Geoffrey Rush simulated “groping and fondling” the actor at the centre of his defamation suit against the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the newspaper has alleged in court documents.
Last week the federal court heard the Telegraph and its reporter, Jonathon Moran, will attempt to prove a defence of truth when the case goes to trial in October after the actor, Eryn Jean Norvill, provided their lawyers with a statement.
Rush is suing the Telegraph’s publisher News Corp and Moran over articles about allegations he behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague – later revealed to be Norvill – during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015.
Rush has strenuously denied the claims.
The documents list a series of incidents in which the Telegraph’s lawyers argue Rush acted like a “pervert” and engaged in “sexually predatory behaviour”.
In one instance during the final weeks of production Rush and Norvill were rehearsing a scene in front of cast and crew members when Rush allegedly simulated “groping” Norvill while she lay on stage.
During the scene Norvill, who played Lear’s daughter Cordelia, lay prone on the stage with her eyes closed while Rush, who played Lear, grieved above her.
The documents state that while Rush would usually touch her “on the face and arm” during the scene “in the manner of a grieving father”, on this occasion Norvill opened her eyes when she heard people laughing and saw Rush “hovering his hands above her torso and pretending to stroke or caress her upper torso”.
The documents state Rush then “made groping gestures in the air with two cupped hands [which were] intended to simulate and in fact did simulate him groping and fondling [Norvill’s] breasts”.
The document states the conduct intended to “mock” Norvill while she was in a vulnerable position, and that he “engaged in conduct of a kind in which only a pervert would engage”.
The amended defence – based on Norvill’s statement – also includes allegations Rush’s hand “traced across” the side of her breast during a preview performance of the same scene.
It alleges that in the lead-up to the preview performance the director of the production, Neil Armfield, gave Rush an instruction that he should make the scene more “paternal” as it was “becoming creepy and unclear”.
He’s also accused of touching her lower back under her shirt, making lewd gestures in her direction such as licking his lips and “using his hands to grope the air like he was fondling [Norvill’s] hips or breasts”.
Six months after the production, Rush also allegedly sent Norvill a text message saying he thought of her “more than is socially appropriate”.
Rush’s lawyers had sought to have the document thrown out, arguing some of the allegations lack precision and there’s no explanation why they vary starkly from claims previously made by the Telegraph in an earlier defence.
The previous defence was struck out by Justice Michael Wigney in March after he found its claims were “plainly deficient” and “vague and imprecise”.
The new defence has forced the trial to be delayed by seven weeks and Rush’s lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, on Thursday said he would seek indemnity costs and aggravated damages.
“Mr Rush is suffering continuing trauma because of these proceedings and because of the allegations, so the delay of seven weeks is maybe not a big deal to News Limited, but it is a big deal to him,” the lawyer said in the federal court last week.