Producers Allowed to Sue ‘Femme Fatales’ Actress Anne Greene For Refusing Nude Scenes
The producers of the TV series “Femme Fatales” have been allowed to sue an actress who refused to go nude on screen. Anne Greene has lost her motion to strike production company True Crime’s legal claims for allegedly breaching the “Nudity Rider” of her contract.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Greene sued True Crime, Time Warner, HBO and Cinemax, claiming she was bullied, sexually harassed and placed in a dangerous work environment. A trial was scheduled earlier in the year, but True Crime filed counterclaims.
Apparently, Greene was contractually required to go nude for the sex scenes in the episode titled “Jailbreak” for show’s second season. She claimed she would not have taken the job if she knew it involved “soft-corn porn.” The actress said that she filmed the simulated sexual intercourse scenes “under duress,” adding that he was under threat of $100,000-plus lawsuit if she did not go ahead with the filming. She also alleged that the producers violated multiple union rules and regulations.
However, according to True Crime’s counterclaims, she had no reservations playing the role of Kendra. Her contract also included a personal release and nudity rider, and she was given a DVD copy of a prequel episode, which gave her ample notice that the show was an erotic and adult-targeted series. The “casting breakdowns” that she received also made it clear that her role required partial nudity, which was defined as “chest” and “behind.”
Greene is said to have expressed hesitation with a simulated oral sex scene, so the producers “accommodated Greene’s concern and revised the script.” They also didn’t “attempt to convince, persuade or coerce Greene to perform any scenes against her will or to which she expressed objection or discomfort.”
On the last day of shooting, Greene was also unwilling to go topless during a simulated nude sex scene. As there was no time to find her replacement, she was fitted with “pasties” to conceal her nipples, but this was apparently a violation of an HBO rule.
True Crime then hired a body double and spent “substantial time edition (both at significant unbudgeted expense)” so the pasties would not be shown on air. The producers are blaming her for the “substantial delay and disruption” of the filming.
Greene’s legal camp set off a motion to strike as an attempt to kill the counterclaims, saying that they were just a retaliatory action to violate her First Amendment right to petition a hostile work environment. However, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara Scheper gave True Crime the green light to go ahead with the counterclaims because the production company “has provided ample evidence that it will prevail.”
The trial is scheduled to commence on Feb 17.
“Femme Fatales” is an antology series aired in HBO’s Cinemax channel from 2011. It has featured mainstream actors, including Vivica A. Fox, Adam Goldberg, Richard Kind, Antonio Sabato Jr., Casper Van Dien and Eric Roberts among many others.