Peter Jackson Confirms Harvey Weinstein Kept Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino From Being Cast in LOTR

There have been a ton of allegations against Harvey Weinstein and a lot of them revolve around him blacklisting actresses that didn't do the things he wanted to do. Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson recently spoke out against Weinstein and confirmed that he actively prevented actresses Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino from being cast in Lord of the Rings.

Both actresses previously shared that they were sexually harassed by Weinstein and that they were denied roles because they crossed him in ways that he didn't like. Now Jackson has confirmed that he didn't hire the actresses because of the negative things Weinstein said about them.

Before Jackson directed the Middle Earth films at New Line, he was in talks to develop it for Weinstein's Miramax. During an interview with Stuff, Jackson explained that he had expressed interest in casting both actresses in LOTR, but he recalls, "Miramax telling us they were a nightmare to work with and we should avoid them at all costs. This was probably in 1998."

He went on to say that at the time he had no reason to doubt what they were telling him, so he didn't cast them. Now he sees that the whole thing was a "smear campaign in full swing." He adds:

"I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women – and as a direct result their names were removed from our casting list."

That sucks! After Jackson's comments were released, Judd and Sorvino both responded on Twitter to what he had to say. You can read those tweets below:

I remember this well. https://t.co/wctEhESAS9

— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) December 15, 2017

Just seeing this after I awoke, I burst out crying. There it is, confirmation that Harvey Weinstein derailed my career, something I suspected but was unsure. Thank you Peter Jackson for being honest. I’m just heartsick https://t.co/ljK9NqICbm

— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) December 15, 2017