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Featuring: Dario Argento, Marisa Casale, Fiore Argento, Cristina Marsillach, Michele Soavi, Lamberto Bava, Luigi Cozzi, Asia Argento | Written by Simone Scafidi, Giada Mazzoleni, Davide Pulici | Directed by Simone Scafidi

Dario Argento Panico takes its title from an old interview where he said he didn’t want to create a sense of fear in viewers, he wanted to go beyond it and leave them in a state of panic. Its form is also taken from its subject’s past, following him as he isolates himself in a hotel to finish his latest script, something he frequently did early in his career.

I’m not sure that you really can isolate yourself with a film crew looking over your shoulder, but director Simone Scafidi uses this to frame his questions for the interview portions of the film. We actually only see about three seconds of him writing, and are never told what script he’s finishing,...

No one envies the biographer to a truly great writer. But in “Dario Argento Panico,” director Simone Scafidi takes on a task even more daunting — profiling one of the best filmmakers to ever live in his own medium.

The two artists, forever bonded by an appreciation for the 83-year-old Italian’s otherworldly filmography, take turns illuminating the mystery behind giallo masterworks like “Deep Red” and “Suspiria” (1977) in Shudder’s essential and ethereal portrait. Astounding archival footage and insightful new interviews pay taut homage to Argento’s exacting style and near-impenetrable public persona, allowing the still-working cinematic legend to vivisect his life and legacy as others do the same. The result is an accessible yet effervescent retrospective on the auteur who has become synonymous with chiaroscuro nightmares: a tightly constructed character study that will initiate unfamiliar viewers with a thorough and thought-provoking primer, while simultaneously giving lifelong fans a better understanding...

Asia Argento (“The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things”), Frances Barber (“A Bird Flew In”), Tamer Hassan (“The Football Factory”), Laura Whitmore (“Sadhbh”) and child actor Erin Ainsworth have joined the cast of “A Mother for an Hour.”

The film, which is being directed by Giga Agladze, follows the story of a woman who poses as the lost mother of a dying child and discovers through this act a world of deceit and violence.

Agladze’s most recent movie is surrealistic drama “The Other Me” (2022), starring Jim Sturgess and Andrea Pejic, executive produced by David Lynch.

“A Mother for an Hour” is being produced by Kirsty Bell, Goldfinch CEO and co-founder of The Number 44, and Ben Charles Edwards, also a co-founder of The Number 44. The executive producers are Phil McKenzie and David Kereselidze. It is shooting in the North of England, predominantly in Newcastle, Hartlepool and surrounding areas.

Production...

Set in St. Louis but shot in coastal Virginia, attempting to wrestle tough sociopolitical issues while sporting the neon hues of a stylized neo-noir, “The Gateway” lets itself get pulled in too many directions for any of them to be well-realized. Nonetheless, this crime melodrama represents an advance for commercials and music video director Michele Civetta over his first feature, the occult muddle “Agony,” with improved control over performances and pacing. The implausible but diverting Lionsgate release is launching in limited theaters, on demand and digital Sept. 3, with disc formats following a week later.

Raised in a foster home after his mother’s fatal Od and his father’s abandonment, Parker Jode (Shea Whigham) is a still-punchy former pro fighter who now tries repairing other people’s families as a state social worker. In that role, he’s developed a paternal interest in young Ashley (Taegen Burns), even driving her...

Italian filmmaker and actress Asia Argento has accused “The Fast and the Furious” and “xXx” director Rob Cohen of sexual assault. Argento confirmed to Variety allegations she made over the weekend during an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, as well as other outlets in Italy.

“It’s the first time I’m talking about Cohen,” she said. “He abused me, making me drink Ghb, he had a bottle of it.” Ghb is a depressant used in incidents of date rape. “At the time, I really didn’t know what it was. I woke up in the morning naked in his bed,” Argento said. According to the star, the incident occurred in 2002 while filming “xXx” opposite Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson.

“I confirm what [was] reported by Corriere,” Argento said to Variety in a text message. “I talk about it in my autobiography.” Her upcoming memoir is...

