Selma Blair And Rachel McAdams Speak Up About James Toback's Abuses

Actresses Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams accused director James Toback of sexual harassment. The actresses came forward following a Los Angeles Times report of 38 women accusing the director earlier this week.

More and more people in Hollywood are sharing their stories and feeling brave enough to speak up in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

Selma Blair spoke up and described how Toback harassed her

Earlier this week, Los Angeles Times ran a story where 38 women came forward, telling that they had been sexually harassed by director James Toback.Since Sunday’s report, the number has ballooned to 300 accusers. Now actresses Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams have come forward with the accusation and share their stories.

The actresses alleged they were also harassed by Toback on a Vanity Fair piece published on Thursday. They shared their stories, detailing a similar series of events, including requests for meeting in Toback’s hotel room and the promise of roles.

Selma Blair said the incident happened during a 1999 meeting about Toback’s 2001 film, ‘Harvard Man.’ She recounted that the director promised to train her and that, in order to do so, she would have to recite a monologue naked. Blair agreed to do so eventually though she was uncomfortable.

According to Blair, when she tried to leave, Toback blocked the door and refuse to let her go until he had “released” her, He also asked her to touch him and he offered to ejaculate in his pants if she let him rub up against her.

The actress said they proceeded so that she could get out of there “without being raped” and she felt “disgust and shame.” Blair also stated that the director threatened her to kill and kidnap her if she spoke about the incident.

What about Rachel?

As for McAdams, the incident happened around the same time in Toronto when she was also invited to audition for ‘Harvard Man.’ The actress said she reluctantly met him at his hotel room to workshop an earlier audition she had with him, and “pretty quickly the conversation turned quite sexual.”

According to the actress, Toback told her he had masturbated “countless times” and engaged in other unwanted behavior.

“Eventually, I just excused myself. I can’t remember how long I was there. I felt like I was there forever, ” she said. “This has been such a source of shame for me — that I didn’t have the wherewithal to get up and leave.”

“I kept thinking, ‘This is going to become normal any minute now. This is going to all make sense. This is all above board somehow.'”

“I was very lucky that I left and he didn’t actually physically assault me in any way,” she said.

However, Toback is denying the claims

Following the Los Angeles Times published story, Toback denied the claims and said that he had never met the women or if he had, it “was for five minutes” and he had no recollection of it. Toback also claimed that it was “biologically impossible” for him to have taken part in such behavior due to his diabetes and a heart condition that required medication.

Toback is best known for Oscar-nominated ‘films such as Bugsy’, ‘The Pick-Up Artist’, and ‘The Gambler’.

The Los Angeles Times’ story spans over 22 years and suggests Toback uses similar tactics on different women. Toback allegedly approaches young women if they aren’t sent to him and promises to boost their careers.

When they have a meeting he forces the situation to get them alone in a place like a hotel room and then becomes inappropriate, all under the excuse of training them for the entertainment business.

This all seems to point out that Toback, and others accused of similar behavior such as Harvey Weinstein, reportedly exploited the vulnerability of new and young actors. Which unfortunately comes in handy for them since is the same vulnerability that these actors are told to use and explore in their acting classes.

“This was something that he was known for doing already”

Rachel McAdams discussed the Toback incident with Variety lengthy and said that once she told her agent what had happened, she admitted it wasn’t the first incident involving Toback.

“That is when I got mad because I felt like I was kind of thrown into the lion’s den and given no warning that he was a predator,” she said. “This was something that he was known for doing already. I was so surprised to hear that.”

The actress went on discussing sexual harassment and how this behavior is allowed in the industry and society.

“Sexual harassment is so pervasive, many women seem to have their own story… this has all got to stop. We need to start acknowledging what an epidemic this is, and what a deep-seated problem this is.” “You have to get it all out in the open and in the light so that we can really understand how pervasive this is,” she added.

“I think we almost have to exhaust ourselves sharing our experiences before the rebuilding can begin. And hopefully, we never slip back into this darkness again.”