With appearances in hit movies like The Social Network, Call Me By Your Name and Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E under his belt, Armie Hammer’s career as The Next Big Thing was set to soar.
But after a series of disturbing allegations were made against him in 2021, by multiple women, who accused him of violent abuse and harbouring cannibalism fantasies – the actor, 38, fell from grace.
He was investigated by the LAPD in 2023 but ultimately not charged.
Four years on, and the star’s comeback into the Hollywood scene has been anything but smooth.
Armie’s renaissance has been muddled with awkward interview appearances, bizarre ‘jokes’, an obscure podcast hosted in his apartment – and a return to the screen helmed by ‘the worst director in the world’, according to critics.
His most recent foray into the spotlight comes following a sensational Louis Theroux interview this month, where he discussed how his life has changed after his downfall – and attempted to climb back into society.
The host, known for his blunt tone, asked if Armie was in fact a cannibal, to which he replied: ‘You know what you have to do to actually be a cannibal? You have to actually eat human flesh. So no’.
However, he did admit to having taken a bite out of the heart of an animal as part of a hunting ritual.
Disgraced actor Armie Hammer pictured with his ex Effie Angelova, who has accused him of sexual assault
His most recent foray into the spotlight comes following a sensational Louis Theroux interview this month, where he discussed how his life has changed after his downfall – and attempted to climb back into society
Speaking to FEMAIL, one branding expert said that Los Angeles is still sure to gradually welcome the actor back – despite a faux pas-ridden resurgence.
‘Armie is desperately clawing his way back into the spotlight and it’s no surprise people would rather he stay away from it forever,’ Riley Gardiner, Founder of No Strings Public Relations, said.
‘When you’re in a position where you have to come out publicly and tell everyone you’ve never eaten human flesh, it’s going to be a tough road back to the top. I urge everyone to go back and read the leaked messages – you know, the ones where he says “I am 100 per cent a cannibal” and talks about eating an animal’s heart.
‘He has not argued any of the messages, and confirmed the animal heart story to be true in his Louis Theroux interview, saying it was a rite of passage on a hunting trip. Just guys being dudes!’
Riley continued: ‘It does nothing to address the girls that came forward with stories of manipulation and abuse.’
The expert said Armie should ‘not be allowed back into Hollywood’ – but will ‘probably very soon’ be let in once more.
Armie and Timothee Chalamet pictured together in 2017, in Call Me By Your Name – when his career was on the rise
‘The industry will play its usual game,’ he added. ‘They’ll feign concern for a while, because it looks good to be “woke” and call out bad behaviour. But the moment someone offers him a role in a big project, the rest of Hollywood will follow.
‘It’s the same old story. Hollywood’s record for embracing problematic figures is long, and Armie’s no different.
‘He’s not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, to be welcomed back after a controversy. When it comes to Hollywood, redemption doesn’t really mean much – there are far worse people still doing well.’
Expanding on the ‘hunting ritual’ on Louis’ podcast, Armie elaborated on reports that he had ‘cut the heart out of a living animal before and eaten it while still warm’.
‘You don’t eat the whole heart, you don’t do that,’ the actor replied. ‘You take a bite out of the heart, and you’ve got all your buddies around you, they’re goading you on, it’s sort of like an almost overly charged male rite of passage when you go hunting for your first time.
‘Everyone that I know who went hunting for their first time had to do something similar.’
‘So you did that?’ Louis asked, as Armie confirmed: ‘Yeah. Not for the purpose of any cannibalism or any sexual gratification, no.’
Elsewhere in the chat, Armie bizarrely compared himself to a ‘comedian making jokes’ while discussing the cannibalism scandal than ended his once flourishing Hollywood career.
Part of Armie’s media comeback has also included his own podcast – on which, in October, he admitted he ‘likes the cannibal stuff now’
Armie pointed out that only his messages had been been made public while the recipients were cut out making them lack context, but compared his comments to a comedian ‘pushing the boundaries’.
He said: ‘Any digitally altered evidence is immediately inadmissible [in court] because you have no context. You, like, that could have been a very funny conversation between two people who were joking and pushing each other and egging each other on.
‘In the way that sometimes you see comedians pushing the boundary further and further when they’re having a conversation. I’m not going to argue the messages’.
The graphic Instagram DMs that Armie penned included talk of rape fantasies, BDSM and cannibalism.
In one exchange, Armie wrote: ‘I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you. F**k. That’s scary to admit. I’ve never admitted that before.’