Universal Pictures has released the trailer for “Jt LeRoy,” writer-director Justin Kelly’s take on one of the most infamous literary scandals of the last 20 years. Formerly known as “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” it stars Laura Dern as the writer who made up the pseudonymous persona and Kristen Stewart as the sister-in-law who portrayed LeRoy in public — and if that sounds confusing, just imagine how everyone who bought the books felt. Avail yourself of the trailer below.

Here’s the synopsis: “Laura Albert (Dern) writes tough, insightful fiction under a pseudonym, Jt LeRoy. Her Jt is not just a pen name but a whole persona, a teenage boy from West Virginia living a dangerous life as a truck stop sex worker. Laura was born in Brooklyn a generation earlier, and grew up in New York’s punk scene. Writing books such as ‘The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things’ as Jt...

“DailyMail TV” has released the second part of Asia Argento’s on-camera interview, her first since news broke in August that she settled a sexual assault case. After discussing the loss of Anthony Bourdain in the first half of the interview, Argento turned her attention toward Rose McGowan, Jimmy Bennett, and the allegation of sexual assault made against her. Argento has been accused by former actor Bennett. The two appeared together in the 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.”

The initial report from The New York Times said Bennett accused Argento of assaulting him in 2013 at a California hotel. Bennett was 17 years old at the time of the incident, while Argento was 37. The age of consent in California is 18 years old. Shortly after, Rose McGowan released a personal statement verifying the contents of leaked text messages between Argento and McGowan’s partner, Rain Dove, that many interpreted as further evidence against Argento.

By any reasonable expectation, the casting of Kristen Stewart in the role of Savannah Knoop, the young woman who impersonated the fictional literary sensation Jt LeRoy, which was created by her brother’s unstable girlfriend Laura Albert (Laura Dern), should have been enough of a coup. Stewart’s own prickly relationship with celebrity, her androgynous beauty and embrace of queer identity, would by itself have added more than enough layers of metatextual intrigue to the story of a bisexual woman who pretended to be a bisexual man who was entirely the creation of another woman.

But the timing of Justin Kelly’s film about a literary hoax that exposed the hypocrisy surrounding the idea of authenticity in the publishing world has repercussions that far outstrip the original plan. Uncomfortably thrust into close proximity to the allegations of sexual abuse leveled against #MeToo pioneer Asia Argento, as enjoyable as the film...

Justin Kelly’s “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” the closing-night film at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, occupies a difficult slot at the mammoth festival. Tiff’s closing-night films typically don’t go on to enjoy significant commercial or critical success, more often destined for quick obscurity in the U.S. market.

Last year’s closing film, for instance, was the French comedy “C’est La Vie!” Before that, “The Edge of Seventeen” and “Mr. Right” at least made a little noise at the box office, “A Little Chaos” and “Life of Crime” less so.

But there’s good news and bad news for “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy,” which stars Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart and had its first press screening on Monday in advance of Saturday’s closing-night gala.

Also Read: 'If Beale Street Could Talk' Review: Barry Jenkins Delivers Stunning Romance With Aftertaste of Injustice

The good news is that current...

The Jt Leroy saga is readymade for the movies, and two years ago it gave birth to Jeff Feuerzeig’s documentary “Author: The Jt Leroy Story.” That provided a fascinating overview of extensive scheme by Bay Area author Laura Albert, who wrote under the nom de plume of the fictional Leroy and gave him a backstory, hoodwinking fans all over the world by pretending that (s)he was a former teen prostitute with prodigal talent.

Albert pulled it off for years, pretending to be Leroy on the phone while sending her androgynous sister-in-law Savannah Knoop to play the character in public. But while “Author” explores the eccentric Albert’s identity crisis in her own words, it relegated Knoop to a supporting character. Writer-director Justin Kelly’s “Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy” puts her front and center, bringing an intriguing new angle on the bizarre literary con as we see Knoop being forced...

The deservedly forgotten 2004 feature, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, has been in the news lately due to allegations of sexual misconduct against director and star Asia Argento, years after shooting wrapped, with her still-underage co-star Jimmy Bennett. The development and production of that project, along with an inflated depiction of its Cannes premiere, are central to Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, with Diane Kruger stepping in as a deliciously opportunistic actress-filmmaker, here named Eva. That salacious connection to recent headlines should give Justin Kelly’s pedestrian account of the literary hoax behind it all an extra frisson. But deceit is heartless,...

