Bryan Singer (file photo)
Los Angeles:
The filmmaker Bryan Singer, whose big-budget "X-Men: Days of Future Past" is set for release next month by 20th Century Fox, was accused in a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday of drugging and raping an underage boy here and in Hawaii more than 14 years ago.
A lawyer for Singer, Martin D. Singer, said in a statement that the claims were without merit.
"We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated in this absurd and defamatory lawsuit," he added.
The suit, which includes graphic, detailed allegations, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Hawaii by Michael Egan, a one-time aspiring actor who is now a resident of Nevada. Egan's suit alleges that Bryan Singer provided him with drugs and alcohol and subjected him to unwanted sex on trips to Hawaii in 1999, after meeting him at California parties organized by Marc Collins-Rector, who in 2004 pleaded guilty to charges of transporting minors across state lines to have sex.
Egan is represented by Jeff Herman, a Miami lawyer known for pursuing cases against pedophile priests and representing plaintiffs in a 2012 scandal involving allegations of underage sex against Kevin Clash, a "Sesame Street" puppeteer.
The suit against Bryan Singer creates publicity problems for Fox, which is just starting to introduce its marketing artillery for "Days of Future Past," a big-budget film starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lawrence, among other stars. Fox is counting on the film to be a global blockbuster.
"Days of Future Past" is also meant as a come-back vehicle of a sort for Bryan Singer, whose last film was the bomb "Jack the Giant Slayer."
A Fox spokesman had no immediate comment Thursday.
A lawyer for Singer, Martin D. Singer, said in a statement that the claims were without merit.
"We are very confident that Bryan will be vindicated in this absurd and defamatory lawsuit," he added.
The suit, which includes graphic, detailed allegations, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Hawaii by Michael Egan, a one-time aspiring actor who is now a resident of Nevada. Egan's suit alleges that Bryan Singer provided him with drugs and alcohol and subjected him to unwanted sex on trips to Hawaii in 1999, after meeting him at California parties organized by Marc Collins-Rector, who in 2004 pleaded guilty to charges of transporting minors across state lines to have sex.
Egan is represented by Jeff Herman, a Miami lawyer known for pursuing cases against pedophile priests and representing plaintiffs in a 2012 scandal involving allegations of underage sex against Kevin Clash, a "Sesame Street" puppeteer.
The suit against Bryan Singer creates publicity problems for Fox, which is just starting to introduce its marketing artillery for "Days of Future Past," a big-budget film starring Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry and Jennifer Lawrence, among other stars. Fox is counting on the film to be a global blockbuster.
"Days of Future Past" is also meant as a come-back vehicle of a sort for Bryan Singer, whose last film was the bomb "Jack the Giant Slayer."
A Fox spokesman had no immediate comment Thursday.
© 2014, The New York Times News Service
