From the outside looking in, it can be extremely easy to believe that any actor who stars in a successful film will have the red carpet rolled out for them by their peers and studio bosses. Sadly, over the years, it has become increasingly clear that famous actors can see their careers torpedoed for truly awful reasons. For example, it is now known that some talented actors had their careers ruined after they refused Harvey Weinstein’s advances. On top of that, some very powerful Hollywood figures have admitted looking the other way to stay in Weinstein's good graces.
Considering how fragile careers in Hollywood tend to be and how far some people have gone to stay on top, it seems like most people in the movie business are walking on eggshells. As it turns out, however, one notable director clearly isn’t concerned about making powerful enemies. After all, they allegedly were caught stealing from Meryl Streep’s purse.
A Notable Director
Even though moviegoers are willing to line up and fork over their hard-earned cash, they tend to know next to nothing about the people who worked behind the camera on the film they are seeing. In fact, the vast majority of avid film fans wouldn’t be able to name the people who directed some of their favorite films. The reason for that is that there have only been a handful of famous film directors over the years excluding famous actors who helmed movies. After all, there aren’t many directors who are considered to be on the same level as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Spike Lee, Tim Burton, and George Lucas.
During director Harmony Korine’s career, he certainly hasn’t risen to the level of the aforementioned people. However, among indie film aficionados, Korine has definitely become a notable name. After breaking through when the 1995 film Kids which he scripted shocked viewers, Korine has gone on to direct several unique movies. For example, Korine helmed movies like Gummo, Trash Humpers, and Spring Breakers.
The Alleged Incident
From 1995 until 1999, Harmony Korine made a trio of appearances on Late Show with David Letterman. At that time, it appeared likely that Korine would go on to make semi-regular appearances on the show as Letterman seemed amused by his unique personality and antics.
Considering that Harmony Korine isn’t an A-list star by any means, nobody seemed to take note of his longtime Late Show with David Letterman absence. However, after Korine’s 2012 film Spring Breakers became a surprise hit, James Franco who is one of the film’s stars, went on Late Show with David Letterman and it was revealed why Korine was no longer welcome.
Early in the conversation, Franco and Letterman were discussing why Selena Gomez agreed to star in Spring Breakers. At that point, Franco mentioned that he believed that Gomez’s mom suggested the project because she is a fan of Korine’s. After Letterman quipped “that is a small group”, Franco went on to say that the “legend” of why Korine was banned from the show is that he “pushed Meryl Streep backstage”.
From there James went on to defend Harmony Korine by trying to explain why he may have done that which is especially remarkable given the accusations agasinst Franco. “He said he was a little out of it… I think he had a period where he was going a little off the rails, so maybe he was on something that night.” Leaving aside the implications of James defending that kind of behavior, Letterman then claimed that Korine tried to steal from Meryl Streep’s purse.
“I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep, and welcome her to the show, and I knock on the door…and she was not in there. And I looked around, and she was not in there, and I found Harmony going through her purse. True story, true story. And so I said, ‘That’s it, put her things back in her bag and then get out of here.'”
After David Letterman alleged that Harmony Korine tried to steal from Meryl Streep, James Franco made it clear he was surprised. “Yeah, he didn’t tell me, he didn’t tell me that.” Even though Franco now had reason to believe that Korine may have pushed and tried to steal from Meryl Streep, he still didn’t miss a beat in trying to defend Harmony. “But he’s a good guy now, you should bring him back on.” “I vouch for him.” “And Selena would have vouched for him, she said nice things, didn’t she?” Even though Letterman claimed that he was “more than happy to have him back on the show”, it seems unlikely that he meant that since Korine never appeared.
