Steve Martin has responded to allegations made by Miriam Margolyes, his co-star in 1986’s Little Shop of Horrors. In her new memoir Oh Miriam: Stories From An Extraordinary Life, the veteran actress wrote of playing a dental assistant to Martin’s Orin Scrivello D.D.S., specifically a sequence in which Martin’s character slams a door in the face of Margolyes’ character and punches her. “I was hit all day by doors opening in my face; repeatedly punched, slapped and knocked down by an unlovely and unapologetic Steve Martin – perhaps he was method acting – and came home grumpy with a splitting headache.” Her overall appraisal?
Martin was “undeniably brilliant, but horrid to me.” Martin addressed the allegations in a statement to Deadline: “When I first read Miriam Margolyes’ pejorative account of our scene in Little Shop of Horrors, I was surprised.
My memory is that we had a good communication as professional actors. But when it is implied that I harmed her or was in some way careless about doing the stunts, I have to object.
I remember taking EXTREME caution regarding the fake punch – the same caution I would use with any similar scene. She assured me she felt fine, and we did a few successful takes and stopped.
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