The actor said he first rejected the part, thinking it was "too ugly", but then reconsidered saying he realised he was afraid of playing villains after years of playing heroes and nice guys. Noth then went on to say that the “instinct of predator is firmly entrenched in the male psyche”.
"I think [writer-director Elizabeth Wood] tapped into something, that there's always dirty little secrets in a lot of men, who, when given the opportunity, will go to a place they wouldn't even admit to themselves maybe, when it comes to sex. And that's what this guy did: took full advantage of a situation and got what he wanted. Given the opportunity human beings can go to a very ugly place. My main point is I think that no one can really know anyone, and there's a lot of different things that can happen to a person under certain circumstances", the actor said.
Last week, The Hollywood Reporter published an interview with two women who described in detail how the actor had allegedly raped them. One woman, going under the pseudonym Zoe, said she became acquainted with Noth in 2004 while she was working "in an entry-level position at a high-profile firm where Noth and other celebrities regularly had business".
During the sexual assault, the actor didn’t use protection, the woman alleges.
"It was very painful and I yelled out, 'Stop!'. And he didn’t. I said, 'Can you at least get a condom?' and he laughed at me. I had stitches. Two police officers came. I wouldn’t say who it was", Zoe said, adding that she was afraid nobody would believe her or that she could lose her job if she publicly accused the actor.
After the article was published, actress and director Zoe Lister-Jones, who worked with Chris Noth on Law & Order, posted a statement on her social media accusing the actor of predatory behaviour.
"In my twenties I worked at a club in NY that Chris Noth owned and on the few occasions he would show up, he was consistently sexually inappropriate with a fellow female promoter. That same year I was a guest star on 'Law and Order' and it was his first episode returning as a detective after 'SATC'. He was drunk on set. During my interrogation scene he had a 22 oz. of beer under the table that he would drink in between takes. In one take he got close to me, sniffed my neck, and whispered, 'You smell good'. I didn’t say anything. My friend at the club never said anything. It’s so rare that we do", she wrote.
"The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women", he said.
The LAPD said no formal charges had been brought against the 67-year-old, but that law enforcement was looking into the report the woman under pseudonym Zoe filed.