Disney is hitting pause on its adaptation of “The Graveyard Book” in the wake of sexual assault allegations leveled against the book’s author Neil Gaiman.
The film from Pinewood Studios with director Marc Forster hasn’t been thrown out entirely, but development was halted for a variety of reasons, including the claims about Gaiman.
Published in 2008, “The Graveyard Book” follows a young boy who is raised by graveyard ghosts following his family’s murder. The film adaptation had not yet entered pre-production and did not have any confirmed casting. Gaiman had no involvement with the film.
In a July 3 report by Tortoise Media, the “Sandman” creator was accused of sexually assaulting a then 18-year-old woman referred to as K in 2003, and a 23-year-old woman named Scarlett in 2022.
Scarlett alleges that Gaiman sexually assaulted her in a bath at his New Zealand home, where she worked as his child’s nanny. Per Tortoise’s report, “Gaiman’s account is that they only ‘cuddled’ and ‘made out’ in the bath and that he had established consent for this.” He says he and Scarlett had a three-week sexual relationship in which they only engaged in consensual digital penetration. Scarlett alleges that within their otherwise consensual relationship, “Gaiman engaged in rough and degrading penetrative sexual acts with her,” per Tortoise.
This incident spurred a police complaint against Gaiman in New Zealand, where an investigation is currently underway by authorities.
The other woman, K, says she met Gaiman at a book signing in Sarasota, Fla., in 2003, when she was 18. She alleges that she engaged in a romantic relationship with Gaiman when she was 20 and he was in his mid-40s, but that it included rough and painful sex that “she neither wanted nor enjoyed,” per Tortoise. Gaiman has denied any unlawful behavior with K.
Tortoise released a podcast series detailing the allegations, and three additional women came forward with their own accusations in subsequent episodes.
Disney declined to comment.
IndieWire was first to report the news.
From Variety US