Armie Hammer said Hollywood producers would be “smart” to cast actors like himself and Kevin Spacey, as they’d probably book for a “pretty cheap” price because of their troubled pasts.
“If they were smart, they could get guys like two-time Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey for probably pretty cheap right now, for a good project,” Hammer said during his appearance on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”
At the time, the “Call Me By Your Name” star was responding to Morgan’s questions about the challenges “canceled” actors face when they attempt to return to Hollywood for work. In response to the producers who’d rather pass him over following his widely publicized sex scandal and since-concluded sexual assault investigation, Hammer said, “I think that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
Watch the interview in full below:
Hammer made his remarks after Morgan played him a clip from Kevin Spacey’s “Uncensored” interview from June. In the clip, Spacey shared his thoughts on whether the #MeToo movement went “too far” as it relates to calling out individual’s toxic behavior.
From Spacey’s point of view, the actor felt the actions of some ousted Hollywood notable’s weren’t so egregious that they deserved to be cut off from the industry completely.
“Well, I could say yes, and not just in my particular case,” Spacey said in the June interview. “There have been others that I feel, they may have been inappropriate, they may have done something that they wished they hadn’t done, but I didn’t think that what it was and maybe what they even admitted to was so heinous that they should have lost their career or their ability to make their livelihood. I think that is, that is too far. But I also think we have to be mindful that it doesn’t swing back too far in the other direction.”
Once that ended, Hammer cosigned Spacey’s thoughts, and acknowledged that there is a need for movements like #MeToo.
“I agree with him. I think the genesis and origin of this movement was necessary,” Hammer said. “For a long, long time people in power were in positions to abuse it with no recourse and no fallout, and that’s not OK. I think the pendulum had swung so far in that direction that it’s probably expected that there be a bit of an overcorrection.”
After the Los Angeles Police Department launched a hefty investigation into sexual assault allegations against Hammer, the county D.A.’s office decided not to move forward with charges in May 2023. The sexual assault accusations stem from one of Hammer’s former partners, Effie, who accused the actor of being physically abusive during their on-and-off relationship, which spanned four years. She also stated Hammer raped her in 2017. Hammer denies all allegations.
A slew of other women came forward with their own experiences with Hammer’s alleged sexual abuse, which ultimately led to the actor being dropped from several projects, including Paramount’s “The Godfather” miniseries “The Offer.” WME also gave him the boot. He shared that his controversial background also impacted his attempts to land everyday jobs in the Cayman islands
“I couldn’t get jobs outside of Hollywood. I applied for multiple jobs while living in the Cayman Islands,” Hammer said, who shared that he applied to be a time share salesman, a drama teacher, a real estate agent. And each time, the letter we got back from the government, an official Caymanian government letter said, ‘Due to issues of character, we do not think it is in the best interest of the community for this person to be admitted to the Cayman Islands.’”
He continued:”I was thrown into this fire that was burning its way through the industry. In some ways, the genesis of the movement is pivotal and vital and healthy. I think what it started to become is not. It became a witch hunt, it felt like, where people were getting thrown into this fire. And sometimes by people who were throwing them into the fire with good intentions and sometimes by people who were throwing them into the fire to save themselves.”
Watch Hammer’s full interview with Morgan in the video above.
