Here’s a hot tip: if you’re going to bring up decades-old beefs, maybe check that other people don’t have the receipts.
Alec Baldwin‘s new memoir ‘Nevertheless‘ came out on Tuesday, which includes a claim that he had no idea that Nikki Reed was underage when they starred opposite each other in the racy 2006 indie flick ‘Mimi’s First Time‘.
“I was 47, and it never occurred to me to ask how old Nikki Reed was,” writes Baldwin. “When I found out, just as we finished, that she was 17, I flipped out on the producers, who had told me something different.”
The film is about an 18-year-old who seduces her stepfather, so it’s a bit of a sensitive subject as far as age / consent goes, but already producer Dana Brunetti and director Nick Guthe have already taken to Twitter to accuse Baldwin of lying through his teeth (or memoir, as it were).
“Alec Baldwin knew Nikki Reed was 16 (not 17) and he didn’t mind,” wrote Brunetti, pointing out that Reed was in fact one of four actresses approved by Baldwin, and she was the only one repped by his agency. “The only time Baldwin ever yelled at me was on the phone and it was about one of the producers who worked with the financier.”
According to both Brunetti and Guthe, part of the reason an underage actress was cast in the film was because it meant they would avoid the pressure to shoot scenes with nudity.
(4) The films director @NickGuthe said “We liked the idea that b/c it meant we couldn’t be pressured into shooting scenes w/nudity”
— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) April 5, 2017
(5) continued… “which was a real issue with the subject matter and the rather unusual cast of character we were dealing with.”
— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) April 5, 2017
Guthe has backed up Brunetti’s claim – although he took the conversation in a very weird direction.
1) I loved working w/ @AlecBaldwin on Mini’s First Time, but we all knew @NikkiReed_I_Am was 16, during filming. Perhaps this will finally..
— Nick Guthe (@NickGuthe) April 5, 2017
2) to get @realDonaldTrump to release his taxes, which would make @DanaBrunetti very happy!
— Nick Guthe (@NickGuthe) April 5, 2017
But back to Brunetti, who tweeted that three other people who worked on the film (two crew members and another producer) had messaged him to say that yeah, Baldwin knew exactly how old Reed was.
(6) but to @AlecBaldwin‘s benefit, he has been impersonating Trump a lot, so maybe there was a bit of method acting when writing his book?
— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) April 5, 2017
(7) And I have just received 3 other message from crew and other producer stating that he knew how old @NikkiReed_I_Am was during filming.
— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) April 5, 2017
(8) if @AlecBaldwin had simply said in his book he didn’t know @NikkiReed_I_Am‘s age, I would let it go.
— Dana Brunetti (@DanaBrunetti) April 5, 2017
Brunetti speculates that maybe Baldwin yelled at Kevin Spacey (who owns the production company) at an event later, and that’s what constitutes “flipping at a producer”, but that it still didn’t add up to Baldwin being unaware of Reed’s age.
Baldwin has yet to make a public comment about these accusations – and nor, for that matter, has Reed.
Photo: Roy Rochlin / Getty.
