The actor’s spokesperson Frank Langella is silent and so does that of Netflix, but the news is now in the public domain: the streaming giant has fired Langella after an internal investigation for an “inappropriate conduct” on the set of the miniseries ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’, adaptation of the eponymous story by Edgar Allan Poe (‘The Fall of the Usher House’ in Italian). The charge is of sexual harassment. The research to hire a new interpreter has already begun, while filming continues favoring the scenes in which the protagonist of the show does not appear. It will also be necessary to rewind the sequences made so far.
Inappropriate comments
The details of the affair are sparse. We know that 84-year-old Frank Langella (Oscar nominee for ‘Frost / Nixon’) has been accused of inappropriate behavior and of making inappropriate comments against a colleague on set. The production then conducted an investigation and concluded that indeed Langella did have attitudes that fall within sexual harassment. The dismissal came as a result.
The miniseries from the short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Before being removed from the set, Frank Langella was playing Roderick Usher, star of ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’. The plot tells of a man who lives in the large family home, a gloomy mansion in which a disturbing atmosphere reigns. A crescendo of obsession and madness follows. The adaptation in the form of a TV miniseries is in the hands of Mike Flanaganwhich has built a solid reputation in the horror genre thanks to ‘Hill House’ and ‘Midnight Mass’ (both miniseries featured on Netflix).
In the cast, in addition to the fired Frank Langella, there are Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly e Mark Hamill. Obviously, the assumptions about the identity of the molested actress immediately began. The number one candidate for this unfortunate role is Mary McDonnell, who in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ plays Madeline Usher, twin sister of that Roderick who was played by Frank Langella.