylor suffered a "concussion, bruising and a sprained jaw" and had injuries suggesting her head had been "bashed against the floor and walls."
Despite all of this, Jessica Chastain wants to give Matthew Newton a pass? We don't think so.
#TimesUp for rich and powerful men being absolved of horrific abuse against women.Please join in urging Jessica Chastain, Freckle Films, and Voltage Pictures to fire Matthew Newton now!
Photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
