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Harvey Weinstein
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A small world
gossip roundup
Batman Bale's Family Assault Interview
- Dark Knight star Christian Bale is accused of assaulting his own mother and sister. Police apparently waited to question Bale about the incident because "it would have been wrong to have wrecked the premiere." Yes, one wouldn't want to interrupt the celebration of a fictional vigilante crime fighter with an awkward attempt to, you know, fight crime. [Sun]
- Alec Baldwin's book A Promise To Ourselves is about how the screwed up divorce and family court system made him very angry, resulting in the famously abusive voice mail he left his daughter. You know what else makes Baldwin very angry? Being rescheduled four times for an interview with Diane Sawyer about the book, just because her husband went into heart surgery or whatever. [R&M]
- Sarah Jessica Parker has an art competition show, and it's headed for Bravo. The creators of Project Runway are involved. [P6]
- Harvey Weinstein's Weinstein Co. is expanding with a full 11,000-square-foot floor in a TriBeCa building. Their credit is still good! Or at least it is with their old landlord. [Post]
- Britney Spears looks good in a bikini again, thanks to the magic of cool, refreshing cigarettes. [Egotastic]
- Madonna is taking time off from her tour under doctor's orders. Supposedly, the pop star fired two dancers and her tour manager was on the verge of walking out. "One of her closest pals says she has never seen Madonna so low." [Sun]
- Alex Rodriguez is negotiating with his wife Cynthia in New York this week to "quickly settle their divorce" and "avoid a public 'slugfest.'" Oh, good. Because one can only imagine the salacious gossip that might emerge from such a situation. [Post]
- Al Reynolds was spotted at Miami Fashion Week with a woman "who was the spitting image" of Star Jones, complete with four-inch stilettos. [Post]
- Larry Mendte, the Philadelphia TV news co-anchor of cop-puncher Alycia Lane, was charged by the feds with reading Lane's email, including during breaks from the 11 o'clock news, and presumably for also forwarding her email to various tabloids, because if low-grade email snooping alone is a federal crime this guy is one unlucky bastard. [P6]
- Miley Cyrus is interested in taking the movie role of "a lovable, lost suburban girl who descends into a life of reckless partying and promiscuity." How does Vanity Fair continue to manipulate her this way?? [Scoop]
- Fashion line Guess wants its lead model to look like Amy Winehouse. On purpose. [P6]
- Paris Hilton is maybe tired of boyfriend Benji Madden, even though she recently wanted to marry him and have his babies, according to rumor and so forth. [E!]
fashion
Weinstein Boots Halston Designer For Lack Of Sexiness
Lovers of moguls and fashion house revivals pay heed: Halston, the 70s luxury brand that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is attempting to restore to its former glory, has lost its creative director! Marco Zanini, who came to Halston from Versace a year ago to revive the brand, has reportedly been shown the door. Apparently he didn't have the "sexual charge" that Weinstein craves. Don't worry Harvey, you still have Project Runway! More »
deathwatch
Harvey's Tumble
Could 2008 be the year that Hollywood has waited for so long, when that "indestructible cockroach" of independent movies—New York's Harvey Weinstein—finally runs out of luck? Forget about disappointing revenues from movies such as Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse; one should be looking at the plight of a boring home video distributor which was supposed to be the Weinsteins' salvation. More »
death
Is Bravo Trying to Kill Project Runway?
How the mighty are falling. The once proud Project Runway, winner of highly esteemed Peabody awards and beloved of many an affluent gay tastemaker, has been in a tailspin since the announcement was made that the show would be moving to Lifetime (television for Women). The fashion design competition show has but one short season left on Bravo, where it has helped shape and brand the once obscure network. And, hey, it starts next week! Did you know this? I certainly didn't. Where is the typical tsunami of press releases and meet-the-cast rosters and, um, internet advertising? TV writers won't even get a screener until Monday, two short days before the season premiere. What gives? More »
casting
Gwyneth Paltrow To Steal Role in Crappy Musical From Anne Hathaway
Another little tale from the mixed-up files of Harvey Weinstein. One name on the busy movie czar's "Calls You Owe" list was Gwyneth Paltrow "re: Promises, Promises." The Village Voice claims that ol' Harve was due to call the pretend-British actress about playing the lead in a revival of the peculiar (if successful) 1968 Broadway musical. Funny thing though, non-gold-digging actress Anne Hathaway has supposedly already procured the role. Oh isn't casting fun? Your famous costars may think that you'll steal roles away from Gwyneth, but Paltrow's big name and big friendship with Weinstein will, of course, kick your ass in the end. Though, I don't quite get what all the fuss is about. Again, the show is peculiar, especially its show-stopping number "Turkey Lurkey Time." To see what I'm talking about, consult some video after the jump. More »
secret tape
Before Harvey's Greed, Resentment
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has always resented the fact that peers made more money than him with what he deemed to be inferior films. These days, he's obviously overcome this problem by milking reality shows for millions to prop up his more artsy products; but he couldn't always be so sanguine. Here we have a priceless and EXCLUSIVE classic from the archives: a recording of a phone call between Weinstein and Disney exec Joe Roth, taped shortly after Michael Ovitz—a spectacular failure as head of Disney—was paid more than $100 million to leave the company in 1996. Weinstein is galled beyond belief (and perhaps a bit envious). "Let's quit today!" he jokes. Why, he works his ass off and what does he get? A fucking lecture. "Joe, you're a success, so therefore you're a failure in this business," Weinstein complains. Then he insults his fellow moguls: "Between Peter Guber and Mike Ovitz and everybody who fucked up...Everybody got wealthy on failure." Weinstein just cares too much about the films, you see; "We have character flaws that must be overcome," he sighs. Thanks to Project Runway, he's done so. Click to listen to the titan of Hollywood in all his expletive-spitting glory.
