Back before Big Little Lies was an Emmy-winning series with HBO, the show was shopped around to Showtime, Netflix, and Amazon. A explosive piece in The Hollywood Reporter has alleged that Amazon’s ex-programming chief Roy Price — who recently resigned — wouldn’t green light the project unless the lead actors agreed to nude scenes.
Price proposed a development deal and allegedly mused to coworkers that he would only get on board if Oscar-winning stars Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon would “show their tits.” (Kidman did, in fact, end up doing nude scenes in the show, but they didn’t pander to the male gaze.)
Big Little Lies went on to win eight Emmys, more than all of Amazon’s originals combined. Price stepped down from his role at Amazon on October 17th, a few days after news broke that he allegedly sexually harassed Isa Hackett, the executive produced of The Man in the High Castle.
The Hollywood Reporter went on to shed light on more Price’s misogynistic behaviour during his time at Amazon. They report he was more likely to ordering straight-to-series deals for male-led programs, while offering women-led programs weaker development deals — meaning they would have to create a pilot episode prior getting the full greenlight.
Price also had his own TV show in the works, owned by Amazon, which would have followed a young woman as she is sold into sex slavery under the control of a “psychotic imperial Thai dwarf,” then drugged and beaten. Needless to say, Amazon are now looking for a woman new to fill in Price’s position.