Armie Hammer drops out of Jennifer Lopez film amid controversy

Jennifer Lopez is looking for a new co-star. Actor Armie Hammer, who was supposed to appear opposite the Hustlers star in the upcoming romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding, suddenly dropped out of the project this week following a social media scandal that has gone viral.

Hammer, whom many fans know from The Social Network and Call Me By Your Name, started trending over the weekend after some Instagram DMs that allegedly came from him were leaked. The messages, which have not been verified, contained graphic sexual fantasies that included cannibalism and BDSM.

“I’m not responding to these bullshit claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,” Hammer said in a statement. “Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.” Production house Lionsgate confirmed the statement, revealing that it was Hammer’s choice to leave the movie, which is set to begin production imminently. “Armie has requested to step away from the film and we support him in his decision,” it said.

Shotgun Wedding revolves around a couple that sets off with their families for a destination wedding. However when they arrive at the tropical location they not only get cold feet, but the entire wedding party is kidnapped and taken hostage. When the project was first announced Ryan Reynolds, one of the film’s producers, was supposed to star. Now the part is being recast entirely. For her part, Lopez has not commented on the news at time of press.

On January 10 Hammer began trending after an anonymous Instagram user named House of Effie, which has since set its account to private, shared DMs supposedly from the 34-year-old Rebecca actor. In them the messages spoke of wanting to cut off a woman’s toe and carry it around in his pocket, and make her his “property until she died,” among other things. According to the messages these interactions took place from 2016 to February 2020 with a woman who had initially reached out to him as a fan.

Many of the actors’ followers have said the posts appear to be fake, while House of Effie shared what it believed was proof by including a DM that showcased Hammer’s hand and a distinct tattoo. Meanwhile Hammer’s estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers is reportedly “shocked and sickened” by the messages. (The pair called off their 10-year marriage last summer.) And another one of Hammer’s exes, writer Jessica Ciencin Henriquez, also spoke out following the allegations, sharing on her private Twitter account that she believes the messages are real.

“If you are still questioning whether or not those Armie Hammer DMs are real (and they are) maybe you should start questioning why we live in a culture willing to give abusers the benefit of the doubt instead of victims,” she shared.

In a 2013 Playboy interview Hammer previously opened up about his sex life, revealing that he had liked it rough before marrying Chambers. “I liked the grabbing of the neck and the hair and all that. But then you get married and your sexual appetites change,” he said at the time. “And I mean that for the better—it’s not like I’m suffering in any way. But you can’t really pull your wife’s hair. It gets to a point where you say, ‘I respect you too much to do these things that I kind of want to do.’”

Later, Hammer told E! News that “hindsight is 20/20” and “don’t drink during an interview.” But then he later opened up about his love life with ELLE. “One chick tried to stab me when we were having sex,” he said. “I should so not be telling this story. She was like, 'True love leaves scars. You don't have any.' And then she tried to stab me with a butcher knife,” he added. “Of course I promptly broke up with her... seven months later.”

Hammer may be out of Shotgun Wedding, but he hasn’t been cancelled just yet and still has plenty of other projects on the books. In addition to co-starring with Mads Mikkelsen in the upcoming movie The Billion Dollar Spy he’s working on a planned sequel to the Oscar-winning Call Me By Your Name. He is also starring in the upcoming Paramount Plus TV series The Offer, a.k.a. the behind-the-scenes story of the making The Godfather.

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