Ellen Barkin claims director 'ripped her merkin off' during nude scene

Ellen Barkin has claimed a male director tore her merkin off when she was about to shoot a nude scene.

While speaking to The Huffington Post for a new interview, the Animal Kingdom star recounted working on the 1989 neo-noir thriller Sea of Love with director Harold Becker.

For an intimate scene, Barkin was completely nude except for a merkin, a garment used a pubic wig, but Becker allegedly ripped it off because he didn't think it was necessary.

"What was I going to do when Harold Becker on Sea of Love walks over and literally rips my merkin off, taking some pubic hair with him and saying: 'What do you need this for? Nobody's looking at you,'" the actress alleged. "You do nothing."

Barkin noted that the scene was already "very difficult" to film, and the outburst made her scene partner "terrified". Barkin did not name her co-star, but she shared an intimate scene in the movie with Al Pacino.

"This is what (the industry's) like," she concluded. "And I had an easy time with it, believe me."

Elsewhere in the interview, the 68-year-old revealed that she "wanted out" of her TV show Animal Kingdom for "four years" before her character was killed off in 2019.

"It was not a pleasant place to work," she stated. "Men used to come in my trailer and just scream at me. How's that? With me pushing them out the door saying, 'Get out of my trailer.' That's what it was like for me to go to work."