Rebel Wilson accuses “The Deb” producers of blocking film festival debut, asks people to help 'save' her feature

"If my movie gets buried at least you know why,” Wilson said of her feature directorial debut.

Rebel Wilson refuses to back down.

The Australian actress is calling out the producers of her feature directorial debut, The Deb, for allegedly blocking the film’s release after she reported them for unspecified “inappropriate behavior.”

The Pitch Perfect star took to Instagram on Wednesday to air out her complaints in a video captioned, “If my movie gets buried at least you know why.”

"You know sometimes in life where you try so hard and you just don’t know what to do?,” Wilson began. “This is that situation. Let me try to explain as best I can. So you might have noticed that I did a post like a week ago about my film — the first film that I’ve directed that I’m so proud of, The Deb — that it got selected for closing night of the Toronto Film Festival, which is like the hugest, best platform. And to be a first time female director, it’s just like, I mean, it’s huge. It’s massive.”

She continued, “So to have the joy of the movie being selected is one thing but then to have the business partners that are involved in that movie turn around and say that no, the movie can’t premiere, is just beyond devastating.”

Related: Rebel Wilson says writing memoir was a 'gut-wrenching' experience

Wilson went on to say that the issue dates back to October 2023, which is when she allegedly “discovered bad behavior by these business partners,” who she named as producers Amanda Ghost and Gregor Cameron, and executive producer Vince Holden.

Wilson claims she reported the producers' "bad behavior," but she doesn't specify where she made this report.

Wilson further claimed that she has “been met with absolute viciousness and retaliatory behavior,” adding that “every step of the way” the three producers "tried to make my life hell.”

On Friday, the three producers named by Wilson filed a defamation suit against the actress.

"This lawsuit is about holding Rebel accountable for her attempts to bully Plaintiffs into conceding to her unreasonable demands by spreading vicious lies without regard for the irreparable damage her reckless words would cause on the hard-earned personal and professional reputations of Plaintiffs," it said in the complaint, which was reviewed by EW.

"The Plaintiffs invested in Rebel and 'The Deb,' and reasonably asked Rebel to be invested professionally (but not financially) as well," it continued. "Rebel was expected to collaborate with the Plaintiffs in good faith, stay on schedule, and behave professionally when on the job. This, apparently, was too much to ask of her. She flatly refused to collaborate with Plaintiffs, absconded from the Film for months at a time, behaved unprofessionally with employees of the Film, and repeatedly made unauthorized and improper disclosures about the Film. "

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In a previous statement to EW, a spokesperson for producers of The Deb denied Rebel's allegations, calling them "false, defamatory, and disappointing."

"Her self-promotional claims are clearly intended to cause reputational harm to the individuals who have supported her directorial debut film The Deb — a joyous movie that we’re very proud of and are looking forward to sharing with audiences," the statement continued. "For her to promote a false narrative to advance her own agenda undermines the film and all the people who worked on this project.”

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment. The official schedule for this year's festival, which takes place in September, won't be released until Aug. 13.

Related: Rebel Wilson says she was invited to a party with drugs and orgies by a British royal

Wilson offered a preview of The Deb at the the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards earlier this year. She described the movie musical as a "brilliant story about a teenage girl who goes to her debutante ball in a small country town."

But the movie, Wilson claims, is now being blocked from release. “I made this great movie, The Deb, and then now, almost at the finish line, they're saying it can’t come out, they might not release it, they might bury it," she said in her Instagram video. "This is the work of hundreds of people who put their heart and soul into this, and this behavior is absolutely vile and disgusting.”

She concluded, “If the movie doesn’t play at Toronto, it’s because of these absolute f---wits.”

On her Instagram Story, Wilson also shared set photos and made a plea: "If anyone can help save my joyous original musical then please DM me," she wrote.

Earlier this year, Wilson named Sacha Baron Cohen as the “a--hole” trying to prevent the release of her memoir, Rebel Rising, due to her writing that she felt harassed and humiliated during the production of their 2016 comedy, The Brothers Grimsby. Baron Cohen vehemently denied the allegations.

“I will not be bullied or silenced with high priced lawyer or PR crisis managers,” Wilson wrote at the time. The memoir was eventually published with the Baron Cohen passages redacted in the U.K.

This story has been updated to include the producers' defamation suit.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.