Game of Thrones director denies involvement in blackmail sex scandal

Game of Thrones director Neil Marshall (“Blackwater,” “The Watchers on the Wall”) is being accused of blackmailing a high-level movie exec.

Okay, who’s ready for some hot piping drama today?

Here’s the situation: earlier this week, long-time NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer unceremoniously stepped down from his position in the company. Soon after, The Wrap ran a story about how, eight years ago, Meyer had an extramarital affair with actor and writer Charlotte Kirk. It also reported that a couple of directors tried to use that knowledge to blackmail Meyer into greenlighting their projects. Those directors were Joshua Newton and Neil Marshall (The Descent, Hellboy 2019), whom Game of Thrones fans probably best know as the guy who directed the iconic episodes “Blackwater” and “The Watchers on the Wall.”

BURBANK, CA – JUNE 25: Neil Marshall poses for a portrait at the 41st Annual Saturn Awards show at The Castaway on June 25, 2015 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images)

According to Deadline, Kirk was also had a relationship with Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara in 2013 and 2014, which led to him stepping down in 2019. She is reportedly currently living with Marshall, with whom she co-wrote the horror film The Reckoning, which she stars in. There was supposed to be an online Q&A session about the movie yesterday but it was pulled after all of this blew up.

Apparently this got pretty serious, with the FBI even opening a file on the matter after Meyer or someone close to him contacted them. It’s unclear if there was a full-scale investigation, though, or if one is coming; predictably, the FBI wasn’t super-chatty about it. For his part, Marshall has denied all the accusations.

So that’s pretty intense, right? Happy Friday.

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