Steve Martin responds to Miriam Margolye’s Little Shop of Horrors claim – The Hollywood Reporter
Steve Martin responds to his allegations Little shop of horrors Co-star Miriam Margolyes made a comment about the actor in her memoir.
In a statement about it The Hollywood Reporter, Martin said he remembered their time on set differently, noting that he exercised “extreme caution” when it came to filming the scene in which Margolyes said he actually hit her.
“When I first read Mariam Margolye’s derogatory report on our scene in Little shop of horrors, I was surprised. “I remember that as professional actors we had good communication,” Martin’s statement reads. “But if it is suggested that I caused her harm or was somehow negligent in the stunts, I have to object. I remember exercising extreme caution regarding the false shot – the same caution I would exercise in any similar scene.”
He explained that they spoke on set and she assured him that she was fine. “In this or any other scene we shot, there was never any physical contact between her and me, accidental or otherwise,” he wrote.
The Just murders in the building Star also noted that there were several other crew members on set during filming to ensure the scene went as smoothly as possible, including director Frank Oz.
“I always practice physical actions in slow motion,” Oz said in his own statement. “The scene was supposed to involve a fake punch. It’s puzzling what she’s talking about. It’s not the Steve I know or that anyone knows. He was always professional and respectful to everyone on all my shoots.”
Margolyes played the dental assistant to Martin’s character, the comically sadistic Orin Scrivello. During the Musical number “Dentist!” Scrivello beats Margolyes’ character and slams a door in her face.
In Oh Miriam! Stories from an extraordinary lifeShe claims Martin actually hit her while filming the scene. “I was hit with doors opening in my face all day long; was repeatedly beaten, slapped and knocked down by an ugly and uncompromising Steve Martin – perhaps this was method acting – and came home sullen with a splitting headache,” she wrote in her memoirs HuffPost UK. She wrote that Martin was “undeniably brilliant, but terrible to me.”
The claims caused a stir when they circulated online Friday, given Martin’s affable public persona that has supported him throughout his long career, which most recently included awards for the Hulu series Just murders in the building.
Over the course of her long career, Margolyes has had roles in the Harry Potter Films as Professor Pomona Sprout and won a BAFTA for the feature film in 1994 The age of innocence.
