My Super Ex-Girlfriend was released in 2006 to mostly negative reviews, and was another of those superhero parody movies looking to cash in on the craze. The romantic comedy was directed by Ghostbusters helmer Ivan Reitman and starred Uma Thurman, Luke Wilson, and Anna Faris, with Eddie Izzard, Rainn Wilson and Wanda Sykes in supporting roles.
While it's been mostly forgotten, My Super Ex-Girlfriend is once again being widely discussed following some serious allegations made by Faris on her Unqualified podcast.
The actress says Reitman "slapped my ass" during production and "yelled" at her during her first day, leaving Faris feeling "angry, hurt and humiliated."
"One of my hardest film experiences was with Ivan Reitman. I mean, the idea of attempting to make a comedy under this, like, reign of terror, he was a yeller. He would bring down somebody every day...and my first day, it was me."
"I was doing a scene where I was on a ladder and I was supposed to be taking books off a shelf and he slapped my a– in front of the crew so hard. And all I could do was giggle. I remember looking around and I remember seeing the crew members being like, 'Wait, what are you going to do about that? That seemed weird.'"
"And that’s how I dismissed it," Faris continued. "I was like, 'Well, this isn’t a thing. Like, it’s not that big of a deal. Buck up, Faris. Like, just giggle.' But it made me feel small. He wouldn’t have done that to the lead male."
Tearfully explaining that no one stepped in to do anything, Faris also confirmed the late director is who she was talking about during an interview in 2017.
"I remember that same director telling my agent, who told me, that I had great legs and that was one of the reasons that I got hired," Faris said at the time. "And listen, that’s a f***ing great compliment. I like my legs. But that sort of informed my whole experience with that whole project. I don’t think the male lead got hired because he had great legs. Therefore I felt like I’m hired because of these elements - not because of [talent]."
Reitman is best known for the first two Ghostbusters movies, but also directed the likes of Twins and Kindergarten Cop. He passed away earlier this year aged 75, though the producers of My Super Ex-Girlfriend have yet to comment on these accusations.
Faris' allegations are undeniably serious and point to a time when a lot of unacceptable behaviour was glossed over on film sets. The Scary Movie star was clearly left shaken by the experience, and we're sure Reitman's fans will be disappointed to learn of these claims.