Highlights
- Armie Hammer admits he “made these problems” for himself in a new Hollywood Reporter interview.
- The actor denies all allegations but says he brought “dangerous and unsafe people” into his life.
- Hammer is returning to acting via low-budget indie films and launched his own podcast.
Armie Hammer is ready to talk.
In a candid and wide-ranging new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published June 16, the Call Me by Your Name star is addressing the scandal that obliterated one of Hollywood’s most promising careers and speaking out for the first time in what amounts to a major public reckoning with his downfall.
The 39-year-old actor addressed the numerous controversies, including allegations of rape, physical abuse, and cannibalistic fantasies, that led to his highly publicized downfall in 2021.
While he maintains his innocence, Hammer is not without some measure of accountability. “I made these problems for myself,” he told the outlet. “This didn’t happen to me by a fluke accident. I didn’t do what people are saying I did. But I brought very dangerous and unsafe people into my life, and I pissed off people in my life, and here we are.”
What followed the initial scandal was one of the most total and public collapses of a Hollywood career in recent history. The scandal consumed him so completely that for a stretch, he was living in a 200-square-foot flat in Venice Beach, paying for groceries with a debit card a friend had pressed into his hand.
Hammer also reached for a striking biblical parallel when describing the moment the allegations first exploded publicly. Revealing that his late father wanted to go on the attack and fight back against his accusers, Hammer said he urged him not to do so, telling him: “Look, dude, I’m already on the cross. The nails are in my hands. I’m not getting off this cross no matter what we do. And the more I struggle, the longer I’m going to be up here.”
The scandal was first thrust into the spotlight in January 2021, when a woman publicly shared messages allegedly from the actor that contained BDSM and cannibalistic fantasies. Later, in March 2021, Hammer was also accused of physical abuse by Effie Angelova, who alleged that he sexually assaulted her during a four-hour incident in 2017, which he denied.
In 2023, prosecutors in Los Angeles announced they would not pursue criminal charges against Hammer, citing insufficient evidence to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Despite the legal outcome, the court of public opinion proved far less forgiving. Major studios remain reluctant to take him back, though Hammer insists he is unbothered by the industry’s cold shoulder. “I don’t need to be back making big studio films,” he said. “I’m happy just making fun, smaller movies for now.”
Those smaller movies include two new productions. He has wrapped shooting on Frontier Crucible, a period western from director Travis Mills and Bone Tomahawk producer Dallas Sonnier, and The Dark Knight, the latest feature from prolific German director Uwe Boll, which shot in Croatia and sees Hammer playing the film’s titular crimefighter.
On just how desperate his need to return to any kind of work had become, Hammer did not sugarcoat it. “I would have done a f—ing cat food commercial,” he admitted to The Hollywood Reporter.
As for his well-being, Hammer says he remains in therapy and practices what he calls “behavioral sobriety.” “I don’t necessarily practice physical sobriety, but behavioral sobriety is very important to me,” he said.
Hammer has also launched The Armie HammerTime podcast to share his story and speak candidly, if selectively, about his personal and professional struggles.
The interview comes as Hammer appears determined to rewrite the next chapter of a story that, by nearly any measure, seemed finished. Whether Hollywood or the public is willing to turn the page alongside him remains an open question.
