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Kevin Costner is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit by a Horizon 2 stunt performer who claimed she performed an alleged unscripted rape scene without being given required notice, asked for her consent to record, or provided a mandatory intimacy coordinator.
In a declaration filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court and obtained by Rolling Stone, Costner called the accusations made by Devyn LaBella “absolutely false” and “deeply disappointing,” while also claiming they were “designed” to “damage my reputation.”
“These allegations are so patently false I can only assume that the purpose was to use this sensationalistic language to embarrass and damage me and the Horizon movies on an ongoing basis in order to gain a massive and unjustified payday,” wrote Costner in his filing. “Equally as bad, having to read about and address allegations I know to be false involving the words ‘rape’ and ‘assault’ has been an absolute nightmare.”
In her lawsuit filed earlier this year, LaBellasued the production companies behind Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 and Costner for sexual discrimination, harassment, and creating a hostile work environment. Per the complaint, LaBella was hired as the stunt double for actor Ella Hunt in the movie, and that Hunt negotiated a mandatory intimacy coordinator for all nude or intimate scenes.
However, LaBella claimed that after a scripted rape scene that was detailed and rehearsed with an intimacy coordinator and stunt coordinator, the following day (May 2, 2023) Costner asked LaBella to stand in for Hunt in an unplanned scene of sexual violence involving a different character, played by Roger Ivens. “Mr. Ivens violently rustled Ms. LaBella’s skirt up as if trying to penetrate her against her will,” the lawsuit alleged.
In his response Tuesday, Costner said that LaBella’s “description of this shot as a ‘violent simulated rape’ is absurd and sensationalistic.” Along with providing still images featuring LaBella and Ivens by the production, Costner further claimed, “It is a bold-faced lie intended to create wide, publicly-viewed shock value and damage the movies and me personally. This was one artistic shot designed to imply what was going to happen off-screen, and purposefully was not a ‘simulated rape’ as Devyn now falsely describes it.”
Costner is also seeking to toss out the lawsuit under California’s anti-SLAPP law, measures designed to protect individuals from lawsuits intending to intimidate them from exercising their right to free speech.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, LaBella’s lawyer, James A. Vagnini, said that Tuesday’s filing from Costner’s legal team was “continued evidence that one of Hollywood’s most powerful men is trying to skirt accountability for reckless and harmful behavior.”
“Claims that Devyn’s professional demeanor on set discredits the assault she endured is not only insulting to victims everywhere, but directly disproven by multiple eyewitness accounts and irrefutable evidence from the immediate aftermath of the incident, including phone calls, text messages and a scathing report from the production’s Intimacy Coordinator,” Vagnini continued. “This baseless motion is nothing but a desperate delay tactic from a panicked legal team with no real defense.”
