Actor and director responded to stunt professional’s claims she was forced to perform an unscripted sexual assault
Kevin Costner has spoken out against a lawsuit filed by a stunt performer on his film Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, alleging that she was forced to perform a “violent” unscripted rape scene without required notice, consent or the mandatory presence of an intimacy coordinator.
In a legal declaration filed Monday in LA superior court, Costner called the breach of contract suit, filed in May by lead stunt double Devyn LaBella, a “bold-faced lie” that was “designed, through the use of false statements and sensationalistic language, to damage my reputation”. The Yellowstone star seeks to have LaBella’s suit dismissed or kneecapped under anti-Slapp laws, measures that are supposed to protect against intimidation lawsuits.
LaBella, the stunt double for lead actor Ella Hunt, alleges that on 2 May 2023, Costner improvised a scene in which their character Juliette is raped, one day after Hunt and LaBella filmed a scripted scene in which a different character rapes Juliette. Hunt declined to perform the scene, and LaBella was allegedly then summoned to set without knowledge that Hunt refused and left.
