«He methodically drew the shades and turned down the lights…»
“True Lies,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was one of the most popular moves of 1994.
A lesser known cast member at the time — Eliza Dushku — played Dana Tasker, Schwarzenegger’s daughter.
Since that time, Dushku has acted in over 60 different productions. But during her time filming “True Lies,” Dushku alleges she was molested by stunt coordinator Joel Kramer. Dushku shared the account Saturday in vivid, gut-wrenching detail on Facebook.
She posted:
Her post reads, in part:
I remember, so clearly 25 years later, how Joel Kramer made me feel special, how he methodically built my and my parents’ trust, for months grooming me; exactly how he lured me to his Miami hotel room with a promise to my parent that he would take me for a swim at the stunt crew’s hotel pool and for my first sushi meal thereafter.
I remember vividly how he methodically drew the shades and turned down the lights; how he cranked up the air-conditioning to what felt like freezing levels, where exactly he placed me on one of the two hotel room beds, what movie he put on the television (Coneheads); how he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged, naked, bearing nothing but a small hand towel held flimsy at his mid-section.
I remember what I was wearing (my favorite white denim shorts, thankfully, secured enough for me to keep on). I remember how he laid me down on the bed, wrapped me with his gigantic writhing body, and rubbed all over me.
He spoke these words: “You’re not going to sleep on me now sweetie, stop pretending you’re sleeping,” as he rubbed harder and faster against my catatonic body. When he was ‘finished’, he suggested, “I think we should be careful…,” [about telling anyone] he meant. I was 12, he was 36.
Then, she shared what happened after the alleged sexual abuse:
I remember how afterwards, the taxi driver stared at me in the rearview mirror when Joel Kramer put me on his lap in the backseat and clutched me and grew aroused again; and how my eyes never left the driver’s eyes during that long ride over a Miami bridge, back to my hotel and parent.
I remember how Joel Kramer grew cold with me in the ensuing weeks, how everything felt different on the set.
Dushku ended up getting injured on set, and according to her, Kramer was still responsible for her safety while filming:
And I remember how soon-after, when my tough adult female friend (in whom I had confided my terrible secret on the condition of a trade that she let me drive her car around the Hollywood Hills) came out to the set to visit and face him, later that very same day, by no small coincidence, I was injured from a stunt-gone-wrong on the Harrier jet.
With broken ribs, I spent the evening in the hospital. To be clear, over the course of those months rehearsing and filming True Lies, it was Joel Kramer who was responsible for my safety on a film that at the time broke new ground for action films.
On a daily basis he rigged wires and harnesses on my 12 year old body. My life was literally in his hands: he hung me in the open air, from a tower crane, atop an office tower, 25+ stories high. Whereas he was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser.
Dushku also revealed Kramer allegedly nicknamed her “Jailbait,” and he would call her by name in front of others.
“Fairly early on he nicknamed me ‘Jailbait’ and brazenly called me by this name in a sick flirty way in front of others (at the time, I remember asking one of my older brothers what it meant),” she said. “Sure, I’ve come to understand the terrible power dynamics that play into whistle-blowing by ‘subordinates’ against persons in power, how difficult it can be for someone to speak up.”
After that, she explained what led her to share her story after all these years:
Years ago, I had heard second hand that Joel Kramer was “found out” and forced to leave the business. I learned recently that in fact he still works at the top of the industry. And a few weeks ago, I found an internet photo of Joel Kramer hugging a young girl. That image has haunted me near nonstop since. I can no longer hide what happened.
At this time, Kramer hasn’t responded to Dushku’s horrifying tell-all account. The last film he worked on was “Blade Runner 2049,” starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.
