Armie Hammer has withdrawn from the Broadway production of Tracy Letts’ The Minutes amid sexual assault allegations brought forward in recent weeks, and subsequent investigation by the LAPD.
The Minutes was in previews at the Cort Theatre until March 12 last year when the coronavirus pandemic prompted a mass shutdown of all Broadway theatres. It was announced in June that the Anna D. Shapiro-directed play will not return to the Cort, which will undergo a previously planned renovation. Pending theatre availability, the production will reopen March 15, 2022, exactly two years after the originally planned opening date.
In a statement Hammer said, “I have loved every single second of working on The Minutes with the family I made from Steppenwolf. But right now I need to focus on myself and my health for the sake of my family. Consequently, I will not be returning to Broadway with the production.”
In a joint statement, producers said, "We wish only the best for him and respect his decision.”
In the wake of the allegations, Hammer has also been dropped from multiple in-development film projects, including the Watergate drama Gaslit (replaced by Dan Stevens, who was to be on Broadway the same time as Hammer in Hangmen) and the Jennifer Lopez-led romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding.
The original Broadway cast of The Minutes also included Letts, Ian Barford, Blair Brown, Cliff Chamberlain, K. Todd Freeman, Danny McCarthy, Jessie Mueller, Sally Murphy, Austin Pendleton, and Jeff Still.
Serving on the creative team are scenic designer David Zinn, costume designer Ana Kuzmanic, lighting designer Brian MacDevitt, sound designer and composer André Pluess, hair and wig designer Tom Watson, and dramaturg Edward Sobel. Casting is by Caparelliotis Casting.
The Minutes, which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in 2017, takes a look at the inner workings of a city council meeting and the hypocrisy, greed, and ambition that bubble to the surface when a newcomer to the small town of Big Cherry starts to ask the wrong questions.
The producing team is led by Jeffrey Richards, Rebecca Gold, Carl Moellenberg, Spencer Ross, Louise Gund with Jayne Baron Sherman, Elizabeth Armstrong, Blakeman Entertainment, HornosBerger, Across the River Productions, Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Comley/Leah Lane, Kathleen K. Johnson, Emily Dobbs, Robert Flicker, Jacob Soroken Porter, and The Shubert Organization.
