‘80s Film Actress Sean Young Names These Stars and Directors as the Most ‘Toxic Men’ in Hollywood

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Sean Young, the actress whose career skyrocketed in the ‘80s until she found herself blackballed in Hollywood, has a lot to say about some of the famous and powerful men she’s worked with over the years.

In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Young opened up about her tumultuous career in Hollywood, which ended with her being branded as “difficult” and getting blacklisted from the industry. She blamed some of the world’s most prominent directors and stars for the fallout.

When asked about the “incredibly aggressive and uncomfortable” sex scene between her and Harrison Ford in 1982’s Blade Runner, Young claimed director Ridley Scott made her shoot the scene as a “fuck you” because she refused to “date him.”

“He tried very hard in the beginning of the show to date him, and I never would. I was like, nah. And then he started dating the actress who played Zhora, Joanna Cassidy, and I felt relieved,” said Young. “And then we do this scene, and I think it was Ridley. I think Ridley was like, fuck you. I was thinking, ‘Why did this have to be like that? What was the point of that?’ and I think it was Ridley’s none-too-subtle message that he was getting even with me.”

Young noted that Scott never hired her again and she was only handed a 30-second hologram cameo in 2017’s Blade Runner 2049.

“Wasn’t that so full of shit?” Young added. “And there was nothing I could do about it. It was very clear that they knew that the audience would be upset that I wasn’t in it, but they didn’t want me to bitch about that publicly. So, they paid me some money, made me sign a non-disclosure agreement and gave me 30 seconds. And I was like, fine.”

Young further recalled the difficult time she had working on 1985’s Wall Street, describing co-star Charlie Sheen as “awful” and director Oliver Stone as a “bastard.”

The 61-year-old actress said Sheen “was on a lot of coke” throughout the shoot and at one point wrote the word “cunt” on a piece of tape and stuck it on her back.

Meanwhile, Young said Stone reduced her role in the film after she stuck up for Daryl Hannah, who was forced to wear a backless dress she wasn’t comfortable wearing.

“I look at Oliver and say, ‘Oliver, why would you want her to wear a dress she doesn’t feel comfortable in?’” Young said, adding that Stone then took her “only line in the scene” and gave it to Hannah instead.

“And I go up Oliver and say, ‘I don’t understand? I have no lines now. What’s the point of me being in this scene?’” Young continued. “And he goes, ‘You’re right. You’re fired.’ I went to the trailer, got my stuff, and then they told me to get in this car. And this driver, who I thought was going to take me back to Manhattan, drops me off at the bus station. I just thought, ‘OK. If this is how you get your rocks off.’”

Young also expanded on her previous claim that Warren Beatty had her fired from 1990’s Dick Tracy after she declined his advances.

Young denied that Beatty was “the worst of the bunch,” but said, “I think the sleazy or difficult part is that he probably thought he was treating me really well. You know what I’m saying? It’s not just Warren — it’s across the board. Ever since the movie business began, women have been treated as a commodity.”

As for James Woods, who filed a harassment lawsuit against Young after they had an affair on the set of 1988’s The Boost, the actress called him an “irrational, crazy person” whose lawsuit was baseless. Young ultimately won the lawsuit and Woods was forced to pay her legal fees.

Young further called out Steven Spielberg as another famous director who smeared her in Hollywood after she confronted him at a party for not landing a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark. “Steven has enough power to cancel you,” she said.

Out of all the men she mentioned, Young did have nice things to say about Ace Ventura: Pet Detective co-star Jim Carrey.

The actress explained that the producers of the classic comedy wanted someone else for the role, but Carrey “fought” for her.

“And I got the part,” she said. “He’s the only leading man who ever did that for me. Jim came in and said, ‘No, no, no. Whatever you’re hearing is bullshit. She’s great.’”