Hollywood Comeback: Bourdain Ex Asia Argento Cast in Gangster Film After Admitting to Sex With Underage Boy, Attempted Cover-Up

Italian actress Asia Argento, who reportedly admitted to having sex with a 17-year-old actor, is set to star in Abel Ferrara's new gangster film, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Ferrara is gearing up to start production on his latest project titled American Nails. The film, which is a modern gangster story inspired by ancient tragedy, stars Poor Things actor Willem Dafoe as well as the Hollywood return of Argento.

The production, spearheaded by Diana Phillips and Philipp Kreuzer for Rimsky Productions and Maze Pictures, is scheduled to begin in Italy this summer.

According to the producers, American Nails is about "the rise and fall of this modern Phaedra, in a tale set in the gangster world of primal violence, power and revenge. This no-holds-barred retelling of Euripides’ masterpiece pits Argento against the male-dominated remnants of power and entitlement in the shadow of the Roman Empire in contemporary Italy."

Back in 2018, during the height of the #MeToo movement, TMZ reported that Argento sent text messages to a friend admitting that she had sex with Jimmie Bennett.

In a screenshot of one of the text messages obtained by the outlet, Argento allegedly writes, "I had sex with him, it felt weird. I didn't know he was a minor until the shakedown letter."

It was later revealed that Argento paid a $380,000 settlement to Bennett not to disclose allegations that the two had sex in 2013, when she was 37 and he was 17.

Bennett played Argento's son in the 2004 film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.

Argento, known for several mainstream hits like XXX, Land of the Dead, and Marie Antoinette, allegedly served the young actor an alcoholic drink in a room in the Marina Del Rey Ritz-Carlton and subsequently performed oral sex on him.

The two then reportedly had intercourse before she asked him to take photos of them. According to the Times, the meeting was a reunion for the actors.

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Argento was one of the first women to publicly accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and rape in 2017. The accusations against the Italian actress surfaced just months after the Weinstein accusations were made public.

Soon after Argento's texts were leaked, actress and #MeToo spearhead Rose McGowan took to her social media to release a statement that read, "I got to know Asia Argento ten months ago. Our commonality is the shared pain of being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere."