Washington, September 14
Rebel Wilson's directorial debut 'The Deb' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival amid legal trouble, reported People.
Rebel is currently involved in legal trouble with three of its producers, who filed a defamation lawsuit against her in July. At the red carpet event, she shared that this is not an "ideal" situation.
Wilson had earlier accused the producers of trying to block the film from screening at TIFF. She added, "obviously there was a struggle to have the movie play."
However, she tries to focus on the positives, "At the end of the day, I'm so proud the fact that [TIFF CEO] Cameron Bailey chose this to play at the festival. And the honor to be chosen for TIFF and again, as a first-time female director, it's just huge."
On the question that she can place the legal issue behind, she shared, "Yeah, I feel very confident that... Yeah, because the movie speaks for itself. It's so good and it's so original and so unique and it's just going to, the movie will shine."
Wilson had intended to direct 'The Deb' but agreed to perform in the film to gain financing. She portrays Janette, a salon worker and mother of the local teen bully, Annabelle (Stevie Jean
"The defamation suit from two of The Deb's producers, Amanda Ghost and Gregor Cameron, as well as executive producer Vince Holden, came in response to Wilson's Instagram video on July 10 in which she accused the group of "bad behavior" on set. Wilson claimed she was met "with absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior" after reporting their alleged actions"
Ghost, Cameron, and Holden refuted Wilson's allegations that they embezzled monies and levelled their own accusations about her behaviour during the filming process.
They attempted to stop the premiere of 'The Deb' in Toronto. The producers wrote in the document that they "had to consider carefully whether to proceed with marketing the Film while it was embroiled in numerous credit and licensing disputes" with Wilson.
They shared that she "attempted to force the issue and bully them into capitulating to her other unreasonable demands by leveraging her popularity on social media to spread these malicious and baseless lies."
Wilson later wrote on Instagram, "It's not defamation if it's the TRUTH" saying that the legal move was a "bogus PR stunt."
Wilson shared on Instagram handle that 'The Deb' would close the 2024 edition of TIFF, reported People.