The deservedly forgotten 2004 feature The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things has been in the news lately as a result of allegations of sexual misconduct against director and star Asia Argento, years after shooting wrapped, with her still-underage co-star Jimmy Bennett. The development and production of that project, along with an inflated depiction of its Cannes premiere, are central to Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy, with Diane Kruger stepping in as a deliciously opportunistic actress-filmmaker, here named Eva. That salacious connection to recent headlines should give Justin Kelly’s pedestrian account of the literary hoax behind it an extra frisson. But deceit ...

Asia Argento will not pay the remainder of a $380,000 payment to sexual assault accuser Jimmy Bennett, her new attorney Mark Jay Heller said in a lengthy statement on Tuesday. Bennett has already received $250,000.

The lawyer also said that his client denies having a sexual relationship with the actor, “Her relationship with Bennett was never sexual, but rather the relationship was a long distance friendship over many years.”

“Asia recognizes that this may very well inspire Bennett to make further false allegations against her and attempt to besmirch her reputation and diminish her credibility in her accusations against Harvey Weinstein,” he continued in his letter, titled “Asia Argento launches Phase Two of the #MeToo Movement.”

Also Read: Asia Argento Fired From 'X Factor Italy' Following Sexual Assault Accusation

“However, Asia’s courage to originally make the accusations against Harvey Weinstein has not waned and she believes that whether or...

CNN has pulled episodes of “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” that feature Asia Argento in wake of sexual harassment allegations against the actress.

Argento, who was dating the show’s host Anthony Bourdain at the time of his death, appeared in two episodes of the series and directed a third.

A CNN spokesperson confirmed to BuzzFeed News that all three episodes were removed from CNN’s streaming service, CNN Go, due to the allegations against Argento.

“In light of the recent news reports about Asia Argento, CNN will discontinue airing past episodes of Parts Unknown that included her, until further notice,” the spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

Argento had reportedly paid off actor Jimmy Bennett, who claims Argento assaulted him when he was 17 and she was 37. As a child actor, Bennett played the son of Argento’s character in the movie “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,” which Argento also directed. The New York Times...

Rain Dove, the model who supplied evidence that seems to support Asia Argento accuser Jimmy Bennett, tells TheWrap that they still feel sympathy for the embattled #MeToo figure.

Dove, who is gender non-binary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” shot into America’s consciousness Monday after saying they contacted investigators regarding text messages with Argento in which Argento admitted to having sex with Bennet, who was a minor at the time of the encounter.

“I do feel really bad that this person was so impacted by this,” Dove told TheWrap of Argento. “But they should have told the truth. A lot of harm could have been done if they had gotten away with that.”

Argento did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment following the interview with Dove.

Last week,...

Rose McGowan is urging Asia Argento to “do the right thing” and “be honest” after the Italian actress was accused of having sex with an underage boy in 2013.

In a lengthy statement released on Monday, McGowan, 44, urged Argento to “be better” after actor and musician Jimmy Bennett, 22, accused her of allegedly sexually assaulting him when he was 17. Argento has denied having any sexual relationship with Bennett.

McGowan claimed a person she is dating, named Rain Dove, told her Argento, 42, had confessed to sleeping with Bennett.

“They said that they had been texting with Asia and that Asia had revealed that...

Asia Argento has been let go from “X Factor Italy,” according to the Australian AP. The actress will not appear on the current season’s upcoming live shows after a report last week said Argento paid $380,000 to a 17-year-old boy she is accused of having a sexual encounter with in 2013.

A week ago, producers of the singing competition said the following in a statement. Readers will have to forgive some of the Italian-to-English translation.

Sky Italia and FremantleMedia Italia have read today with great attention and in astonishment the news regarding Asia Argento published by the New York Times.

It should be made clear that Sky Italia and Fremantle did not pick Asia Argento as a judge of X Factor Italy for her commitment to the #Metoo campaign, nor for her personal stances, but rather – as it has always been the case when it came to choose the judges of...

