'Color Out Of Space' Production Company Cuts Ties With Director Richard Stanley After Allegations Of Domestic Abuse
SpectreVision, the production company behind the 2019 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation Color Out of Space, announced that it has cut ties with the film's director Richard Stanley after horrifying allegations of domestic abuse emerged about the filmmaker.
In a statement posted to Twitter, SpectreVision said it will no longer be working with Stanley after Stanley was accused of abuse by his former partner, Scarlett Amaris.
"SpectreVision will no longer work with Richard Stanley," the company said. "We are proud of the talented cast and crew behind COLOR OUT OF SPACE. Yet we are horrified about the charges against its director. We will be donating future revenue from the film to charities devoted to stopping domestic violence."
— SpectreVision (@_SpectreVision) March 18, 2021
The fallout comes in the aftermath of a blog post published by Amaris on Tuesday, which detailed multiple instances of physical abuse by Stanley, resulting in Amaris sustaining injuries like bruises, sprained fingers, throttle marks on her throat, and a concussion. Amaris went into detail about the abuse she allegedly suffered at Stanley's hands and revealed that she had filed charges for Domestic Violence, Assault & Battery against him in France in 2014.
The charges clearly didn't make much of an effect on Stanley's career, with the South African filmmaker penning the film Replace in 2017 and winning praise for film festival favorite Color Out of Space in 2019. But Amaris' horrifying post has had instant effects, with SpectreVision wisely dropping the filmmaker almost immediately after the allegations surfaced. Read the full post (with a trigger warning for domestic violence and abuse) here.
SpectreVision was founded in 2010 by actor Elijah Wood, producer Lisa Whalen and directors Daniel Noah and Josh C. Waller. The production company mostly focuses on horror films, making Color Out of Space, an adaptation of a Lovecraft short story, The Colour Out of Space, an ideal project for them. Color Out of Space stars Nicolas Cage, Joely Richardson, Elliot Knight, Madeleine Arthur, Q'orianka Kilcher and Tommy Chong and was initially planned as the first of a trilogy of Lovecraft stories by Stanley, who directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Amaris.
Here is the synopsis for Color Out of Space:
After a meteorite lands in the front yard of their farm, Nathan Gardner and his family find themselves battling a mutant extraterrestrial organism that infects their minds and bodies, transforming their quiet rural life into a technicolor nightmare.
Stanley has not yet commented on Amaris' allegations, nor could he be reached by outlets like The Wrap or Deadline.