{"id":4942,"date":"2026-04-27T21:49:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/laurie-metcalf-defends-scott-rudin-amid-career-resurgence\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T21:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T21:49:08","slug":"laurie-metcalf-defends-scott-rudin-amid-career-resurgence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/laurie-metcalf-defends-scott-rudin-amid-career-resurgence\/","title":{"rendered":"Laurie Metcalf Defends Scott Rudin Amid Career Resurgence"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tLaurie Metcalf<\/a> knew the question was coming \u201cat some point\u201d so she came prepared, but when The New Yorker<\/a>\u2019s <\/em>Michael Schulman finally asked about her many collaborations with producer Scott Rudin<\/a>, the Tony Award winner \u201cfumbled her words\u201d as she defended his comeback.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s so touchy. It\u2019s so hard,\u201d she said in a lengthy profile<\/a> published today to promote their latest partnership, the new Broadway<\/a> revival of Arthur Miller\u2019s Death of a Salesman<\/em>, now on stage at New York\u2019s Winter Garden Theatre. \u201cHe talked about his therapy, he apologized, he owned what he said, he reflected on it,\u201d she said as she read from notes, per Schulman. \u201cHe was in the process of rehabilitation. So I just think that, unless we think there is no possibility of real rehabilitation, then we shouldn\u2019t ask people to try and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe once-prolific producer was a Hollywood powerhouse who churned out films and stage productions at an impressive clip for decades. That was until a Hollywood Reporter<\/em> investigation<\/a> published in 2021 detailed multiple allegations of abusive behavior from former staffers who claim they witnessed him throwing objects, berating employees and, in one instance, slamming a computer monitor on an assistant\u2019s hand. The staffer wound up in the emergency room. \u201cEveryone just knows he\u2019s an absolute monster,\u201d said one employee.<\/p>\n

\n\tRudin retreated from his career for several years and spent time in therapy. In a New York Times<\/em> interview published in March 2025, Rudin took responsibility for much of his actions and said that he had a lot more self-control. \u201cI learned I don\u2019t matter that much, and I think that\u2019s very healthy,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to let anybody down.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe interview came as he was mounting a career comeback with Barry Diller to produce Samuel D. Hunter\u2019s Little Bear Ridge Road<\/em> starring Metcalf and Micah Stock, a production that had a limited run. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to come back and make some more good work, and people will feel how they feel,\u201d Rudin said at the time. \u201cAnd if some people are really angry about it, they\u2019ll have the right to be angry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Death of a Salesman<\/em>, Metcalf was \u201cdoubling down\u201d on her partnership with Rudin by starring in back-to-back productions for the \u201ccontroversial figure,\u201d per The New Yorker.<\/em> Their history runs deeper. Rudin is credited with suggesting Metcalf for a part in Greta Gerwig\u2019s Lady Bird<\/em>, which landed her an Oscar nomination. She won back-to-back Tony Awards for A Doll\u2019s House, Part 2<\/em> and Three Tall Women<\/em>, both produced by Rudin.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs it turns out, Metcalf was key to Rudin\u2019s comeback. Little Bear Ridge Road<\/em> was originally commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, a Chicago company that Metcalf co-founded. She starred in Steppenwolf\u2019s original 2024 production, and when Rudin offered to bring it to Broadway, Steppenwolf declined to work with him, per The New Yorker. <\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel in alignment with our values and mission that he would come back on Steppenwolf\u2019s name,\u201d a source told Schulman. \u201cIn a precarious moment where we were rebuilding back from the pandemic, why would we partner with someone who the industry felt really harmed by? We can\u2019t be a vehicle for someone to prove that they\u2019ve changed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe situation grew complicated and left Metcalf \u201cdistraught\u201d per The New Yorker<\/em>. She \u201ctook the extraordinary step of threatening to quit Steppenwolf\u201d unless the theater<\/a> company \u2014\u00a0co-founded by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, Gary Sinise and John Malkovich \u2014\u00a0gave up its rights to the production which it did. Asked by Schulman to explain what happened, Metcalf broke down in tears.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI can\u2019t really go into that, because that\u2019s something I haven\u2019t even figured out for myself, my relationship back there,\u201d she said, adding that she\u2019s not been involved in Steppenwolf\u2019s milestone 50th anniversary season. She\u2019s still figuring that out, too. \u201cI want my own celebration of that, and I want to celebrate it with some of the Old Guard. I want to go back in time, and I want to be brave with the people who taught me to be brave. I don\u2019t want to worry if something is not P.C.\u2014 not to trigger people. Just to be daring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDaring, like being the first high-profile Hollywood talents to work with Rudin. \u201cI find it hypocritical that some people want to work with him but didn\u2019t want to be the first,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Laurie Metcalf knew the question was coming \u201cat some point\u201d so she came prepared, but when The New Yorker\u2019s Michael Schulman finally asked about her many collaborations with producer Scott Rudin, the Tony Award winner \u201cfumbled her words\u201d as she defended his comeback. \u201cIt\u2019s so touchy. It\u2019s so hard,\u201d she said in a lengthy profile […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[1513,2442,3831,3832,4556,4555,373],"class_list":{"0":"post-4942","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fashion","8":"tag-career","9":"tag-defends","10":"tag-laurie","11":"tag-metcalf","12":"tag-resurgence","13":"tag-rudin","14":"tag-scott"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4944,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4942\/revisions\/4944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}