“Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” stunt actress Devyn Labella amended her sexual discrimination and harassment lawsuit against director-star Kevin Costner and his production company to add new evidence, including text messages she sent to an intimacy coordinator, regarding an allegedly unscripted rape scene she was asked to work on.
“What happened to me on that set was a reckless violation — a breach of consent and of basic workplace safety,” Labella said Wednesday in a statement to TheWrap. “I was told to lie down, and without warning or rehearsal, another actor was brought in to simulate a rape on top of me. My undergarments were exposed. I was left alone afterward, overwhelmed and in shock.
“Compliance under pressure is not consent,” she continued. “Consent cannot be given after the harm has already begun. Once the line is crossed, there is no real choice left to make. I spoke up immediately. And for that, I was met with silence, deflection and efforts to discredit me. This case is not just about what happened to me. It’s about a broken system that protects those in power and punishes those who speak out.”
LaBella June 18 amendment included text conversations she allegedly had with the film’s intimacy coordinator Celeste Cheney the day after working on the unscripted scene. LaBella stated in the suit that there was no assigned intimacy coordinator on May 2, 2023, for the scene. LaBella also included contracts and call sheets that support her claims that the scene was unscripted, unapproved and/or unsupervised.
“I wanted to discuss yesterday’s abomination when we both have a chance,” LaBella wrote in one provided text message to Cheney. “I was put in a really wrong position, and it’s really affected me.”
Costner was not part of the scene in question, but the suit claims he was “involved” or was “fully aware of every single thing going on” during the production of “Horizon” and its sequel.
LaBella said there were “numerous” issues with the rape scene’s facilitation, including the absence of an intimacy coordinator, her use as a body double when she is a stunt professional, the failure to communicate the mechanics of the scene to her prior to filming and failing to receive her consent to the action that was directed once she was in place, among other allegations. She also stated that the scene was “broadcast publicly on monitors” for all cast and crew to see, and that anyone on set was able to enter and watch her at work.
Included in the amended lawsuit is an incident report from intimacy coordinator Cheney, which documented the many “abandoned protocols” of the scene in question. The report also said that stunt coordinator Wade Allen was the only crew member at the time who tried to stop LaBella from being tasked with the scene work, ultimately telling first AD Phil Patterson that it was “not a stunt double’s job.”
“In addition to amending this complaint to address Defendants’ continued attempts to interfere with Ms. LaBella’s opportunities to work, we amend this complaint to underscore the indisputable evidence that from the moment Ms. LaBella was subjected to the trauma forced upon her, she stood up and voiced her objections and suffering,” LaBella’s attorney James A. Vagnini said in a statement to TheWrap. “Despite Defendants’ continued misstatements that Ms. LaBella had no issues with what transpired, evidence — including text messages, phone calls and even a scathing report by production’s own Intimacy Coordinator — demonstrates the true narrative: that the Defendants failed her in every possible way.
“The playbook used by Defendants like this is tired, archaic and as hollow as their words,” Vagnini concluded. “How many more men who have followed this same pattern of denial and redirection have to be sued or go to jail before they realize that leading with accountability and an apology goes a long way?”
In response to the amended lawsuit on Wednesday, representatives for Costner and the production told TheWrap that LaBella’s claims were easily contradicted by “numerous witnesses.”
“Ms. LaBella was doing a rehearsal on an Insert Shot for a scripted scene. There was no intimacy or anything sexual in the shot. There was tugging on a dress while she was fully clothed in a dress with long bloomers lying down next to a male actor,” attorney Martin D. Singer of Lavely & Singer, PC said. “Numerous witnesses have contradicted Ms. LaBella’s meritless claims. She herself texted her supervisor after she wrapped stating, ‘Thank you for these wonderful weeks.’ We look forward to the swift end of this specious lawsuit.”
LaBella filed her lawsuit on May 27, claiming that she was tasked with performing a rape scene without notice or consent and without an intimacy coordinator, as required by union rules present. In addition, LaBella also claimed she faced retaliation for reporting the incident by not being called back for subsequent work on the “Horizon” films and never being hired again by the stunt coordinator for the film, with whom she worked previously.
According to the initial lawsuit, as obtained and reviewed by TheWrap, LaBella had been cast as a stunt double for actress Ella Hunt, who plays a British woman that is part of a wagon train traveling through the Santa Fe Trail. LaBella was tasked with shooting a scripted rape scene that had been rehearsed and overseen by an intimacy coordinator that was shot without incident.
But the lawsuit alleges that on the following day, when LaBella was expecting to double for Hunt for a pair of non-sexual scenes, she was instructed to lay down on a wagon for what turned out to be a non-scripted rape scene with no rehearsal and an intimacy coordinator not present, in violation of SAG-AFTRA rules. In the amended legal document, LaBella’s provided a print-out of the organization’s rules.
The lawsuit claims that, unbeknownst to LaBella, Hunt had walked off the set “visibly upset” after being told by Costner about the impromptu scene. The rape scene was not listed on the day’s call sheet, and LaBella did not know that the scene would involve rape until another stunt performer was called on to perform simulated sex on top of her.
LaBella claims she made complaints about the alleged incident to several stunt coordinators and the film’s intimacy coordinator, and while she received apologies from some crew members, she was not used as a stunt performer for several days.
Costner’s attorneys disputed the performer’s recount of events, claiming that LaBella had dinner with the film’s stunt coordinator and assistant stunt coordinator the night following the scene and continued to work on “Horizon” for several more weeks. The attorneys also provided screenshots of a text exchange between the coordinator and LaBella in which LaBella thanked the coordinator for hiring her.