Actor Emile Hirsch in rehab amid assault charge

INTO The Wild star Emile Hirsch has checked himself into rehab after he was charged with assault for putting a female movie executive in a headlock.

FILE - FEBRUARY 12: Actor Emile Hirsch has been charged with felony assault after allegedly putting a female executive in a chokehold during the Sundance Film Festival. NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 03: Actor Emile Hirsch attends the "Lone Survivor" New York premiere at Ziegfeld Theater on December 3, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

INTO The Wild star Emile Hirsch has been charged with aggravated assault — and could face up to five years in prison — resulting from his bizarre alleged attack on Paramount executive Daniele Bernfeld at the Sundance Film Festival.

According to charges filed by the Summit County Attorney in Park City, Utah, “Hirsch appeared intoxicated” at Tao nightclub on January 25, when he picked on Ms Bernfeld, asking her “why she looked ‘so tough’” and calling her a “‘rich kid’ who should not be at Sundance.”

Breakout role ... Kristen Stewart and Emile Hirsch in a scene from 2007 film Into The Wild. Picture: Supplied

Legal documents state Ms Bernfeld, 31, pushed him away, but the actor later “came up from behind” and “put her in a chokehold,” pulling her across a table and onto the floor where he “wrapped his hands around her neck.”

It took two bystanders to pull him off, and cops arrived just before 4am.

Smelling of booze and slurring his words, Hirsch, 29, told police he’d had “three or four drinks,” and that he didn’t know Ms Bernfeld, but had been in a “verbal confrontation” with her.

He’s also been charged with misdemeanour intoxication and is due in court on March 16.

His rep Robert Offer told TMZ: ‘Emile takes these allegations very seriously, and is devastated that any of this has occurred.

“A few days after the incident, Emile sought help and checked himself into an alcohol rehabilitation facility, where he remains today, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again.”

“Regarding the charges that have been brought against Emile ... the facts that I can relay are that he consumed an enormous amount of alcohol on the evening in question and he has no memory of what happened,” Mr Offer said.