Summary
- Kate Siegel voices her anger over Frank Langella’s inappropriate behavior on set, which caused major disruptions requiring emergency reshoots.
- Siegel expresses her heartbreak and disappointment over the situation, as cast members felt uncomfortable and taken advantage of.
- Bruce Greenwood’s arrival brought relief to the cast, providing a respectful and professional atmosphere, solidifying the notion that artists can be good people on set.
Kate Siegel is “furious” over Frank Langella’s alleged behavior on the set of Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Siegel gives an enchanting performance as Camille L’Espanaye, who is Roderick Usher’s illegitimate daughter. Originally, Langella was hired to portray Roderick, whereas it was up to Bruce Greenwood to come in and salvage the role. Langella was fired halfway through the production for “unacceptable conduct” (per Deadline). And in a recent podcast, Siegel voiced her displeasure with Langella and the situation. Siegel said (via Kyle Meredith With…):
“Dude, the most s—t went down! People who are correctly praising Bruce [Greenwood] need to remember that every single scene Bruce shot that wasn’t sitting down across from Carl Lumbly was an emergency reshoot. We redid almost all of his stuff. It’s amazing what he did.”
Siegel elaborated on the effects of Langella’s misconduct:
“It was heartbreaking. It was overwhelming and heartbreaking and disappointing. And, you know, people were hurt. I was tangentially — I wasn’t involved in any of the actual HR stuff. But hearing about it, knowing that cast members felt sad and uncomfortable and taken advantage of by other members of the cast — other member of the cast — and it was just devastating.”
Related: Kate Siegel’s 5 Best Performances, Ranked
The Real Fall of the House of Usher
Bruce Greenwood came into an almost impossible situation. However, he still took up the mantle of Roderick Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher after Frank Langella was accused of sexually harassing a female co-star (per TMZ). Langella denied the allegation and has provided his side of the story in the press. Mike Flanagan represents the brains behind adapting Edgar Allan Poe’s 1839 short story of the same name for Netflix. And the miniseries’ co-star, Kate Siegel, is venting over Langella’s misbehavior, which undoubtedly caused problems for Flanagan’s project. Siegel said during the same podcast:
“Mike has spent so much time building an amazing set life and experience and family. And to know that one person can come in and just f—k that s—t up made me furious, as well. And I think when Bruce came, there was palpable relief from everybody, because we had a scene partner. We had somebody who we respected and respected us, and a family member back.
And I think it just, for me, solidified that feeling of you don’t need to be tortured to be an artist. You can be a good person and show up and do your job, even if you’re playing somebody extreme, even if you are in extreme situations. You are capable — anybody’s capable — of being sane, pleasant and professional on set.”
Be sure to check out both Bruce Greenwood and Kate Siegel’s virtuoso performances as Roderick Usher and Camille L’Espanaye respectively. All eight episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher are available to stream on Netflix, at the time of this writing.
You can view the original article HERE.