Steve Martin is addressing Miriam Margolyes’ claim he was ‘horrid’ to her while working together on the 1986 movie musical Little Shop of Horrors.
“When I first read Miriam Margolyes’ pejorative account of our scene in Little Shop of Horrors, I was surprised. My memory is that we had a good communication as professional actors,” Martin, 78, told Us Weekly in a statement on Friday, September 15. “But when it is implied that I harmed her or was in some way careless about doing the stunts, I have to object.”
Margolyes, 82, played a dental receptionist to Martin’s villainous Orin Scrivello in Little Shop of Horrors. During an interview with Australian news site news.com.au on Friday, she claimed that it took her and Martin several tries to nail a scene in the musical number “Dentist!” in which he knocks out her character with a punch.
“I remember taking EXTREME caution regarding the fake punch — the same caution I would use with any similar scene,” Martin’s statement continued. “She assured me she felt fine, and we did a few successful takes and stopped. There was never any physical contact between her and me, accidental or otherwise, in this scene or any other we shot.”
