Film career

1970s: Early work and creation of Miramax

Both Weinstein brothers had grown up with a passion for films, and they desired to enter the film industry. In the late 1970s, using profits from their concert promotion business, the brothers created a small independent film distribution company named Miramax, named after their parents, Miriam and Max.[9] The company's first releases were primarily music-oriented concert films such as Paul McCartney's Rockshow.[14]

1980s: Success with arthouse and independent films

In the early 1980s, Miramax acquired the rights to two British films of benefit shows filmed for the human rights organization Amnesty International. Working closely with Martin Lewis, the producer of the original films, the Weinstein brothers edited the two films into one movie tailored for the American market. The resulting film was released as The Secret Policeman's Other Ball in May 1982, and it became Miramax's first hit. The movie raised considerable sums for Amnesty International and was credited by Amnesty with having helped to raise its profile in the United States.[12][13]

The Weinsteins slowly built upon this success throughout the 1980s with arthouse films that achieved critical attention and modest commercial success. Harvey Weinstein and Miramax gained wider attention in 1988 with the release of Errol Morris' documentary The Thin Blue Line, which detailed the struggle of Randall Adams, a wrongfully convicted inmate sentenced to death row. The publicity that soon surrounded the case resulted in Adams' release and nationwide publicity for Miramax. In 1989, their successful launch release of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled Miramax to become the most successful independent studio in America.[15]

Also in 1989, Miramax released two arthouse films, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, and director Pedro Almodóvar's film Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, both of which the MPAA rating board gave an X-rating, effectively stopping nationwide release for these films. Weinstein sued the MPAA over the rating system. His lawsuit was later thrown out, but the MPAA introduced the NC-17 rating two months later.[16]

1990s-2000s: Further success, Disney ownership deal

Miramax continued to grow its library of films and directors until, in 1993, after the success of The Crying Game, Disney offered the Weinsteins $80 million for ownership of Miramax.[17] The brothers agreed to the deal that would cement their Hollywood clout and ensure that they would remain at the head of their company, and the next year, Miramax released their first blockbuster, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, and distributed the popular independent film Clerks.

Miramax won its first Academy Award for Best Picture in 1997 with the victory of The English Patient. (Pulp Fiction was nominated in 1995 but lost to Forrest Gump.)[18] This started a string of critical successes that included Good Will Hunting (1997) and Shakespeare in Love (1998), both of which won several awards, including numerous Academy Awards.[19][20][21][22]

2005-2017: The Weinstein Company

The Weinstein brothers left Miramax on September 30, 2005, to form their own production company, The Weinstein Company, with several other media executives, directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, and Colin Vaines, who had successfully run the production department at Miramax for 10 years.[23] In February 2011, filmmaker Michael Moore took legal action against the Weinstein brothers, claiming he was owed $2.7 million in profits for his documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), which he said had been denied to him by "Hollywood accounting tricks".[24] In February 2012, Moore dropped the lawsuit for an undisclosed settlement.[25]

Managerial style and controversies

While lauded for opening up the independent film market and making it financially viable, Weinstein has been criticized by some for the techniques he has allegedly applied in his business dealings. Peter Biskind's book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film[12] details criticism of Miramax's release history and editing of arthouse films. For examples, the book states that 54 was originally made as a non-mainstream arthouse film, but after Ryan Phillippe's stardom suddenly rose, Weinstein forced the director to re-edit and reshoot 54 to make it more mainstream.

Harvey Weinstein also had a habit of re-editing Asian films and dubbing them in English. Weinstein tried to release the English-dubbed versions of Shaolin Soccer and Hero in the United States theatrically, but their English-dubbed versions scored badly in test screenings in the United States, so Weinstein finally released the films in United States cinemas with their original language.[26][27] Furthermore, Weinstein re-edited 1993 Cannes Palme d'Or winner Farewell My Concubine for United States theatrical release; 1993 Cannes jury head Louis Malle was furious. "The film (Farewell My Concubine) we admired so much in Cannes is not the film seen in this country (United States), which is twenty minutes shorter — but it seems longer, because it doesn't make any sense," Louis Malle complained.[28] On the other hand, there is a rumor that when Harvey Weinstein was charged with handling the U.S. release of Princess Mononoke, director Hayao Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword in the mail. Attached to the blade was a stark message: "No cuts." Miyazaki commented on the incident: "Actually, my producer did that. Although I did go to New York to meet this man, this Harvey Weinstein, and I was bombarded with this aggressive attack, all these demands for cuts. I defeated him."[29] Weinstein has always insisted that such editing was done in the interest of creating the most financially viable film. "I'm not cutting for fun," he said in an interview. "I'm cutting for the shit to work. All my life I served one master: the film. I love movies."[13][30]

Another example cited by Biskind was Phillip Noyce's The Quiet American (2002), whose release Weinstein delayed following the September 11 attacks owing to audience reaction in test screenings to the film's critical tone towards United States past foreign policy. After being told the film would go straight to video, Noyce planned to screen the film in Toronto International Film Festival in order to mobilize critics to pressure Miramax to release it theatrically. Weinstein decided to screen the film at the Festival only after he was lobbied by star Michael Caine, who threatened to boycott publicity for another film he had made for Miramax. The Quiet American received mostly positive reviews at the festival, and Miramax eventually released the film theatrically, but it was alleged that Miramax did not make a major effort to promote the film for Academy Award consideration, though Caine was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.[12]

