Aug 16, 2024 10:16 am IST
Eric Fleming, one of five men arrested in Matthew Perry’s drug overdose case, is a former film producer who directed Scarlett Johansson in 1999.
Eric Fleming, one of five men arrested in the drug overdose case of late Friends actor Matthew Perry, was once a film producer. The Hollywood Reporter Eric, who is claimed to have been the middleman in the ketamine scheme, directed Scarlett Johansson in a film in 1999. (Also Read: Matthew Perry ‘murdered’ by his colleague and doctors? ‘He was a fool…’, disturbing messages and details emerge after arrest)
Who is Eric Fleming?
Eric directed the children’s fantasy comedy My Brother the Pig in 1999, starring Scarlett and Eva Mendes. That same year, he directed the road movie, Tyrone, starring Coolio and Kevin Connolly, who later gained attention from his recurring role on the show Entourage. Eric was also a producer – he backed the inaugural season of the reality show The Surreal Life (2003), which featured Corey Feldman, Gabrielle Cartwright, Vince Neil and MC Hammer. Later, he started an unsuccessful production company, Rich Hippie, with Sydney Holland.
Update in the Matthew Perry case
Five people, including Matthew’s personal assistant and two doctors, have been charged in connection with his death, part of what prosecutors have called an “extensive underground criminal network” dedicated to getting the Friends star the powerful surgical anesthetic that killed him.
U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announced the charges Thursday, saying doctors took advantage of Matthew’s history of addiction in the final months of his life last year to give him a dose of ketamine they knew was dangerous. “They knew what they were doing was wrong,” Estrada said. “They knew what they were doing was a great risk to Mr. Perry. But they did it anyway.”
Matthew died of a ketamine overdose in October last year, and prosecutors said he was given multiple injections the day he died by his personal assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa. Kenneth was the one who found Perry dead that day and was the first person to speak to investigators.
Authorities said Perry had been receiving regular ketamine infusion treatments for depression — in doses infrequent enough to cause his death — from his regular doctors, who were not among those charged. When those doctors refused to give him more, he turned to others in desperation.
