Alec writes: “I was forty-seven, and it never occurred to me to ask how old Nikki Reed was. When I found out, just as we finished, that she was seventeen, I flipped out on the producers, who had told me something different.”
Dana Brunetti, who produced the film, told The Hollywood Reporter that Alec was very much aware of the actress’s age and even hand-picked her himself, saying, “It’s a lie. I read it and was like, ‘What the f—. Of course he totally knew how old she was. That’s why there’s no nudity in the movie. He knew before we even cast the movie. I think he’s been method acting Trump too much and he doesn’t know the difference between fake news anymore.”
Another one of the film’s producers, Evan Atrowsky, corroborates Dana’s account of the situation: “What Alec says happened is not accurate. I completely corroborate that. We were on set every day. The thing that Alec must remember is that Mini, played by Nikki, is a sophomore in high school. I don’t know what else to say, except Alec, watch the movie. As for yelling at us after the movie, it absolutely never happened.”
And the nay-sayers keep mounting — the director and writer of Mini’s First Time, Nick Guthe, chimed in to agree with the film’s producers, admitting that Nikki was actually even younger than 17, something he says Alec was fully aware of: “We all knew she was 16. When we discussed it at first, it was a question of meeting with her and making sure she was mature enough to handle the role. On the set, Nikki, being 16, would often speak quickly the way teenagers do, and Alec asked me about that at times because he had trouble understanding her, and I would remind him, “She’s 16.'”
But for Fifty Shades Darker producer Dana Brunetti, it’s the fact that Alec would risk their reputations as well as the reputation of fellow Mini’s First Time producer, accomplished actor Kevin Spacey, that he finds particularly infuriating: “If he had just said, ‘I didn’t know her age,’ I would have thought, ‘He’s a liar,’ and let it go. But when he blamed the producers, I couldn’t let it go. It [makes us look like] we did something unethical or shady or hid something. It makes me look bad. It makes Evan look bad. Does he realize Kevin was a producer?”
Nikki, who had only acted in one film prior — Thirteen, which she co-wrote with her father’s friend, director Catherine Hardwicke — went on to star in the Twilight movies. She is married to The Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder.
What are your thoughts on the situation — who do you believe? Tell us in the comment section below. ~Alexa Caruso