Asia Argento has been axed from “X Factor Italy” amid a scandal over allegations that she sexually abused a former child actor who once appeared in a movie with her, sources said Monday.

Doubts had been cast on the Italian actress-director’s presence as a judge on “X Factor Italy” following a report that she paid former child actor and musician Jimmy Bennett a $380,000 settlement after an alleged sexual encounter when he was 17. Argento has admitted the payout, which she said was made by her former boyfriend, the late Anthony Bourdain, but denied she had sex with Bennett.

Sources confirmed that Sky Italia and FremantleMedia Italia have decided to pull Argento from the live portion of the talent show, which starts airing on Sept. 6. There is no official statement from the show’s broadcaster or producer yet.

Italian audiences will still see her on the first seven episodes of “X Factor,...

Asia Argento claims that she did not have a sexual relationship with Jimmy Bennett, but some new photographic evidence has come to light and it contradicts Argento's words. Since the pictures and some text messages have leaked, Argento's accuser, Jimmy Bennett, is speaking about the matter in public for the first time. Bennett admits to being "ashamed," which is why he didn't come forward sooner. The young actor says that it was only after he saw Argento on TV talking about being one of Harvey Weinstein's victims that it all came flooding back.

Jimmy Bennett was 17-years old when he was allegedly sexually assaulted by Asia Argento. The incident took place 5 years ago at a hotel room in California. In a newly released statement, Bennett claims that he wanted to take care of the matter with Argento privately, while the actress claims that it was all a giant case of extortion.

New text messages between Asia Argento and an anonymous friend published by TMZ early Wednesday morning appear to confirm that the Italian actress and #MeToo figurehead had a sexual encounter with a minor. This latest development in the still-unfolding story highlights the need to understand nuance within the #MeToo movement, and to let go of the myth of the perfect victim.

The New York Times published an article on Sunday based on leaked documents sent between Argento’s lawyer Carrie Goldberg, and Gordon K. Sattro, the attorney for actor and musician Jimmy Bennett.

‘I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy.’

Former child actor and musician Jimmy Bennett has spoken out about his allegation of sexual assault by Asia Argento and said he had been “ashamed and afraid” to speak publicly until now.

One day after Argento denied any sexual relationship with Bennett, the youngster, who claims the Italian actress and filmmaker sexually assaulted him in a Los Angeles hotel room five years ago when he was a 17-year-old minor, has come forward for the first time.

Meanwhile the website TMZ...

Jimmy Bennett has issued his first public statement since news surfaced on Sunday that actress Asia Argento had agreed to pay him $380,000 to settle a sexual abuse claim.

Bennett said he had sought to resolve the matter privately, and had not spoken out sooner, “because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative.”

“At the time I believed there was still a stigma to being in the situation as a male in our society,” he said. “I didn’t think that people would understand the event that took place from the eyes of a teenage boy.”

Argento was one of the first accusers to come forward in October 2017 with allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Bennett said when Argento came out as a victim, it stirred memories of his own experience in 2013.

According to the initial report in the New York Times, Argento had sex with Bennett when...

Asia Argento’s accuser, Jimmy Bennett, issued a statement on Wednesday saying that he didn’t speak out shortly after the alleged 2013 sexual assault took place because he felt “ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative.”

“I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me,” said Bennett in a statement to TheWrap. “My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself. I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative.”

He added, “I was underage when the event took place, and I tried to seek justice in a way that made sense to me at the time because I was not ready to deal with the ramifications of my story becoming public. At the...

Mira Sorvino is still reeling over the news of sexual assault accusations against Asia Argento and shared her thoughts on the matter Tuesday night.

Sorvino, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of the #MeToo movement since she came forward about Harvey Weinstein’s harassment of her in Ronan Farrow’s New Yorker story, said she is heartsick over the accusations against Argento and is “hoping against hope that it is not true.”

“Time will clarify things and perhaps she will be exonerated, but if true, there is no lens that makes it better,” the “Mighty Aphrodite” star said.

