Production of The White House Plumbers has been paused to investigate an on-set altercation that took place. Development of HBO’s series centered on the Watergate scandal began in 2019 from the same writers and producers who were behind Veep. Like many of HBO’s limited series, the project has attracted some considerable talent in Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Domhnall Gleeson, Kiernan Shipka, Lena Headey, Judy Greer, and John Carroll Lynch.
Over 5 episodes, The White House Plumbers will chronicle perhaps the biggest political scandal in United States history, based on public records as well as the book, Integrity, written by Egil Krogh, a former official in the Nixon Administration, and his son, Matthew Krogh. The series will specifically hone in on E. Howard Hunt (Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Theroux), the duo who orchestrated the Watergate burglaries, and their wives, portrayed by Headey and Greer. After beginning in May of this year, production of the HBO series has now come to an unexpected halt.
HBO has suspended production of The White House Plumbers to investigate reports of alleged unprofessional behavior on set. The network did not release any more information, but Deadline’s sources say the investigation was triggered by an on-set altercation between the series director and producer, David Mandel, and a member of the prop department that took place on August 4. However, there seems to have been another incident on the following day which led to the show’s entire prop department quitting in protest. HBO released the following statement on the alleged incident(s):
HBO has received reports of alleged unprofessional behavior on the set of White House Plumbers. We take very seriously our responsibility to ensure a respectful work environment on all our productions, and we are investigating the matter fully.
It is currently unclear how long the investigation will take or when production will resume, but the number one priority should be taking accusations of on-set bullying seriously, which HBO seems to be doing. The Harvey Weinstein scandal and the popularization of the #MeToo movement have certainly forced Hollywood to start taking reports of all kinds of abuse more seriously.
More recently, the allegations against Joss Whedon and Doctor Who’s Noel Clarke have helped shine a light on the unprofessional and even abusive behavior that occurs on film and TV sets. On the heels of these incidents, the culture does seem to be changing gradually. In the not-so-distant past, an incident like this one involving a showrunner and a member of the prop department may have just been swept under the rug in the interest of keeping production on schedule. Surely, more news will be coming out of HBO's investigation into The White House Plumbers' set very soon.
Source: Deadline