Nobody Owens on leave at Disney over Neil Gaiman allegations

The Graveyard Book is on hiatus after its author is accused of sexual assault.

Disney could have done without such publicity. Indiwire reveals that the adaptation of The Odd Life of Nobody Owens is interrupted following accusations of sexual assault brought against the author of the book, Neil GaimanPublished in 2008, the Englishman's novel tells the story of a young boy raised by ghosts in a cemetery after the murder of his family. After many twists and turns (it has long been a question ofa stop motion animated film by Henry Selick), it was finally to be brought to the screen by Marc Forster, director of Quantum of Solace And World War Zamong others.

Gaiman is being sued by two young women, aged 18 and 23 at the time of the events, who say they were sexually assaulted in 2003. The first, Scarlett, alleges that Gaiman forced her to have painful intercourse in a bath at his New Zealand home where she was working as a babysitter for his child.

According to the report of Tortoisea British online media outlet”Gaiman says that they only 'cuddled' And 'kissed' in the bath and that he had obtained her consent for this“. He explains that he and Scarlett had a sexual relationship over the course of three weeks in which they only used consensual digital penetration. Scarlett, for her part, explains that as part of their otherwise consensual relationship, “Gaiman engaged in brutal and degrading penetrative sexual acts with her“, still according to TortoiseThe incident prompted a police complaint against Gaiman in New Zealand, where authorities are currently investigating.

As for the other woman, who does not wish to give her name, only the initial K., the meeting with the writer took place during a book signing in Florida. She claims to have had a romantic relationship with Gaiman when she was 20 and he was in his 40s, but that it included rough and painful sex that she “neither wanted nor appreciated“, according to the English site. Gaiman for his part denied any illegal behavior with K.

Paused by Disney, development does not seem to have been completely abandoned for the time being. The film adaptation had not yet entered pre-production and no casting had been confirmed. Furthermore, Gaiman did not directly participate in the film, which seems to facilitate a possible resumption of the project. The studio did not wish to comment, probably giving it time to, as the expression goes, settle the dust.

Neil Gaiman, whose novels Stardust, The Mystery of the Star And Coraline were adapted in 2007 and 2009 respectively, is also the screenwriter of The Beowful Legend which dates from 2007 and the producer of the series Sandman broadcast on Netflix. He is also, in the 80s, the author and creator of the comic book character that inspired this show recently renewed for a season 2. Will the American platform in turn put the series on hold while it learns the outcome of the case? Its spin-off series, Dead Boys Detectivehas in any case just been officially cancelled.

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