Scott Rudin revealed his plans to return to producing Broadway shows on Friday, four years after he stepped away from the theater community due to his poor treatment of his assistants and other colleagues.
“I have a lot more self-control than I had four years ago,” he told the The New York Times. “I learned I don’t matter that much, and I think that’s very healthy … I don’t want to let anybody down. Not just myself. My husband, my family and collaborators.”
“I was just too rough on people,” Rudin added. “A lot of what was said was true. Some of what was said was not true. But I didn’t feel there was any point in responding to all of it because what’s the point of parsing bad behavior? It was bad behavior. I own it.”
The producer was accused of physical and mental abuse by former assistants and employees in 2021, including allegedly breaking a computer monitor on an assistant’s hand and throwing objects like potatoes and glass bowls at staffers.
Rudin admitted to the NYT that his previous behavior was “narcissistic” and “bone-headed.”
Following his departure from Hollywood and Broadway, the Oscar-winning producer stepped back from five A24 productions, including Best Picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
The “Book of Mormon” producer said he has plans to stage four plays in New York next season, three of them Broadway-bound. He told The Times he found writers, actors, creative teams, investors and theater owners willing to work with him to make that possible.
He also teased that his forthcoming productions could star Tony Award-winning actress Laurie Metcalf and will be directed by Joe Mantello. Rudin added that though he is starting with plays, he has more than a dozen shows in development, including some well-known musicals.
Rudin is an EGOT recipient with 18 Tony Awards, an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award and an Academy Award for Best Picture for “No Country for Old Men.”
