Armie Hammer Dropped From Cold War Thriller ‘Billion Dollar Spy’
Written by SOURCE on March 30, 2021
Armie Hammer has been dropped from another film, Billion Dollar Spy, as a result of swirling controversies regarding a sexual assault investigation and graphic private messages he’s alleged to have sent over social media, according to Variety.
In the Cold War drama he’s now no longer apart of, Hammer was set to star opposite Mads Mikkelsen. The film was the last one on Hammer’s future schedule that had yet to sever ties with him. All unreleased projects that he’s slated to appear on-screen for had wrapped production prior to the allegations against him being made public.
Since the beginning of 2021 he has stepped away from his future roles in Shotgun Wedding, the upcoming Starz series Gaslit, and the Paramount+ series The Offer. His talent agency, WME, also dropped him last month. And he’s being investigated by the LAPD due to allegations aired by a former partner who says he raped her in 2017.
Through his attorney he’s denied that allegation, and called the claim “outrageous.” He’s maintained that all interactions with past sexual partners have been consensual.
He also released a statement when he stepped down from his Shotgun Wedding role back in January, with him saying that the spreading claims made against him on social media are “bullshit.”
“I’m not responding to these bullshit claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic. Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that,” he said back in January.
Hammer was cast in Billion Dollar Spy towards the end of 2020. He was to play Brad Reid, a new arrival to the CIA’s Moscow station who develops a friendship with a Soviet engineer (Mads Mikkelsen) who hands over spy secrets.
The film was yet to start production. It’s not clear at the moment who will take Hammer’s place.
