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Good try but the reviews in the UK scream derivative and less insightful than the "originals". There's bound to be worse films at Venice but not that were overhyped like this one. Pugh's complaints may actually be that she was pushed into endless sex scenes to hype the film even if most ended up on the cutting room floor, still these may have been the only bits Styles was any good in. The unfounded rumour may be that Pugh was paid loads less than acting free Styles. We might believe the director's denial if she hadn't chosen to lie about sacking someone she now claims is problematic but adored at the time. Is her exposure related to her sex, partially, but using Feminism to excuse her failings is like claiming Ezra Miller is a victim of hetronormalism.. I'll bet both Miller and Wilde will thrive. There are loads of great female directors around the world who don't seek to behave like traditional male figures. The only victim in all this was Pugh, may her talent survive Hollywood.

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Are there "power relationship' clauses in your contracts at The Ankler? Every contract I have signed in the last several years has more paragraphs on that subject than any other. And I disagree with you, if there was some speculation that one actress was fired or was pushed away for another with whom a male director wanted to be intimate (particularly during the term of the work), I think there would be questions. And particularly if his partner was the co-star to the other lead. You can list all the justifications from history you want to defend this behavior, but history, in this area is not a noble defense. And a vulnerable actor working in front of the camera depends upon the strength and support of their director to be an on-screen partner, not a competitor. After the film has wrapped and the flowers leave the "hothouse," anything can happen, but until then professionalism should prevail, I think. Don't conflate the media's obsessive attention to movie-star gossip to monetize the public's attention with the professional behavior of a director, regardless of sex. The actress probably should have just dialed up the studios' HR department. I guarantee you, if she had, none of them would be in the position they are now.

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Spot on Richard, thank you. Regardless of the quality of the product, the treatment by the trade press is absurd. I particularly loved: “As servile obsequious creatures, they hunger for the moment when they are given permission to bear their fangs and rip some wounded creature to shreds.”🎯😂

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