Ghost in the Shell was dead on arrival at the box office this weekend, marking another setback in director Rupert Sanders’s career. His biggest black mark in Hollywood to date, however, will remain his affair with Kristen Stewart. Us Weekly published intimate photos of the couple in July 2012 after they met on the set of Snow White and the Huntsman, on which Stewart was the star; Sanders directed the film. He was asked about the affair in a recent interview with Metro U.K. while promoting Ghost in the Shell. But even a discussion of one of the biggest celebrity scandals of the 2010s couldn’t drum up interest for his latest film, which was sunk by its problematic whitewashing and mixed reviews.
“You never know what’s coming in life,” Sanders told the outlet. “Around every corner there’s something unexpected, and that’s life. You just have to brush yourself off and continue moving forward the best you can. Everyone makes mistakes. I am bound to make more mistakes, and I wouldn’t expect my life to be exciting if I didn’t.”
The director continued, calling the affair a “momentary lapse” for which he shouldn’t continue to be punished, because it would preclude him from continuing to make movies. “If you took people off the table for a momentary lapse, there would be no one making art.”
After their affair was discovered by the paparazzi, Sanders issued a public apology to his wife, Liberty Ross (who also had a role in Snow White and the Huntsman), and their children. “I am utterly distraught about the pain I have caused my family. My beautiful wife and heavenly children are all I have in this world. I love them with all my heart. I am praying that we can get through this together.”
At the time, Ross responded by tweeting a simple, “Wow.” She also posted a photo of Snow White on her Instagram account accompanied by the caption, “Not so pretty or so pure after all.” She then went into crisis mode, aided by her brother Atticus Ross (of The Social Network Oscar-winning-score fame) and crisis manager Jimmy Iovine (whom Ross has since married). As Ross told Vanity Fair in 2013, “It was really the worst, really the worst.”
After a year, though, Ross emerged from hiding, ready to discuss her husband’s “momentary lapse.” “I just didn’t have any more to give, you know?” she said about her decision to end the marriage.
Even Donald Trump had an opinion on Stewart and Sanders’s affair, mostly Stewart’s cheating on her boyfriend at the time, Robert Pattinson. She issued an abruptly worded apology to Pattinson via People that will go down in history in the annals of confusingly thought-out celebrity quotes. “I’m deeply sorry for the hurt and embarrassment I’ve caused to those close to me and everyone this has affected. This momentary indiscretion has jeopardized the most important thing in my life, the person I love and respect the most, Rob. I love him, I love him, I’m so sorry.”
Pattinson, to his credit, seemed ready to laugh off the affair in an August 2012 interview on The Daily Show. Jon Stewart had Ben & Jerry’s ready for him, and the actor said his biggest regret at the time was not hiring a publicist because he’s cheap.
It took Ross a bit longer to move on (her marriage had ended, after all), but at least she had the support of her brother. Atticus Ross told Vanity Fair, in 2013, “I’m sure [Sanders] feels like he made the worst mistake of his life.” Given his latest interview, the director seems to have moved past the incident, even calling his mistake “exciting.” Liberty Ross probably wouldn’t agree. But hey, if the momentary lapse in judgment leads to more art . . . actually, given Ghost in the Shell’s box-office performance, Sanders might want to rethink that line.
