'Into The Wild' Actor Emile Hirsch Allegedly Assaults Paramount Exec At Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival, in addition to being a competitive showcase, is a market for distributors vying to snatch the rights to some of the year’s best films and filmmakers eager to see their movies sold. The rat race can result in some heated backroom dealings and battles between executives and filmmakers. However, over the weekend, an alleged physical altercation broke out at the festival, and at the center of the incident was none other than “Into the Wild” actor Emile Hirsch.

According to the New York Post, the alleged incident took place around 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning between Hirsch and an unnamed female executive from Paramount. The pair were at a festival party at Tao nightclub in Park City, Utah. The executive apparently told police upon their arrival that the actor had assaulted her at the club. According to the Post’s sources, Hirsch, 29, remained at the club until 5 a.m. calmly talking to police. The unamed executive did not end up pressing charges. It is unclear what started the disagreement and why it turned physical.

Hirsch was at Sundance to promote his new film “Ten Thousand Saints,” which had its world premiere at the festival on Friday. The film, directed by husband and wife team Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini (“American Splendor”), tells the story of a troubled teenager who goes to live with his dad in the West Village in the 1980s. In addition to Hirsch, the film co-stars Ethan Hawke (“Boyhood”), Asa Butterfield (“Hugo”), Emily Mortimer (“The Newsroom”), Hailee Steinfeld (“True Grit”) and Avan Jogia (“Twisted”).

It remains unclear if more information will be released following Hirsch’s alleged altercation with the Paramount executive. According the Variety, the police are considering the event an “active case” and are still investigating.

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