Having just touched down from several weeks abroad, I am reeling from the recent news. Although hoping against hope that it is not true, here are my current thoughts: pic.twitter.com/8oOF3LmHLQ

– Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) August 22, 2018

Also Read: Alyssa Milano on Asia Argento Accusations: 'Stop Trying to...

It’s been a year filled with tragedy and scandal for actress and director Asia Argento, 42.

The Italian actress and daughter of filmmaker Dario Argento first made headlines in October 2017 when she accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct and shortly after became a leader in the #MeToo movement attending rallies and speaking out about Weinstein at the Cannes Film Festival. In June, her boyfriend chef Anthony Bourdain was found dead by suicide. “He was my love, my rock, my protector,” she said at the time of his death. Then on Sunday, Argento found herself once again in the spotlight after...

Two days after the New York Times reported that Asia Argento paid $380,000 to a young actor who had accused her of sexual assault when he was just 17, the actress issued a denial that raises almost as many questions as it answers.

“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article,” she said in a statement on Tuesday after the Times reported on a payment to Jimmy Bennett, a now-22-year-old actor-musician who had accused her of assault in 2013.

“I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false,” wrote Argento, who had directed Bennett and played his mother in the 2004 film “The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.” “I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”

Also Read: Asia Argento Strongly Denies 'Absolutely False' Sexual Assault Accusation

Argento, who has become a leading figure in the #MeToo movement since accusing disgraced...

Asia Argento said Tuesday that she never had “any sexual relationship” with a man who has accused her of molesting him when he was a minor, and that her former boyfriend, the late Anthony Bourdain, urged her to agree to a financial settlement to end the man’s “long-standing persecution” of her.

In a statement first reported by journalist Yashar Ali, Argento said that her accuser, former child actor Jimmy Bennett, was “considered dangerous” by Bourdain and that a $380,000 payout to him was a way “to deal compassionately with Bennett’s demand for help” after the actor “unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me.” Argento said she was “deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false,” referring to a report in the New York Times detailing the settlement and Bennett’s allegation that the Italian actress-director sexually assaulted him in 2013, when he was a teenager.

Asia Argento strongly denied on Tuesday that she sexually assaulted actor Jimmy Bennett when he was underage.

In a statement, the actress and director also addressed a report that she had paid Bennett $380,000 following his accusation, saying that her boyfriend, deceased celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, “personally undertook to help Bennett economically, upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life.”

“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article,” she said in a statement to journalist Yashar Ali. “I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”

Moreover, she said she was “linked to him during several years by friendship only, which ended when, subsequent to my exposure in the Weinstein case, Bennett […] unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me. Anthony Bourdain, was a...

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is “attempting to reach out to the reported victim” of actress Asia Argento, following a report that she had paid $380,000 to an underage sexual assault accuser.

In a statement issued Monday, Cpt. Darren Harris of the sheriff’s department said, “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (Lasd) is aware of the media reports naming Asia Argento as being involved in an alleged 2013 incident in an area policed by our Marina Del Rey Station. To date, the Lasd has not located any police report alleging criminal activity within our jurisdiction in relation to this incident. After becoming aware of the allegations, the Lasd’s Special Victims Bureau is attempting to reach out to the reported victim and/or his representatives in an effort to appropriately document any potential criminal allegations.”

The announcement comes following a report in the New York Times that Argento,...

Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer Ben Brafman accused Weinstein accuser Asia Argento of a “stunning level of hypocrisy” following a report that she paid $380,000 to a young actor who accused her of sexual misconduct.

“This development reveals a stunning level of hypocrisy by Asia Argento, one of the most vocal catalysts who sought to destroy Harvey Weinstein,” Brafman said in a statement to TheWrap. “What is perhaps most egregious, is the timing, which suggests that at the very same time Argento was working on her own secret settlement for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor, she was positioning herself at the forefront of those condemning Mr. Weinstein, despite the fact that her sexual relationship with Mr. Weinstein was between two consenting adults which lasted for more than four years.”

The statement continued: “The sheer duplicity of her conduct is quite extraordinary and should demonstrate to everyone how poorly the allegations against Mr.

