Directors Neil Marshall, Joshua Newton Accused of Trying to Extort NBCUniversal’s Ron Meyer (Exclusive)

Two movie directors, both of whom have dated actress Charlotte Kirk, attempted to extort veteran Hollywood executive Ron Meyer, according to two individuals with knowledge of the drama that led to the mogul’s abrupt ouster as vice chairman of NBCUniversal on Tuesday. Neil Marshall, the director of 2019’s “Hellboy” who is currently dating Kirk, and Joshua Newton, a former boyfriend of Kirk’s whose credits include the 2009 Roy Scheider film “Iron Cross,” separately contacted Meyer in the past year demanding money and threatening to expose Meyer’s extramarital affair with Kirk from eight years ago, the individuals said. For nearly a year, Meyer had been in individual negotiations with the directors, each of whom threatened to file lawsuits that exposed his affair and that named Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, in an attempt to pressure Meyer into greenlighting one of their movie projects, the insiders said. Meyer and NBCUniversal both declined to comment for this story. Marshall flatly denied the accusation. “The allegations concerning me, Ron Meyer and Comcast have no basis in fact,” he said via email. “They are malicious and harmful, and you should not be a party to spreading false statements you now know are untrue.” Newton,...

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