When TMZ broke the news earlier this week that Frank Langella, the venerable actor of stage and screen, was being investigated by Netflix for sexual harassment after allegations of inappropriate behavior on the set of The Fall of the House of Usher surfaced, people generally had one of two thoughts: Frank Langella?!? or Frank Langella’s still alive? (The answer, to both questions, is: yes.)
Now, just days after news of Netflix’s investigation into the matter hit, a source close to the production told The Wrap that Langella has been fired from the project. When asked about the situation, Netflix had no comment while the 84-year-old actor’s representatives did not immediately respond.
According to TMZ’s original report about the incident, a source claimed that Langella “allegedly made an inappropriate joke that was sexual in nature. Our sources also say in the context of his performance, possibly during rehearsal, he touched the leg of a female costar, and further drew attention to the action when he jokingly said something like ‘Did you like that?’”
Langella, who earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing Richard Nixon in Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon (2008), was set to star as Roderick Usher, the unhinged patriarch at the center of the Edgar Allan Poe story on which the project is based. The Fall of the House of the Usher is the latest offering from Mike Flanagan, Netflix’s go-to auteur for horror adaptations who has previously adapted Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House and turned Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw into The Haunting of Bly Manor.
According to The Wrap, production on the project was already halfway completed. The role is set to be recast with all of Langella’s scenes being reshot.
(Via The Wrap)