After watching Asia Argento speak out against Harvey Weinstein last fall, young actor and musician Jimmy Bennett felt the need to get legal representation to sue the actress for sexual misconduct. Bennett alleges that Argento sexually assaulted him in a hotel room when he was 17-years old (the age of consent in California is 18-years old). Argento agreed to pay the young actor $380,000 over the next year-and-a-half. Bennett and Argento worked together on The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things in 2004 when Bennett was 7-years old. The two kept in contact over the years and called each other mother and son after sparking a relationship on the set.

In social media posts over the years, Asia Argento referred to him as "son," while Jimmy Bennett called her "mother." Argento's pictures are still up on social media, which shows the two together, while all of Bennett's have been scrubbed. In a 2013 meeting,...

The producers of “X-Factor Italy” said Monday that if accusations of sexual misconduct against Asia Argento “were to be confirmed,” the show would “put an end to the collaboration” with the Italian actor-director.

“It should be made clear that Sky Italia and Fremantle did not pick Asia Argento as a judge of X Factor Italy for her commitment to the #Metoo campaign, nor for her personal stances, but rather,” Sky and FremantleMedia Italy said Monday in a statement provided to TheWrap, “for her musical skills and ability to manage a television role in a show like this.”

But, the statement continued, “if the allegations reported by the New York Times today were to be confirmed… we would have no choice but to take note of it and put an end to the collaboration with Asia Argento.”

Also Read: Asia Argento Paid $380,000 to an Underage Sexual Assault Accuser (Report)

The New York Time...

Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement that emerged following the sexual misconduct accusations against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein last October, took to Twitter on Monday to uphold the movement’s values following the accusations lodged at actress Asia Argento.

“People will use these recent news stories to try and discredit this movement – don’t let that happen. This is what Movement is about. It’s not a spectator sport. It is people generated. We get to say ‘this is/isn’t what this movement is about!'” Burke wrote on Twitter in a thread. “There is no model survivor. We are imperfectly human and we all have to be accountable for our individual behavior.”

I’ve said repeatedly that the #metooMVMT is for all of us, including these brave young men who are now coming forward. It will continue to be jarring when we hear the names...

Rose McGowan is speaking out following a report that claims that Asia Argento, her friend and fellow Harvey Weinstein accuser, agreed to pay $380,000 to a former child actor accusing her of sexual assault.

“I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein,” the 44-year-old actress tweeted on Monday morning, hours after The New York Times published the bombshell report.

“My heart is broken,” she added, before remarking that despite the report, she “will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere.”

McGowan also asked that people remain as...

Italian actress Asia Argento was one of the first to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault last fall, setting off a flurry of other allegations against the movie producer, ending his career and sparking the #MeToo movement. At the same time, according to the New York Times, Argento was allegedly scrambling to quiet her own accuser – former child actor Jimmy Bennett, who claims that Argento assaulted him in 2013, shortly after his 17th birthday when she was 37 years old. The Times have allegedly obtained legal documents sent between Bennett’s and...

Incident allegedly took place in California hotel room in 2013.

Rose McGowan on Monday (August 20) said her heart was broken after reports surfaced that Asia Argento, a leading light of the #MeToo movement, reportedly settled a sexual assault claim by a former child actor.

McGowan and Argento, who have separately claimed they were raped by Harvey Weinstein, have been among the leading lights of the #MeToo movement that erupted in response to Weinstein’s alleged acts.

McGowan tweeted on Monday: “I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein.

Rose McGowan on Monday responded to the New York Times report that actress Asia Argento — a fellow Harvey Weinstein accuser — had herself paid a young actor $380,000 following an accusation of sexual misconduct.

“I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago,” McGowan wrote on Twitter. “Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. My heart is broken,” she added. “I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere.”

In a later tweet, she added, “None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed. Be gentle.”

I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere.

— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) August 20, 2018

None of us know the truth of the situation and I’m sure more will be revealed.

A report that Asia Argento has paid a former child actor and musician a settlement after an alleged sexual encounter when he was 17 is raising questions about her participation as a judge on “X Factor Italy.”

