Tom Sizemore: Molestation and domestic violence allegations didn't stop him from working in Hollywood

Nov. 14--Of the many horrific aspects of stories about powerful Hollywood men harassing or sexually assaulting female colleagues is that the women were often further traumatized by seeing their careers in film or television hurt or destroyed in the wake of the encounters.

Annabella Sciorra told the New Yorker that she earned a reputation for being "difficult" after she was allegedly raped by Harvey Weinstein. She said the alleged assault left her so traumatized that she become depressed, paranoid and lost weight; no one would hire her for several years.

Actresses who resisted Weinstein's alleged advances or complained also told the New Yorker that they faced professional retaliation. Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette told the New Yorker that they suspected that they lost work opportunities after telling the producer no.

But male stars, directors and producers traditionally not faced many professional repercussions when they commit harmful or sometimes extremely violent acts. Of course, it's a shameful pattern in many American workplaces: Men who bully, harass or assault stay in their jobs and even get promoted, while their female victims are encouraged to stay quiet or just find another career.

In Hollywood, some men enjoy numerous chances to revive careers brought down by professional failures or their own off-screen bad behavior.

That's definitely the case for a notoriously "difficult" male star like Tom Sizemore, who has become less known for being talented enough to land roles in "Saving Private Ryan" or "Blackhawk Down" than for his drug addiction and his arrests and jail stints.

Sizemore's legal issues include three domestic violence cases, one as recently as this year, all the while Sizemore, 55, has been in the midst of a well-publicized Hollywood comeback with a notable story arc on the series "Shooter" and a role in Showtime's revival of "Twin Peaks."

Now comes the news about what was apparently an open secret on the set of a 2003 film that Sizemore starred in. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the open secret is that Sizemore was removed from the Utah film set after an 11-year-old actress told her mother that he touched her genitals.

The girl and her parents declined to press charges, and the incident, which occurred during a shoot for a brief scene, was never publicly revealed.

But a dozen people involved in the production of the crime thriller called "Born Killers" (not to be confused with another Sizemore film "Natural Born Killers") knew about the alleged incident. According to what cast- and crew members told the Hollywood Reporter, "rumors swirled and emotions rose on set over what had allegedly transpired."

:It filtered down to the crew," says Roi Maufas, who worked as a production assistant on the film. "There was never any doubt. He was this guy who was already known for making inappropriate comments, being drunk, being high. We're talking about consistent behavior, just being 'Tom Sizemore' on set every day. Then this happens."

The film's producers confirmed that they removed Sizemore from the set as soon as they heard about what the girl told her mother.

They encouraged the young actress' parents to file a police report, which they apparently did but they declined to press charges.

One of the producers, Michael Manshel, said they talked to Sizemore, who denied touching the girl inappropriately. He said, "I've done a lot of awful things," but he denied ever doing "anything with kids."

Sizemore declined to address the allegation when contacted by the Hollywood Reporter. "Our position is 'no comment,'" said his agent Stephen Rice.

Meanwhile, the now-26-year-old former actress also declined to address the matter except to tell the Reporter that she's recently hired a lawyer to explore legal action against the actor. She may also pursue legal action against her parents; they apparently wanted her to keep working on the film after the alleged incident.

While the producers said that they weighed the responsibility of not passing judgement on Sizemore, since he hadn't been arrested or charged with any crime, they decided to have him leave the set and then have him come back several months later to do reshoots.

Sizemore gained renown in the 1990s for a series of tough-guy supporting roles in primarily action films and dramas, including "Point Break," "True Romance" and "Natural Born Killers." His biggest career moments came with Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" in 1998 and Ridley Scott's "Black Hawk Down" in 2001.

While working on "Born Killers" in 2003, Sizemore had just been convicted of physically abusing and harassing his ex-girlfriend, the former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss.

Aside from being removed from the film set, the only other repercussion for the alleged touching incident was that his management firm and talent agency quietly dropped him as a client, the Hollywood Reporter said.

But through the aughts Sizemore continued to work steadily, though in smaller roles and on less prestigious projects. During that time, he also served seven months in jail for repeatedly failing drug tests while on probation for the Fleiss case.

In 2007, while still on probation, he was arrested in Bakersfield on suspicion of possession of methamphetamine and sentenced to 16 months in prison for another probation violation.

Then in 2009, he was charged with spousal battery after allegedly roughing up his then-girlfriend in a confrontation. He was arrested again in 2011 for an outstanding warrant related to that battery case, E! News reported.

Sizemore chronicled his tales of drug addiction and rehab and jail stints in his memoir "By Some Miracle I Made It Out Of There." He briefly got sober in 2010 on "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew."

He told the Daily Mail in January 2017 that he finally got clean in 2013.

But his his legal troubles didn't stop. In July 2016, he was arrested following an incident with a woman at his apartment in Los Angeles

In January he pleaded no contest to two domestic violence charges. But he told the Daily Mail he only agreed to the plea deal in order to avoid a 210-day jail term.

"I have never hit a broad in my life," he said, implying that the woman was trying to get money from him or her 15 minutes of fame. "I don't know why she did it, she wanted to get on TV and sue me, or something."

He added angrily, "It's over, it was thrown out because they didn't believe her, but I had to do six months of anger management."

Over the past year, his career has continued to pick up. In addition to the roles in "Shooter" and "Twin Peaks," Sizemore also appeared opposite Liam Neeson in the film "Felt," which was just released. Sizemore played an FBI rival of the Deep Throat source in the Watergate drama.

As of this week, Sizemore's IMDB page showed that he was attached to, or listed as starring in, more than three dozen low-budget or genre independent film projects in some stage of development or production, the Hollywood Reporter said.

Cast- and crewmembers of Sizemore's 2003 film suggested to the Hollywood Reporter that they agreed to talk about the incident with the 11-year-old actress because they were inspired by the growing movement toward industry transparency in the post-Harvey Weinstein era.

They indicated that it bothered them that Sizemore was never officially investigated for the incident or faced any consequences. The most satisfaction to be had, according to a second assistant, was seeing Sizemore get locked up over the Fleiss conviction.

"I remember being excited that he went to jail," said Jennie Latham, a second assistant director on the film, "even if it was for something else."

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