Laurie Metcalf.
Photo: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

In the 2025-2026 Tony season, Laurie Metcalf has performed in two Broadway plays, and both were produced by disgraced megaproducer Scott Rudin. Now she’s defending him and herself. In a new profile of the actress in The New Yorker, Metcalf explained her choice to continue working with the producer and help shepherd his plays to Broadway. She claimed that Rudin has worked toward rehabilitation, using his March 2025 New York Times interview for evidence. “He talked about his therapy, he apologized, he owned what he said, he reflected on it,” Metcalf said. “He was in the process of rehabilitation. So I just think that, unless we think there is no possibility of real rehabilitation, then we shouldn’t ask people to try and do it.” She added that “I knew you would ask me at some point. It’s so touchy. It’s so hard.”

Rudin and Metcalf are longtime collaborators. In 2017 alone, he produced A Doll’s House Part II, which she won a Tony for, and Lady Bird, for which she scored an Oscar nomination. Then, in 2021, many of Rudin’s former assistants publicly revealed his abusive practices as a boss. One assistant said Rudin threw a phone at him, and another said Rudin smashed a computer monitor on his head, among other allegations. After taking some time away from theater due to the reporting, Rudin has returned with two Broadway shows this year, and Metcalf has starred in both.

Currently, the acclaimed actress is starring in the Rudin-produced Death of a Salesman alongside Nathan Lane, directed by Joe Mantello. Earlier this season, she starred in Little Bear Ridge Road, which was initially commissioned by the beloved Chicago-based theater company Steppenwolf in 2024. When Rudin initially offered to produce Little Bear’s transfer to Broadway, Steppenwolf declined his offer because of the allegations. When no other producers wanted to do the show, The New Yorker now reports that Metcalf “threatened to quit” the company if it didn’t relinquish the rights to the play. Ultimately, it played Broadway for eight weeks, marking Rudin’s return to the Great White Way. “I find it hypocritical that some people want to work with him but didn’t want to be the first,” Metcalf said.

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