Kevin Costner is being sued for bringing too much realism to an unscripted rape scene in his 2024 film, Horizon 2.
In a statement to the New York Post, Costner’s attorney, Marty Singer, denied allegations made by Devyn LaBella – the lead stunt double for Ella Hunt’s character in the film.
“Ms. LaBella is a serial accuser of people in the entertainment industry and has worked with the same lawyer on past claims. But those shakedown tactics won’t work in this case,” Singer said.
LaBella, 34, claims Costner, 70, improvised a rape scene that was not in the original script.
In the scene, Hunt’s character would be raped by actor Roger Ivens’ character. However, LaBella argued that she wasn’t given advanced notice that she would replace Hunt in the scene.
When Hunt “refused to do the scene and had walked off the set,” LaBella was brought in as her stand-in without advanced warning about the reason Hunt had refused to do the scene.
“She was not warned or prepared for Mr. Ivens to perform or engage in any action on top of her and first learned that Ivens would mount her and violently pull her skirt up when he was already on top of her doing so,” according to the lawsuit.
LaBella claims that Costner directed Ivens to “repeatedly perform a violent simulated rape” on her “without proper notice, consent, preparation, or appropriate safeguard measures in place, such as the project’s intimacy coordinator being called in.”
The lawsuit claims that Costner directed Ivens to mime unbuttoning his pants while using his arms to pin down LaBella who was underneath him.
“Mr. Ivens violently rustled Ms. LaBella’s skirt up as if trying to penetrate her against her will,” the lawsuit stated.
