Rebecca Romijn says she didn’t speak out about the misconduct allegations against her two former X-Men directors, Bryan Singer and Brett Ratner, because others had already done so.
While speaking to The Independent about her career journey and why working on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is personally special, The Librarians actress opened up about the controversies around the original X-Men trilogy, which was distributed by 20th Century Fox, with the first two installments directed by Singer and the third by Ratner.
While other members of the cast have spoken more explicitly about the chaotic and on-set behavior they witnessed, in addition to addressing their feelings on the allegations of sexual misconduct around Singer, Romijn has remained mostly silent. According to her, it’s because she didn’t feel like she needed “to say anything else.”
“Yeah, I kind of just… I didn’t feel like I needed to say anything. I know the two people that I worked with had it coming, and they got theirs,” she said. “I’m not gonna… I don’t need to say anything else.”
During the interview, Romijn also expounds on her experience with Singer as a director, who in a 2019 piece in The Atlantic was accused by four individuals of sexual misconduct, including one allegation of rape, with teenage boys. Singer has denied all allegations of abuse and misconduct, and in 2019 settled a 2017 lawsuit with Cesar Sanchez-Guzman, who alleged the filmmaker sexually assaulted him in 2002 during a party in Seattle.
After acknowledging that Singer has “had his fair share of stuff,” Romijn said he was a “fantastic filmmaker” and that she’s grappled with how to discuss the more positive associations of her time with him as a director. She also noted that she was aware other cast members had confronted Singer about his on-set behavior, but denied that she was part of the group that spoke to him.
“It was amazing watching him work. And you have to decide if you want to try and separate those two things,” she said. “There was drama on set, and I witnessed it and I heard a lot about it. And he sometimes didn’t come in prepared. But he would show up and, without any preparation whatsoever, direct the most awesome scene that he was able to put together because he’s such a good filmmaker.”
X-Men stars Halle Berry and Alan Cumming have both spoken publicly about their time working with Singer, with Berry pointing to Singer’s “struggles” while also expressing frustration over his professional behavior, which included coming to set unprepared, if at all, and creating taxing or difficult filming environments. Cumming called the filmmaker’s behavior “dangerous” and “abusive” while speaking about his experiences on the White Wine Question Time podcast.
Romijn added that she ultimately didn’t “want to throw anyone under the bus,” except for X-Men 3: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner, whom she says she “was not happy working with.”
“But he’s been canceled,” she continued. “I haven’t spoken up about anything with regard to #MeToo, because I had two major issues with two directors I’ve worked with — and both of them already got theirs, one of them being Brett Ratner.”
Multiple women, including X-Men prequel franchise actress Olivia Munn, accused the producer and director of sexual assault or harassment. The allegations date back to the 1990s. Natasha Henstridge accused Ratner of forcing her to perform oral sex on him while she — just 19 at the time — was hanging out with him in his New York apartment. Munn alleged that while dropping off food for the director at his trailer, he masturbated in front of her. He has denied the allegations.
At another point in the interview, Romijn addressed her portrayal of Alexis Meade, the trans sister of Daniel Meade, who ran the fictional MODE magazine. The actress said that if the show ever got a reboot, “I do think Alexis should be cast with a trans actress.” And while that’s the “correct thing to do now,” Romijn — who said she “really wanted to do that character justice — and make her as hot as possible” — still feels like it moved the needle forward for trans representation.
“The executives at the time didn’t love the idea of the character,” she recalled. “There was a real boys’ club running the show behind the scenes at that point. So to try and make it palatable to the boys’ club … they pitched me. And I jumped at the chance.
“I never would be cast in that role today, but I do feel like it helped open doors for the trans community. I’d like to think that, anyway,” she continued. “I don’t want to pat myself on the back too much.”
