Michelle Trachtenberg’s producing partner, Casey Tebo, shared his final conversation with the “Gossip Girl” star before her shocking death.
Trachtenberg passed away on Feb. 26 at the age of 39, as The Post exclusively revealed. She was found by her mother around 8 a.m. at her luxury apartment complex in Manhattan’s Central Park South neighborhood, sources said.
The actress underwent a liver transplant within the last year, though her body may have rejected the organ, insiders revealed, adding that she died of natural causes. Her cause of death has been ruled “undetermined” after her family objected to an autopsy.
Before her passing, Trachtenberg was shopping a screenplay she wrote, “Toy Monster,” based on a book of the same name by Jerry Oppenheimer.
Described by Tebo as “a dizzying tale of jealousy soaked in whiskey and clad in ’50s fashion,” the story follows the scandalous life of notorious playboy Jack Ryan, who left a job at the Pentagon designing missiles for a position at Mattel, where he became the toy company’s chief engineer and built a reputation for pursuing “sundry sexual pursuits.”
“My last conversation with [Michelle] was sending her director names to consider [for the movie],” Tebo exclusively told The Post.
The “Black Sunday” director was working with Trachtenberg’s boyfriend, Hollywood talent agent Jay Cohen, to produce the film.
“When you’re making a film, you kind of put lists together, and people would like to go to – directors and actors,” Tebo explained.
The “Harriet the Spy” actress wrote “Toy Monster” around 2015, he said, adding that by 2017, “two of the biggest studios” – “one huge classic studio” and “one huge streamer” – were interested in the project.
“It was being championed by a studio head, and they had two A-list directors they were going to,” Tebo continued, adding that Trachtenberg was also slated to act in the movie.
“Michelle was going to play one of the minor roles, and she was adamant about [attaching] A-list directing and acting talent,” he revealed.
But development stalled when the executive shepherding the project left the studio they were at.
Another hurdle the film faced was that many in Hollywood didn’t consider Trachtenberg to be “a serious writer,” according to Tebo. To many of the town’s top players, she would always just be “Harriet the Spy” or Georgina from “Gossip Girl,” he said.
However, in the months before her death, Tebo and Cohen were pushing hard to get the movie made, going “full court press for 2025.”
“Jay and I had just started to ramp up,” he revealed.
After Trachtenberg’s passing, the script attracted renewed attention.
“Sadly, her passing has increased interest in the project for obvious reasons,” Tebo said.
Reflecting on his friendship with the late star, Tebo shared how he’ll remember her.
“Michelle was an endearing ballbreaker,” he said. “So smart and funny. She also liked to make fun of me when I FaceTimed with Jay.”
When asked to share a memory of Trachtenberg that stood out, Tebo recalled meeting the star for the first time.
“I was having lunch with Jay at Sunset Tower,” he said, referring to famed The Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles. “He told me he was dating Michelle, and I kind of laughed and said ‘Yeah right.’ Then she came to meet us and she was so beautiful in person it almost knocked me over.”
Tebo previously told The Post that he and Cohen are determined to make Trachtenberg’s film “if it’s the last movie Jay and I ever make.”
Of Cohen, Tebo added, “I would say that he will do whatever he needs to do to honor her and show the industry — that he has done so much for so many in — what she was truly capable of.”
“When it gets made, my hope is that our industry will maybe take a second look at the thought that maybe what you know someone for isn’t all they’re good at,” he shared.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
