Annette Sharp: Rebel Wilson unleashes on The Deb’s ‘vile and disgusting’ producers

Rebel Wilson has hurled some serious mud at a trio of producers but there comes a point when you find yourself wondering when she is going to pick a fight she can’t finish, writes Annette Sharp.

THERE comes a point when you find yourself wondering when Rebel Wilson is going to pick a fight she can’t finish.

On Wednesday, she may have done so when she publicly named three new enemies.

Bolstered by the groundswell of support she received from earlier clashes with a women’s magazine, newspaper reporter and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, Wilson took to one of her favourite platforms, Instagram, midweek to blast a trio of producers backing her forthcoming feature film, The Deb.

In a four-minute broadside, Wilson slammed film producers Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden, three of 10 producers who are financing the Pitch Perfect star’s directorial debut.

Their sin? Pulling The Deb, which Wilson co-wrote with singer/songwriter Megan Washington and writer Hannah Reilly, from the September Toronto Film Festival program.

Stills from Rebel Wilson's Instagram rant where she blasted a trio of producers backing her forthcoming feature film, The Deb. Picture: Instagram.

In response Wilson hurled some serious mud at the trio accusing them of “bad behaviour”, “inappropriate conduct” and “embezzling”.

Labelling the producers “f***wits”, she continued her tirade, condemning them for being “vile and disgusting” and unethical.

What she didn’t include in her spray were any facts explaining why she held such extreme views about three people she is doing business with.

Via a spokesperson, Ghost, Cameron and Holden denied the allegations, calling them “false, defamatory, and disappointing.”

“Her self-promotional claims are clearly intended to cause reputational harm to the individuals who have supported her directorial debut film The Deb … For her to promote a false narrative to advance her own agenda undermines the film and all the people who worked on this project,” they said.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson in a scene from Cohen’s film Grimsby. Wilson has made a number of allegations against Cohen. Picture: Roadshow Films

Wilson’s main beef with the trio is her belief they are trying to “bury” her film.

Thanks to Wilson’s post, this writer now finds herself wondering if they have justification to do so.

The Deb, which Wilson describes in the same rant as “little”, “cute” and “small”, doesn’t look like the kind of movie that would warrant a big cinematic release.

Rebel Wilson’s allegations against Sacha Baron Cohen were missing from the Australian release of her memoir, Rebel Rising.

It is routinuely described as being “in the vein of Muriel’s Wedding”, a 1994 quintessentially Australian movie that, despite Toni Collette and Rachel Griffiths’ clout, hasn’t stood the test of time. It’s ultra daggy even by nineties standards.

Meanwhile there has been virtually zero buzz about The Deb, which stars Wilson, Tara Morice and Shane Jacobson, since the movie was announced last year.

With its release date under wraps and Wilson seemingly constantly on the move – in Turkey a week ago promoting a hotel, Wimbledon the week before, Greece in June, the US, UK and Scotland prior to promote other films and her book Rebel Rising – her focus has certainly been elsewhere, possibly contributing to mounting frustrations between Wilson and her producers which have now come to a head.

It might ultimately help The Deb but will, I predict, hamper Wilson’s future directorial ambitions.