Sidelined from Hollywood since accusations of sexual assault and the dissemination of messages of a violent and cannibalistic nature in 2021, the American actor broke his silence in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Long considered one of the rising stars of American cinema thanks to films like Call Me by Your NameArmie Hammer saw his career collapse in 2021. This year, several women accused him of abusive behavior, while screenshots of private messages, containing violent sexual fantasies and references to cannibalism, were widely shared on the networks social. An ex-partner accuses the actor of having sexually assaulted her in 2017. Armie Hammer has always contested these accusations. In 2023, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that no criminal charges would be filed, finding that there was insufficient evidence to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
This is one of Armie Hammer’s most in-depth speaking engagements since the scandal. In a long interview published on June 16 byThe Hollywood Reporterthe 39-year-old American actor looks back bluntly on his fall, the accusations that turned his life upside down and the years spent far from Hollywood. If he had already spoken on several occasions in recent years, notably in podcasts and during more confidential interviews, this conversation with the prestigious Hollywood magazine marks a new stage in his attempt to reconquer his public image and in his desire to return to the forefront.
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During this interview, Armie Hammer discusses in particular the reaction of his father, Michael Hammer, who wanted to react firmly to the accusations made public against him. “He was furious. He wanted to call certain people and react publicly,” says Armie Hammer. But he claims to have chosen another path: “I told him: “Listen, I am already on the cross. I have nails in my hands. I will not come down from this cross, no matter what we do… A metaphor which, according to him, illustrates his feeling of powerlessness in the face of public opinion that has already been formed. At that time, the actor had retired to the Cayman Islands, far from the media tumult.
Accepting your fall to rebuild yourself
Armie Hammer explains that he went through a period of obsession, spending his time reading comments and reviews about him. Then he decided to distance himself from what he calls “a world that is almost no longer real”. “There was nothing I could say that would have made things better,” he says. “I chose to focus on myself, my children, my health and my personal development.” This process of introspection led him to recognize his share of responsibility in the situation, even if he continues to deny the most serious facts with which he is accused.
“I created my own problems. “It’s not something that happened to me by chance,” says the actor. “I didn’t do what people accuse me of. But I let dangerous people into my life and hurt people around me.” Armie Hammer also admits to having gone through a period of deep unhappiness before the scandal broke: “A healthy person does not behave the way I behaved at the time.”
After several years of isolation, Armie Hammer says he returned to settle in Los Angeles in 2024. For almost a year and a half, the actor admits that no project was offered to him. Then an email changed the situation: the German director Uwe Boll, known for his taste for provocation, and his low-budget films which have become cult despite terse reviews, offered him a role in a project entitled Citizen Vigilante. A proposal which marked his first professional opportunity in five years. “I think I cried,” he confides to The Hollywood Reporter. Then he adds, in a phrase as raw as it is sincere: “I would have shot a fucking commercial for cat food. I just wanted to work again.”
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Almost five years after the start of the scandal, the actor is now trying to turn the page and says he wants to “make his comeback” in Hollywood. If his future in cinema remains uncertain, he now says he wants to continue his path far from the excesses that marked his past.