The actor, who entered rehab following the scandal, blamed his disturbing messages on his nature being ‘exacerbated’ by alcohol and drugs as well as wanting to ‘push the envelope’ while in the bedroom.
‘Did I ever have any intention of cutting anything off of anyone or eating anything off of anyone? No. There was never really anything that I wanted. Was it fun to joke about if I was stoned or drunk or like laughing as I was typing these messages? Sure.’
Before adding: ‘That’s where context comes in. You make jokes, I’m sure, with your friends that if I took your phone, and made them public, and removed your friend’s half of the jokes, you would probably be in hot water’.
Armi is continuing his attempted comeback with a new appearance in a music video. The disgraced actor is featured in the new music video for Typical Squeeze by singer and actress Georgina ‘Georgie’ Leahy
Part of Armie’s media comeback has also included his own podcast – on which, in October, he admitted he ‘likes the cannibal stuff now’.
The Armie HammerTime Podcast’s first episode features fellow actor Tom Arnold and was filmed inside of Hammer’s modest and sparsely decorated Los Angeles apartment.
Tom was seated on a rundown leather lounge that Hammer found on Facebook Marketplace.
‘Jerry and I went and picked this up yesterday in Glendale,’ Armie explained as he pointed to the worn piece of furniture.
‘$150!’ he beamed, before admitting that he’d ‘haggled’ to get the price down.
Tom then compared Armie’s rent-controlled home to a ‘closet’ due to its small size.
The pair eventually got to the topic of the cannibal rumors, with the Nocturnal Animals star admitting that he’s now become fond of the ‘wild’ claims.
‘I kind of like the cannibal stuff now,’ he laughed. ‘I’m just like, “Hey, I’m a cannibal!”‘
Armie pictured in The Social Network, with Max Minghella, in 2010. The actor has since faced controversy
So far, the podcast has received an overwhelmingly positive response from fans, with many expressing their support for the disgraced actor in the comments section.
‘I love the cannibal stuff too Armie,’ one joked, while another wrote, ‘Glad you can laugh about it now!’
A third added, ‘Always here supporting you. People need to stop kink-shaming or drawing extreme conclusions. There’s never been anything wrong with what you’re into.’
Meanwhile, in January, as reported by Variety, Armie was revealed to be set with a lead role in director Uwe Boll’s ‘vigilante thriller’ The Dark Knight – which, perhaps confusingly, has no relation to the Batman film.
He will play ‘Sanders’, a man who decides to ‘take justice into his own hands’.
‘The story of ‘The Dark Knight’ couldn’t be a more current topic, and I’m excited to bring it to life with this excellent cast,’ Uwe told the outlet.
And executive producer Michael Roesch assured: ‘Our movie is very different from Chris Nolan’s movie, so there is no danger of confusion.’
According to Game Reactor, Uwe and his team are doubling down on using the title despite repeated warnings about potential trade mark infringement from Warner Bros.
Hammer confirmed to Piers that he did cheat on his ex-wife, Elizabeth Chambers (pictured in 2018), during their marriage, but would not confirm how many times
Michael added: ‘With Armie Hammer in the lead role and more great actors to be announced soon.’
The news was blasted online, where many slammed Uwe as ‘the worst director in the world’.
Another dubbed him as ‘the German director of some of the worst-reviewed films of the early 2000s’, including the 2005 flick Alone in the Dark.
Critics gave it one per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, and one reviewer at The Orlando Sentinel penned: ‘Alone in the Dark shows just how tenuous Plan 9 from Outer Space’s hold on that “worst movie ever” title really is.’
The Dark Knight is currently shooting in Croatia, Variety reported this month.
Armie is also continuing his attempted comeback with an appearance in a music video.
In December, the disgraced actor featured in a clip set to Typical Squeeze by the singer and actress Georgina ‘Georgie’ Leahy. In the YouTube credits, his character is flippantly named ‘Kannibal Ken.’
Armie’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo occured in a stylised scene – in which Leahy is driving a classic convertible through a cartoonish version of Hollywood.
Pictured: Dru Ann Mobley, actor Armie and his ex-wife, actress Elizabeth in 2017, in Los Angeles
Suddenly, the actor can be seen popping his head up while grinning devilishly as he appears to be holding on to the trunk of the car.
Armie, who wore a Hawaiian-style shirt and has his shaggy hair swept back, smirked at Leahy, who turned around and let out a scream before losing control of the pale blue car, which flipped into the air.
Elsewhere in 2024, Armie shared on-set photos from the upcoming Western Frontier Crucible to his Instagram account.