reality tv
How Harvey Weinstein Squeezes Millions Out Of Project Runway
$8 million. Does that seem like a lot of money for a company to pay to have mediocre models use their hair products on a mediocre cable show for a few seasons? It kind of does. But that's how much The Weinstein Company, run by entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, is trying to squeeze out of L'Oreal for three seasons of sponsorship of Project Runway. Of course, Weinstein has a long history of pimping out the fashion reality show to every company on earth willing to pay a dime to be on it, using it as a profit machine to support his company's less sure-thing ventures. And he's still milking it for every cent. How do we know? Because he left all the evidence in a public trash can: More »
theater
Latest Show On Broadway: Harvey Weinstein In Other People's Money
Variety reports in typically sycophantic fashion that Harvey Weinstein will bring some of his greatest movie hits to Broadway—starting with Finding Neverland in 2010, followed by a stage version of Pink Floyd's The Wall, Shakespeare in Love, Chocolat, Cinema Paradiso, and Shall We Dance. Weinstein and his brother have "mega" TV plans too. The film producer's entertainment interests—which range from movies to reality television, online social networks, fashion and the theater—seems impressive both in breadth and the financial confidence they would indicate. But don't be fooled. More »
harvey weinstein
'From Now On I'm Going To Call You Fuckface'
Today's story about Harvey Weinstein's financial bind—which would explain why the film producer is even more obnoxious than usual—reminded a Gawker commenter of a story. An acquaintance of Cajunboy took an internship at Miramax when the Disney mini-studio was still run by the Weinstein brothers. The intern managed to avoid the legendarily monstrous boss—until one fateful day. More »
rumormonger
Is Harvey Weinstein On The Ropes?
The Weinstein brothers' strip-mining of Project Runway—the powerhouse fashion contest they own—is in keeping with the guiding principle they've stuck with since their heyday at Miramax. Harvey's critical successes were funded by profits from his brother's B-movies; and now the irascible film producer is milking reality television for the same purpose. Fine—except the Weinsteins' demands for payment from Marie Claire for the privilege of association with Project Runway (which we reported yesterday) are extreme even for them. And their motives may have less to do with greed and more with desperation. Hollywood insiders speculate the brothers' $1bn launch financing isn't as much of a buffer as it seems: the investment bank and other investors may pull some of the funds at the end of the year. More »
This Is Why We Can't Have Nostalgia
We hope you people are happy. Harvey Weinstein is going to ruin Fraggle Rock and it's all because you didn't elect Hillary Clinton. [Observer]
anger
Harvey Weinstein Threatens to Destroy Democratic Party Unless His Gal Hil Wins
Hollywood strongman Harvey Weinstein is a big supporter of Hillary Clinton, because they share a similar megalomania. Weinstein, who throws a great deal of showbiz money at Democrats and who is known for his Hulk-esque temper, reportedly called up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last month to threaten her unless the Dems handed his gal Hillary the nomination. Weinstein said he'd cut of all money to Dem congressional campaigns unless Pelosi backed the Clinton campaign's unfeasible plan to get the Dems to pay for brand new elections in Florida and Michigan. Weinsein has denied it all. Or at least he denied that it was a "threat." He owns up to calling Pelosi and "offering" "to put together a team of people to help finance a revote in Florida and Michigan." Then he threatened to eat the officials who leaked details of the call. Weinsein's owned up to a bad temper before, once telling Ken Auletta that it's the thing he dislikes most about himself. In fact, Weinstein's temper makes Weinstein so angry he feels like he's going to explode. An Entourage clip exploring this famous bad mood in a comedic style may be found after the jump. More »
feuds
Bravo Steals Project Runway Producers
Will cable network Lifetime ruin reality fashion television forever when it takes over Project Runway from Bravo later this year, de-snarking the show on behalf of overearnest spinsters and partnering with a third-tier fashion magazine? Bravo is working hard to make sure it doesn't have the chance. First it sued to stop the show from moving. Now Bravo owner NBC Universal has cut a deal with Runway's longtime executive producers for new shows. The deal would presumably enable Bravo to create something very similar to Runway if its lawsuit fails, assuming the poached producers never signed anything that would prevent a Runway copycat. In any case, the producers are definitely done with their old show. Reports the Wall Street Journal: More »
feuds
Project Runway Pimped Out By Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein is moving Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime because his company will now be making $1 million per episode rather than around $600,000 per episode, the Post reported. Understandable, even if some fans of the reality show may have to emigrate from their homelands to watch it. But what's kind of gross is how the media mogul exploited (and probably undermined) the show when it was at Bravo in order to earn more money for Wesintein Co.: More »
megalomaniacs
You Can Only Have Five Friends, Says Harvey Weinstein
It emerged in court papers that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein once said to NBC CEO Jeff Zucker, "You can only have in your life five true friends and I consider you one of my five friends. And I'm telling you, I will not embarrass you." Weinstein, of course, did go on to embarass Zucker by selling his show to another network, according to NBC's suit. But what's with this "five true friends" thing? More »
celebrity-industrial complex
Why Harvey Weinstein Thinks He Owns New York Media
After yesterday's story about a New York magazine critic apologizing to Harvey Weinstein, and the critic's suspect assertion that his apology was independent of the sharp-elbowed former Miramax chief, we heard from a well-placed media veteran who said Weinstein has long loved to brag about his ability to extract such concessions, and in fact about how he effectively owns New York media. It turns out the bragging is not entirely without reason. Said the tipster: "Name any media outlet and there is a 'best friend/recent connection that I [Weinstein] can call to kill stories/get a retraction' from." It didn't take a lot of digging to figure out what the source meant. A quick rundown of Weinstein's top-of-the-masthead connections: More »
apologies
