Ellen Barkin reveals director’s shocking act during nude scene

Actress Ellen Barkin has revealed a male director’s mortifying act toward her while she was filming a nude scene for one of her big films.

US actress Ellen Barkin has opened up about a horrifying incident with a male director while filming a nude scene.

The 68-year-old veteran screen star, who has been an unrelenting force for the MeToo movement since it exploded in 2017, got candid about her past experiences on-set in an interview with Huffington Post.

Speaking broadly about how horrible show business was for women prior to Hollywood’s recent reckoning, Barkin referenced a “very difficult” scene in her 1989 neo-noir thriller Sea of Love, in which she starred opposite Al Pacino and John Goodman.

Ellen Barkin in the 1989 film Sea of Love.

Barkin played Helen Cruger in the thriller.

Barkin claimed US director Harold Becker, now 94, “ripped” off her merkin – a small wig actors wear to protect their modesty while naked on-set – before hurling insults at her.

“What was I going to do when Harold Becker on Sea of Love walks over and literally rips my merkin off, taking some pubic hair with him and saying: ‘What do you need this for? Nobody’s looking at you,’” Barkin told the publication, describing how powerless she felt in those days. “You do nothing.”

Becker’s representatives did not comment on the allegation.

Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino played love interests.

Barkin made headlines during disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial in Manhattan in 2020, where she attended proceedings as a general punter in support of the accusers.

The Switch actress had previously accused Weinstein of verbal abuse, claiming he called her a “c**t” and a “b***h c**t” while filming Into The West in 1992.

Barkin also supported US actress Amber Heard during her defamation suit against Johnny Depp, testifying via prerecorded deposition during the six week trial in Virginia.

Actress Ellen Barkin regularly attended proceedings during Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial at Manhattan Supreme Court in 2020. Picture: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

Barkin dated Depp for a few months in 1997, with their romance ending abruptly when the Pirates of the Caribbean actor cut contact.

“I wasn’t shocked,” Barkin said during the deposition when asked what she thought of Heard’s allegations of violence against Depp.

“There is always an air of violence around him. He’s a yeller. He is verbally abusive. And those things you can see.”