The wave of reports of sexual abuse and harassment that took over Hollywood in 2017 remains strong in 2018 and, truth be told, a lot of stories could still emerge. In a statement to People magazine, American actor Jonathan Schaech, 48, accuses renowned Italian director Franco Zeffirelli, 94, of sexual abuse and harassment. According to the artist, the case would have happened in 1993, when he would have been molested by the Italian, during the recording of the film “Storia di uma Capinera”. “He tried to seduce me from the beginning. He told me how beautiful I was, told me incredible stories and what I should do to be a great artist,” he says. In a statement, the director's family denied the accusations, classifying them as “false”. Schaech goes on to say that her “instincts told her to stay away from him (Franco)”. “He (Zeffirelli) drank to extremes and became very aggressive and abusive, not just with me,” he says. “One night, I think when we were in a hotel in Sicily, he said he was going to come to my room. That time he managed to get a key. He was in bed, sleeping, and he walked into the room. He stopped next to the bed and was near my head when I woke up. He grabbed me by the face. I was screaming 'no', and he said, 'We have to do this.' I remember smelling his whiskey breath”, reports the actor, reiterating that the entire episode lasted 30 seconds, but it seemed to have taken “four hours”. “He tried to force me to have oral sex. I remember thinking, 'God, please no.” The artist ends his statement by calling the director a “predator”. In a note sent, Franco Zeffirelli's son, Pippo, says that the complaint is “false” and has a “flavor of revenge”. “Directors have different styles and, when they have to deal with actors with no experience, they are sometimes more demanding,” he claims.
