Rebel Wilson isn’t the only one with complaints about working with Sacha Baron Cohen on the set of The Brothers Grimsby.
Jodi Le Roux, Wilson’s body double in the film, claims Baron Cohen, 52, asked her to sit on a female extra’s face wearing nothing but her underwear in a scene that was ultimately cut from the finished movie.
Le Roux, 42, opened up about the alleged experience in an interview with the Daily Mail published on Wednesday, April 3. She also claimed she was denied a modesty cover and asked to streak in front of other extras. The actress said she was hired only a week before the scenes were filmed, noting that the modesty cover was assured to her beforehand.
“On the second day, there was an alternate ending they wanted to film. It was with another stunt double, a woman,” Le Roux claimed. “When they told me what it was, my reaction was, ‘You want me to do what?’ My concern was having to sit on her because she was tiny.”
Le Roux added, “I said, ‘I am anxious about this. This feels uncomfortable to me because I want to know that she feels comfortable.’ Also, it wasn’t what I was told I would be doing. I was told I would be doing the streaking scene and the streaking scene only.”
Le Roux’s accusation comes after Wilson, 44, accused Baron Cohen of sexual harassment on set in her memoir, Rebel Rising, which released in the U.S. on Tuesday, April 2. The release is currently delayed in Wilson’s home country of Australia.
Wilson claimed that Baron Cohen asked her to take her clothes off despite her having a “no nudity” rule and that the actor wanted Wilson to “stick her finger up his ass because he thought it would make a funny scene in the film.”
Baron Cohen has denied Wilson’s allegations. A rep for the actor told Us Weekly in a statement, “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.”
Wilson has said that Baron Cohen was trying to stop her book’s release with the help of a crisis PR manager and his lawyers.
“Thanks so much to everyone who has sent gorgeous messages of support in the last few days and to those who shared with me their stories of this asshole!” Wilson wrote via Instagram in March, referring to Baron Cohen. “Don’t worry I won’t be bullied or threatened by this guy! And am working behind the scenes to make sure my book comes out!”