Argento has been one of the most outspoken voices against sexual harassment in the entertainment industry and is an accuser of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein. The New York Times’ report that Argento agreed to pay Jimmy Bennett $380,000 because of an alleged sexual encounter with him in 2013 took many by surprise. Bennett played the Italian actress-director’s son in her film “The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things.”

Reactions from Italy’s media personalities have so far been muted, in a country where Argento has been criticized and ridiculed for speaking up against sexual harassment. But a growing number of Italians have taken to Twitter to demand that FremantleMedia Italy, which is producing “X Factor Italy,...

Asia Argento, a leading voice in the #MeToo movement and one of many women to publicly accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, settled a sexual-assault accusation made against her by former child musician and actor Jimmy Bennett last year, according to the New York Times. Bennett was 17 years old in 2013, when he alleges the incident took place; Argento was 37. He claims the assault took place in a hotel room in California, where the age of consent is 18.

Bennett originally intended to sue Argento for $3.5 million for assault and battery, lost wages, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case was settled for $380,000.

According to the Times, Carrie Goldberg, Argento’s attorney in the case, wrote to her client that “we hope nothing like this ever happens to you again. You are a powerful and inspiring creator and it is a miserable condition of life that you live among s...

According to documents obtained by the New York Times, leading #MeToo advocate Asia Argento settled an accusation of sexual assault from former child actor and musician Jimmy Bennett for the sum of $380,000 to be paid over the course of a year and a half.

The claim and resulting discussions of payment are included in documents between the lawyers for Argento and Bennett. The claim states Bennett was a little over 17 years old at the time of the alleged assault, which took place in a California hotel room in 2013 when Argento was 37. The legal age of consent in California is 18.

As part of the agreement, Bennett, who is now 22, gave a selfie of he and Argento in bed and its copyright to Argento, now 42. Three people familiar with the case told the New York Times that the documents were authentic.

The lawyer for Argento who handled the settlement, Carrie Goldberg, in...

He wrote bestselling books, made numerous public appearances, became a Hollywood "it" boy and befriended a slew of A-list celebrities, but author Jt Leroy never actually existed. In 2006, Laura Albert shocked the the literary world and Hollywood alike when she revealed that she was the person behind the beloved and celebrated young author - supposedly a HIV-positive transgender ex-prostitute who chronicled his troubled upbringing in the novel Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories. Now 10 years after the scandal broke and Albert was labeled the mastermind of one of the entertainment's most elaborate hoaxes (a word...

He wrote bestselling books, made numerous public appearances, became a Hollywood "it" boy and befriended a slew of A-list celebrities, but author Jt Leroy never actually existed. In 2006, Laura Albert shocked the the literary world and Hollywood alike when she revealed that she was the person behind the beloved and celebrated young author - supposedly a HIV-positive transgender ex-prostitute who chronicled his troubled upbringing in the novel Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things: Stories. Now 10 years after the scandal broke and Albert was labeled the mastermind of one of the entertainment's most elaborate hoaxes (a word...

To some, it was a major con, the kind of hoax that hurts. After all, author Jeremiah "Terminator" LeRoy hit the literary world hard with his novel Sarah (2000) and his short story collection The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001). There were copious raves for these raw tales of child abuse, drugs, truck-stop sex and other bumps in the road for this HIV-positive, transgender male. Then, late in 2005, came the revelation that Jt Leroy was the invented male persona of Brooklyn-born Laura Albert, a former phone-sex operator turned San Francisco housewife and mother.

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.

This Past Weekend:

As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...

In the late 90s, Jt LeRoy’s autobiographical tales of abuse as a young man became cult hits, beloved of celebrities from Lou Reed to Winona Ryder. Then the baffling story of the author’s true identity emerged. A new film reveals the makings of the myth

It was one of the strangest post-screening Q&As I’ve ever attended. It was the 2005 London Lesbian and Gay film festival. Among those on stage were Asia Argento, director and star of a movie called The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things, and Jt LeRoy, author of the cult novel from which it was adapted. Plus someone called Emily Frasier. No one was quite sure who she was. The movie itself was a sleazy slice of southern gothic, ostensibly based on Jt LeRoy’s own shockingly traumatic boyhood. Dragged away from his foster parents by his truck-stop prostitute mother (played by Argento...