Weinstein has also cultivated a reputation for ruthlessness and fits of anger.[31] According to Biskind, Weinstein once put a New York Observer reporter in a headlock while throwing him out of a party. On another occasion, Weinstein excoriated director Julie Taymor and her husband during a disagreement over a test screening of her movie Frida.[13]

In a 2004 newspaper article, in New York magazine, Weinstein appeared somewhat repentant for his often aggressive discussions with directors and producers.[32] However, a Newsweek story on October 13, 2008, criticized Weinstein, who was accused of "hassling Sydney Pollack on his deathbed" about the release of the film The Reader. After Weinstein offered $1 million to charity if the accusation could be proven, journalist Nikki Finke published an email sent by Scott Rudin on August 22 asserting that Weinstein "harassed" Anthony Minghella's widow and a bedridden Pollack until Pollack's family asked him to stop.[33][34]

In September 2009, Weinstein publicly voiced opposition to efforts to extradite Roman Polanski from Switzerland to the U.S. regarding a 1977 charge that he had drugged and raped a 13-year-old, to which Polanski had pleaded guilty before fleeing the country.[35] Weinstein, whose company had distributed Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, a film about the Polanski case, questioned whether Polanski committed any crime,[36] prompting Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley to insist that Polanski's guilty plea indicated that his action was a crime, and that several other serious charges were pending.[37]

An analysis of Academy Award acceptance speeches from 1966 to 2016 found that Weinstein had been thanked or praised in 34 speeches - as many times as God, and second only to Steven Spielberg with 43 mentions.[38]

Activism

Weinstein has been active on issues such as poverty, AIDS, juvenile diabetes, and multiple sclerosis research. He serves on the Board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York City-based non-profit that targets poverty, and co-chaired one of its annual benefits.[39] He is critical of the lack of gun control laws and universal health care in the United States.[40]

Weinstein is a longtime supporter and contributor to the Democratic Party including the campaigns of President Barack Obama and presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry.[41] He supported Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign,[42] and in 2012, he hosted an election fundraiser for Obama at his home in Westport, Connecticut.[43]

Fashion

Weinstein was active in the fashion industry. He produced Project Runway, the fashion reality show, making stars of designer Michael Kors, model Heidi Klum and editor Nina Garcia.[44] He was instrumental in the revival of Halston, collaborating with Tamara Mellon, Sarah Jessica Parker and stylist Rachel Zoe. He licensed the option to revive the Charles James brand. Celebrities were asked to wear Marchesa (his wife's label) at least once if they were in a Weinstein movie. His production companies were frequently involved in fashion-themed movies, including Madonna's W.E., Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter and Tom Ford's A Single Man. Stars of Weinstein's films appeared on more than a dozen Vogue covers.[45]

Allegations of and charges for sexual crimes

Allegations

In October 2017, The New York Times[46][47] and The New Yorker[3] reported that more than a dozen women accused Weinstein of sexually harassing, assaulting, or raping them. Many other women in the film industry subsequently reported similar experiences with Weinstein,[48][49][50] who denied raping the women. As a result of these accusations, Weinstein was fired from his production company,[51] suspended from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts,[52] expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,[4] resigned from the Directors Guild of America,[53] left by his wife Georgina Chapman,[54] and denounced by leading figures in politics whom he had supported.[55] The Los Angeles Police Department opened a criminal investigation for alleged rape,[56] and New York and London police are investigating other sexual assault allegations.[57]

Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker that Weinstein hired British-Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube in order to stop the publication of the abuse allegations against him. Using false identities, private investigators from Black Cube tracked and met journalists and actresses, in particular Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of rape. Weinstein had Black Cube and other agencies "target, or collect information on, dozens of individuals, and compile psychological profiles that sometimes focussed on their personal or sexual histories."[58][59][60]

The allegations precipitated a wave of "national reckoning" against sexual harassment and assault in the United States,[61] known as the Weinstein effect. Compounded by other sexual harassment cases earlier in the year, the Weinstein reports and subsequent #MeToo hashtag campaign, which encouraged individuals to share their suppressed stories of sexual misconduct, created a cavalcade of allegations across multiple industries that brought about the swift ouster of many men in positions of power both in the United States and, as it spread, around the world.[62][63]

Charges and arrest

On May 25, 2018, Weinstein was charged by New York police with "rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women". On that day, he was arrested after surrendering to police.[6]

Weinstein was later released after a million dollars of bail was posted on his behalf. He later surrendered his passport and was required to wear an ankle monitor, with travel being restricted to New York and Connecticut. His lawyer Benjamin Brafman said Weinstein would plead not guilty.[64]

Personal life

Weinstein has been married twice. In 1987, he married his assistant Eve Chilton; they divorced in 2004.[32][65] They had three children: Remy (previously Lily) (born 1995), Emma (born 1998), and Ruth (born 2002).[66] In 2007, he married English fashion designer and actress Georgina Chapman.[67] They have a daughter, India Pearl (born 2010),[68] and a son, Dashiell[69] (born 2013).[70] On October 10, 2017, Chapman announced she was leaving Weinstein after the sexual harassment accusations.[54]

Popular culture

Both Vanity Fair and The New York Post have announced the completion by the playwright and dramatist David Mamet of the play titled Bitter Wheat to deal principally with the Weinstein controversy concerning his arrest in 2018. As stated in The New York Post in May 2018: "The plan is to open Mamet’s new play in London... Sources say Mamet is wary of another run at Broadway unless his Weinstein play gets a good reception in England. He’s got a shot with Daniel Evans, the young director who’s in talks to do it".[71]

Selected filmography