Screenwriter Max Landis’ Manager Drops Him After Daily Beast Story on Abuse Allegations

Hollywood screenwriter Max Landis was dropped by his manager a day after a Daily Beast report detailed allegations of emotional and sexual abuse by eight women.

Britton Rizzio of the firm Writ Large told several entertainment news outlets that he is no longer representing Landis, who has not commented on the accusations.

“As soon as we heard about the Daily Beast article, we parted company,” Rizzio told Deadline on Wednesday.

The story includes allegations that Landis sexually assaulted a woman too drunk to consent, that he held down another woman and raped her, and that he choked several women. The women also accused Landis of intimidating, manipulating, and humiliating them on movie sets and in personal relationships.

The fallout was swift, with film industry figures taking to social media to express outrage—or to say they were not surprised because individual stories of abhorrent behavior by Landis had long circulated, especially in the last year.

Brian Koppelman, who co-wrote Ocean’s Thirteen and co-created Showtime’s Billions, called the story “disturbing/infuriating” but acknowledged the accusations did not come out of the blue.

“I’d heard rumors about Max but still communicated w him as peers about movies and tv online,” he tweeted. “Instead of doing diligence on the rumors. It’s a form of enabling. And we all have to stop.”

Josh Trank, who directed the 2012 superhero movie Chronicle, which Landis wrote, revealed that he had banned him from the set and had not spoken to him in seven years. “I 100% believe every word of this article about Max,” he tweeted.

Landis, 33, is the son of Animal House and Blues Brothers director John Landis.