One of the films from this year's Sundance Film Festival that I'm still chewing on is Author: The Jt LeRoy Story. The documentary by Jeff Feuerzeig is well-made and obviously was produced with an enormous amount of access to Laura Albert, the writer at the heart of the very, very strange saga. That's part of the problem, though. I'm not sure why anyone would ever trust a single word out of Albert's mouth, especially not on the subject of Jt LeRoy, and in the end, her involvement makes me believe the movie less, not more. For those unfamiliar with the story, Jt LeRoy was a literary phenomenon in the late '90s, a young author who became a celebrity as much for his backstory as for his prose. People like Bono and Courtney Love and Gus Van Sant and Billy Corgan all believed fervently in LeRoy, and while secrecy was...

Here’s a good sign of momentum: weeks after a documentary premiered at Sundance and received its first wave of fine reviews, the figure known as Jt Leroy is having their life story turned into a feature film. THR tell us Kristen Stewart, James Franco, Helena Bonham Carter, and writer-director Justin Kelly (the Franco-led I Am Michael) will team for Jt Leroy, which examines the eponymous figure — itself the outlet for a writer and actor who fooled the world with “a man who identifies as transgender, tricking the rich and famous in Hollywood, the fashion world and elite literary circles.”

If contracts are arranged, Carter and Stewart will respectively star as Laura Albert and Savannah Knoop, Leroy’s writing and public personas. There are many directions in which this narrative can reach, evidenced by the fact that writer-director-actress Asia Argento, who adapted Leroy’s The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things,...

There are few celebrity stories as fascinating as Jt Leroy's. The author behind the beloved "non-fiction" bestseller “The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things” (which was turned into a 2004 film by Asia Argento) earned the kind of status the writer's don't often receive, rubbing shoulders with folks like Marilyn Manson, Shirley Manson, Courtney Love, and Billy Corgan. But all of that changed when, in 2006, Jt Leroy was revealed to be the creation of Laura Albert, who furthered the duplicity by having Savannah Knoop play LeRoy in public. And now, that wild story is coming to the big screen. THR reports that Kristen Stewart, James Franco, and Helena Bonham Carter will star in "Jt LeRoy." Justin Kelly, who previously directed Franco in "I Am Michael," will be behind the camera and pen the script for this one, which is based on Knoop's memoir. Kyle Buchanan at Vulture adds that Stewart would play Knoop,...

Author: The Jt LeRoy Story relives the literary hoax of the early aughts, the truly weird and out of control tale of Jt LeRoy. An allegedly gender-fluid HIV positive son of a West Virginia truck stop hooker, he rose to the heights of indie stardom befriending the likes of Courtney Love, Shirley Manson, Lou Reed, Michael Pitt, Billy Corgan and filmmakers Gus Van Saint and Asia Argento (both would “adapt” works by LeRoy). An anonymous experiment originally conducted by Laura Albert, the myth grows out of control when she hires Savannah Knoop, her sister-in-law, as an avatar. The real Laura Albert had been described by media accounts as a Brooklyn housewife, but here director Jeff Feuerzeig dives deeper.

A sweeping first-hand account of the bizarre saga as told by Albert, Author: The Jt LeRoy Story is wildly entertaining and truly stranger than fiction, even perhaps the fiction Albert wrote as LeRoy.

This is a reprint of our review from the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. There’s something irresistibly hip about Asia Argento, even as a concept. The sultry, pouty daughter of trash-horror maestro Dario Argento, her public image as a wild child jack-of-all-trades-as-long-as-they’re-kinda-glamorous (actress, singer, model, director) does make her something of a poster girl for tough, troubled, attitude-y cool (just check out her Cannes red carpet pic or her Twitter account for that matter). But after her first two forays into directing, “Scarlet Diva” (in which she also starred as a self-destructive starlet) and child abuse chronicle “The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things,” she has shifted gears in several ways with her third: she makes a brief, Hitchcock-level cameo, but doesn’t star, and most welcome, she moves from straight-up miserablism to a beguiling cockeyed whimsy. However, “Misunderstood” ("Incompresa"), which played in the Un Certain Regard sidebar in...