Armie Hammer hasn’t been on social media in ages, and with good reason: Nearly three years ago he was accused of various forms of disturbing sexual abuse. His acting career naturally stalled, and he retreated from public view. At one point he was allegedly (but not really) working at a resort. What he’s up to nowadays is anybody’s guess, but his new Instagram post isn’t making anything clearer.
As caught by Entertainment Weekly, Hammer posted a cryptic video of what appears to be him on a train. On his lap is a laptop, on which is shown a clip from a film: 1968’s The Swimmer, an enigmatic drama starring Burt Lancaster as a man spending a summer’s day running through the affluent Connecticut suburbs, going from pool to pool. In the brief clip Hammer showed, Lancaster, clad in only black trunks, is gleefully running along a fence, trying to outrun a horse.
Accompanying the scene is Gitkin’s 2018 track “El Millonario.” There is no caption. Right now it is the only post on his feed, which has been scrubbed.
What does it all mean? Does Hammer identify with Lancaster’s character, who [SPOILER] we eventually learn is a broken man, once well-off, but who has since lost touch with reality? Does Hammer just enjoy the film, which is a classic of late ‘60s quasi-experimental Hollywood? It’s not our place to speculate about where Hammer’s mind is these days, but maybe he’s just watching some good cinema.
Hammer has largely kept quiet about the allegations against him. Earlier this year an LAPD investigation resulted in no charges, citing insufficient evidence.
Last month one of Hammer’s old costars, Timothée Chalamet, did break his silence about him, sort of. In a profile by GQ, he remarked on the surreal coincidence of making a cannibal movie, Bones and All, with he and Hammer’s Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino…around the time DMs revealed that Hammer was telling a woman, “I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you.
“I mean, what were the chances that we’re developing this thing?” Chalamet said. After false reports claimed the movie was inspired by the Hammer news, instead of wanting to back off the project, it “made me feel like: Now I’ve really got to do this,” adding, “Because this is actually based on a book.”
The Swimmer, which is very good, is available for rental on Amazon Prime.
(Via EW)