Mia Goth doesn’t want to be in the same room as the background actor who says she kicked him in the head. And honestly? That’s kind of telling.

The actress – you know her from X, Pearl, and MaXXXine, that whole horror trilogy thing – is now asking a court to let her do her deposition remotely in the assault lawsuit filed by James Hunter. Her reason: she fears for her safety. Which is… a choice. Because Hunter’s the one claiming he got assaulted, not the other way around.

What Actually Happened on Set

So here’s what we know. Back in April 2023, they’re filming MaXXXine – the third installment of Ti West’s horror series. Hunter’s working as a background actor, playing a dead parishioner. You know, lying on the ground, pretending to be a corpse. Not exactly high-stakes performance work, but someone’s gotta do it.

According to Hunter’s lawsuit, Goth was supposed to step over him during a scene. Instead, she allegedly kicked him in the head. On purpose. With a boot. Then – and this is where it gets really weird – she supposedly came back during a bathroom break and kicked him again. Like, deliberately sought him out while he was still on the ground and gave him a second kick for good measure.

Hunter says he ended up with a concussion. The production allegedly fired him and refused to take him to a hospital. His lawsuit claims assault, battery, and wrongful termination. Standard stuff when someone kicks you in the head at work, I’d say.

The Defense Gets Creative

Goth’s lawyers initially tried to get the whole thing thrown out, arguing that Hunter signed away his right to sue when he accepted the background role. You know, one of those arbitration agreements everyone signs without reading. But the judge wasn’t having it – said nope, this case can move forward.

So now we’re at the deposition phase. And that’s where things get interesting.

Wait, Who’s Afraid of Who Here?

In new court filings, Goth’s legal team is requesting that she be allowed to testify remotely instead of showing up in person. The reason they’re giving? She “has legitimate concerns for her physical safety.”

Let me just… sit with that for a second. The person accused of kicking someone in the head – twice – is now saying she’s afraid of the person she allegedly kicked. The guy who was literally lying on the ground playing dead when this whole thing went down.

“She has legitimate concerns for her physical safety” – from Goth’s legal filing

I mean, I’ve covered a lot of celebrity legal drama over the years, and this is a new one. Usually when someone claims they fear for their safety, there’s been some kind of threat involved. Some aggressive behavior. Something that would make a reasonable person think, “Yeah, okay, I can see why they’d be worried.”

But from what I can tell reading through the filings, Hunter hasn’t done anything threatening. He filed a lawsuit. Through lawyers. Using the legal system. That’s kind of how this is supposed to work when you think someone assaulted you at work.

The Optics Are… Not Great

Here’s the thing – and I don’t think Goth’s team has really thought this through – refusing to face your accuser looks bad. It just does. Especially when your accuser is the one claiming to be the victim of violence.

And look, I get it. Depositions are stressful. Nobody wants to sit in a room with lawyers firing questions at you for hours while every word gets transcribed. If I were famous and had the money to try avoiding that, I might be tempted too. But claiming you’re physically afraid of the person you allegedly assaulted? That’s not just avoiding discomfort. That’s making a very specific legal argument that, frankly, doesn’t track with the facts as we know them.

Remote depositions became way more common during COVID, obviously. Courts got used to doing things over Zoom. And yeah, they still allow it sometimes for legitimate reasons – if someone’s sick, or lives far away, or there’s an actual documented safety concern. But “I don’t want to be near the guy I’m accused of kicking” probably shouldn’t clear that bar.

What’s wild to me is that Goth’s career has been built on playing these intense, sometimes violent characters. Pearl is literally about a woman who murders people. She’s not afraid of fake blood and staged violence. But sitting across a table from a background actor in a conference room with lawyers present? That’s too scary?

What This Actually Means

I think what bothers me most about this is the precedent it sets. If you’re rich and famous enough, can you just claim fear and avoid the normal legal process? Can every celebrity defendant now say they’re afraid of their accusers and get special treatment?

The court hasn’t ruled on the remote deposition request yet. And maybe there’s information we don’t have – maybe Hunter did something that would justify Goth’s concerns. But if that’s the case, her lawyers should probably present that evidence instead of just making vague claims about safety.

From where I’m sitting, this looks like someone who doesn’t want to face the consequences of their alleged actions. And I mean “face” both literally and figuratively. If you didn’t kick the guy, show up and say that under oath. If you did kick him but it was an accident, show up and explain that. But hiding behind safety concerns when you’re the one accused of violence? That’s not fear. That’s avoidance.

We’ll see what the judge decides. But honestly, if I were Goth’s PR team right now, I’d be pulling my hair out. Because this story went from “actress accused of on-set incident” to “actress too afraid to face background actor she allegedly assaulted.” And that second headline? That’s so much worse.