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Evan Rachel Wood
Photo: Olivia Fougeirol/AP
US actress Evan Rachel Wood has accused singer Marilyn Manson of raping her while filming a music video.
A "simulated sex scene" for the video for the 2007 single "Heart-Shaped Glasses" had been agreed.
"But as soon as the cameras rolled, he started really penetrating me," the 34-year-old said in the documentary "Phoenix Rising," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in the United States on Sunday.
"I never agreed to that."
Wood met Manson, who is almost 20 years his senior, when he was 18.
The two were in a relationship for several years from 2006.
Manson said he was inspired to create Heart-Shaped Glasses when he saw Wood wearing the glasses featured on the famous Stanley Kubrick's Lolita movie poster.
"Forced into a commercial sex act"
"I didn't know how to stand up for myself or say no because I'd been conditioned and trained never to disagree and just push through," Wood said.
"I could tell the crew was very uncomfortable and no one knew what to do."
She was "forced into a commercial sex act under false pretenses," she said in the documentary.
"I was basically raped on camera." According to the documentary, Manson - real name Brian Warner - later pressured Wood to tell journalists that there was no real sex during the making of the video.
Manson's attorney Howard King denied the allegations in a statement to AFP.
"Of all the false claims Evan Rachel Wood has made about Brian Warner, her imaginative retelling of the making of the 'Heart-Shaped Glasses' music video 15 years ago is the boldest and easiest to refute because of multiple witnesses," wrote he.
Wood's mother reported that she learned from a member of the film crew that Manson had given Wood absinthe "and whatever."
Her daughter was therefore unable to agree when he deviated from the script.
Manson denies allegations
Attorney King, on the other hand, said Wood was "in his right mind" during the three-day shoot and "was heavily involved in weeks of pre-production planning and days of post-production to final editing."
"The simulated sex scene was shot for several hours, with several takes from different angles and several long pauses between camera takes." His client "did not have sex with Evan on set and she knows that's the truth."
Wood made allegations of abuse against Manson public last year. Several other women, including »Game of Thrones« actress Esmé Bianco, accuse him. Los Angeles Police Department confirmed last year that they were investigating allegations of domestic violence against the singer. After the allegations became known, the record company Loma Vista Recordings had separated from Manson. He continues to record, however, and was featured on Kanye West's album Donda last year.
The HBO documentary Phoenix Rising chronicles the efforts of Wood and other sexual assault survivors to extend the statute of limitations for sex crimes to give women more time to seek justice after abuse.
The Sundance Film Festival, which is taking place online again this year due to the corona pandemic, runs until January 30th.
bbr/AFP
