Jeff Bezos’ partner Lauren Sanchez made her film debut with her first indie movie, The Golden Door, it has been reported.
However, Sanchez, 53, has been hit by claims of presiding over a crazy shoot that ended with the director and several crew members being fired.
According to the reports, Sanchez self-financed the psychological thriller starring Daniella Kertesz, Megalyn Echikunwoke and Bezos’ teenage daughter.
The $2 million project, produced by Sanchez’s company, Adventure & Fellowship, was filmed in Topanga, Calif., last summer over a 20-day shoot.
But sources close to production revealed to Puck News Monday that Sanchez was an “infrequent — and to some — unwelcome presence on set,” adding, “But she and Bezos did show up, her more than him, and his teen daughter was an intern on the project and was even given a small role in the film.”
The Puck report called Sanchez “definitely a piece of work in the over-the-top Beverly Hills striver sense of the phrase.”
A source told the news outlet that Sanchez asked to land her helicopter on set and had a “relatively lavish” trailer while conditions were sweltering hot and craft services were dire.
The behind-the-scenes chaos erupted further as the cast and crew were worried about basic safety protocols. Insiders claimed that after Bezos paid a visit, Sanchez became persuaded that the movie required a fresh angle, which alarmed the cast as numerous sequences had already been shot. She brought back the writers, and changes were drafted, prompting key “crewmembers to throw up their hands and bail,” the source added.