Just days before the final cut of The Predator was due to be turned in, 20th Century Fox learned that writer and director Shane Black had hired actor Steven Wilder Striegel to shoot a scene alongside Olivia Munn in which he repeatedly hits on her character. What's the big deal? Well, he's a registered sex offender - a fact Black was aware of and one he willingly chose not to notify the studio or cast about.
A longtime friend of Black's, Striegel pleaded guilty in 2010 after being accused of attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship online. Munn learned of his past on August 15th and notified the studio. To their credit, they took immediate action and decided to remove the scene from the film.
Surprisingly, Black has previously managed to sneak his friend into both Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys. "I personally chose to help a friend," Black explains. "I can understand others might disapprove, as his conviction was on a sensitive charge and not to be taken lightly." The filmmaker later went on to say that Striegel was actually "caught up in a bad situation versus something lecherous."
In a statement of her own, Munn has said that she finds it "both surprising and unsettling that Shane Black, our director, did not share this information to the cast, crew, or Fox Studios prior to, during, or after production. However, I am relieved that when Fox did receive the information the studio took appropriate action by deleting the scene featuring Wilder to release of the film," she adds.
This isn't quite a PR nightmare for Fox but it doesn't reflect well on Black and his decision to include a registered sex offender in one of his movies is bound to have a negative impact on his career, especially in the midst of the #MeToo movement. Don't expect this cut scene to end up on the Blu-ray either!