Thomas Jane leads the cast of the film, which is directed by Travis Mills and adapted from Harry Whittington’s 1961 novel Desert Stake-Out.
The film, which has been described as ‘Reservoir Dogs meets Bone Tomahawk,’ takes place in 1870s Arizona Territory, when a former soldier with a tragic past is forced to join forces with three outlaws, as well as a beautiful woman and her injured husband, as they try to survive the brutal frontier.
Despite the allegations of rape and abuse from multiple women that derailed his career, Hammer was never charged with a crime, and he has vehemently denied the accusations.
Last year, he and his estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers reached a divorce agreement after splitting in 2020.
In January, the actor claimed he’s now living in a ‘tiny apartment’ as he works to rebuild his career, and reflected on the whirlwind of the controversy and how it captivated the public during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Speaking on Your Mama’s House podcast, Armie recounted: ‘The world seemed like it was falling apart, and people were just deeply unhappy with their own lives.
‘Then this salacious story comes out about an actor wanting to murder and eat people. And all of a sudden, everyone’s like, “Oh, this is so much more fun to focus on than the fact that I can’t leave my living room”.’
The actor went on to explain how the media storm spiralled as more stories emerged, adding, “If anyone took anyone’s bedroom conversations, even if it was completely vanilla, and read it out of context, everyone would go, ‘You guys are f***ing disgusting”.’
He also revealed how the scandal hit his finances and mental health.
‘I was so broke, I had to sell my truck because I couldn’t afford gas anymore,’ he shared.
When asked if he was losing his mind during the fallout, he admitted: ‘I was just in full panic mode.’
He explained how the persona he had built up was shattered, leaving him exposed and vilified: ‘There would be articles in The Punjabi Times about how I was a cannibal…and in March 2021, I was the fifth most-searched person on Google, and all of it was negative.’
Describing the toll it took on him, Armie said: ‘You’re just left standing there naked in front of the world, with all your proclivities and kinks being judged. That s**t is tough.’
Armie also reflected on his past behaviour with women, admitting that he used them to feed his ego.
‘People were my bags of dope with skin on it,’ he said on the podcast. ‘Having people want to have sex with me gave me a sense of power and validation.’
He confessed to using women for his own gratification and leaving them feeling used, explaining: ‘I would scoop these girls up, take them on whirlwind trips, have great sex, and then just bounce, leaving them feeling like they were sucked into this tornado.’
The actor, who has previously shared his own trauma of being sexually assaulted by a pastor at 13, revealed he’s been in therapy and reflecting on his actions.
He also spoke about his children, who he recently spent the holidays with, acknowledging that they might one day feel the effects of his actions.
‘I’m well aware that my daughter and son are gonna get to a point where they do therapy, and they’ll say, “I hate my dad, too”.’
He shares two children, daughter Harper and son Ford, with his ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers, and they have been co-parenting since their 2020 split.
Armie previously addressed the sensational rumors that he was a cannibal in an interview with Piers Morgan in July.
He told the presenter that the allegations stemmed from consensual sex acts and kinky role playing.
When asked if he is in fact a cannibal, Armie responded: ‘You know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to have actually eaten somebody.’
The actor confirmed that he had not eaten anyone. He did admit to once tracing his initials into the thigh of ex-girlfriend Paige Lorenze but denied it was an attempt to brand her: ‘There wasn’t even any blood,’ he contended.
Hammer confirmed to Piers that he did cheat on his ex-wife, Elizabeth Chambers, during their marriage, but would not confirm how many times.
He also spoke about his relationship with Effie Angelova, who has accused him of sexual assault. He called their relationship a ‘very intense affair, very sexuality charged, between two people with very similar proclivities and kinks’.
During that segment, Armie conceded that out of context, their conversations would seem troubling.
‘Any of those conversations that we had inside of that relationship, when you take them outside of that context and put them into broad daylight, it doesn’t look so good.’
The actor said that she was more experienced in the world of kink than he was.
‘Different people have different sexual fantasies. And there’s a very broad spectrum of sexuality, and people are allowed to engage with their own sexuality however it fits them and what they do.’
Armie has consistently maintained his innocence when faced with allegations of rape and other abuse of women. His lawyers continue to claim that all of his relationships were consensual.
Last year, Armie and his ex-wife reached a divorce agreement, three years after filing.
The settlement came just weeks after LA County prosecutors declined to charge Hammer in an investigation stemming from a woman’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 2017.
They cited a lack of evidence to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The actor said on Instagram that after a long public silence that ‘I look forward to beginning what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name has been cleared.’