Defamer
adventures in moguldom
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Harvey Weinstein
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adventures in moguldom
wannabes
Introducing Andy Fiscella, Aspiring Hollywood Player: He's 'Major, Major,' Okay?
Meet Andy Fiscella. Andy owns the Lohan- and Dunst-infested Crown Bar, as well as the Dime and Winston’s. Andy’s likes include: brown corduroys, Brett Ratner, and knocking on wood for good luck. Andy’s dislikes include: Britney Spears, grade-school bullies, and anyone who would dare compare him to Troy Duffy. Which, of course, means he also dislikes us. You see, like Duffy, the rags-to-riches-to-rags former bartender who penned Boondock Saints only to wind up screwed over by Darth Weinstein, has an eerily similar trajectory as Andy — though Fiscella’s inevitable downfall still lies on the horizon. In a Metromix profile on the poor man’s Brent Bolthouse, we’re given the chance to dive inside of a “hot spot” club owner's mind grapes. And predictably, they’re rotten, sour, and likely to cause you to vomit. More »
power plays
Jealous Harvey Weinstein Stakes His Own Claim to 'Valkyrie' Debacle
Amid all of Tuesday's post-holiday hustle and bustle, we regrettably overlooked perhaps the most profound news item of the day: Harvey Weinstein indirectly hopped in the Valkyrie fray at Cannes by picking up US theatrical/DVD rights to Operation Valkyrie, a 2004 German retelling of the failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. It's the same film Tom Cruise and Bryan Singer made (or are making, with worse accents) only to see it bumped twice to a Feb. 2009 release-date Siberia by Cruise/UA's partners at MGM — oddly the same folks with whom The Weinstein Company shares its own distribution deal. Small world, eh? It gets even weirder — kind of. More »
cannes film festival
Today in Cannes Hell: Indy, Indy, Indy! (And Harvey and Woody)
The first-in-the-world hype accompanying Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull's premiere at Cannes appears to remain the only story of interest to most festivalgoers, with everything from live-blogs of the screening to more meditative reads ("I was bored out of my mind," writes Manohla Dargis) peppering the spectrum of feedback. Of course there's always Harvey Weinstein, who continues his Cannes dealings with impunity despite our corporate death sentence leveled last week. And people actually seem to like Woody Allen's latest! It's the '80s all over again!
fun and games
Play Along at Home with the Defamer Imploding Film Industry Scorecard
A range of problems persist this morning for movie distributors large and small, with the Weinsteins predictably suffering the karmic retribution for Fraggle Rock: The Movie and another round of threats, invective and spin making the rounds elsewhere. As such, we're spending a little time this morning cleaning up our Imploding Film Industry Scorecard. Tell us if your results vary:
THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY: Nikki Finke has spent the last two days trying to make something out of the Weinsteins reportedly falling two months behind on their residual payments to the Directors Guild of America. Gasp! Or something: An anonymous, "prominent Hollywood helmer" notified Finke that arbitration could start within "twenty days" if the matter isn't resolved. Harvey Weinstein himself followed up to say he knew nothing about it and that he was looking into the third party that handles the payments. The DGA itself acknowledged the delinquency Wednesday, and it didn't quite sound like the meltdown Finke was praying for:
More »
defamer resolutions
Resolution No. 3: Put The Weinstein Company to Death For Forthcoming 'Fraggle Rock' Film
WHEREAS, The Weinstein Company is a theatrical releasing venture co-owned by the brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein, and
WHEREAS, Fraggle Rock was a 1980s-era HBO children's television series developed and produced by the late Muppets creator Jim Henson, and
WHEREAS, The Weinstein Company reportedly will join the Jim Henson Co. in adapting Fraggle Rock as a feature film, and
WHEREAS, Fraggle Rock: The Series is a warmly remembered part of our generation's upbringings, and
WHEREAS, Fraggle Rock: The Movie marks the Weinsteins' latest contribution to a burgeoning family tradition that also includes the Satan-appeasing rehash of Short Circuit and sundry teen slasher films, and
More »
drama kings and queens
Drama At The Met: Wedding Rings Gone MIA, Honcho Snubs And Catfights Galore
Mixing two high-profile sects like A-list stars and fashionistas will inevitably result in a bit of drama, but at Monday night's Costume Institute Gala, drama took on a whole new meaning. Catfights! Divas! Public Displays Of Aggression! From Christina Ricci's early departure to Peacock King's Jeff Zucker's bitchy avoidance of Darth Weinstein on the red carpet, everyone's claws were out on Monday night. Adding fuel to the fire, one married actress decided to show up to the event sans wedding ring amid rumors of a pending divorce. All the details, including Jennifer Aniston's fling-of-the-week's comments on whether or not the whole mushy affair is for real, after the jump. More »
basic cable
Harvey Weinstein Evidently the Default Savior for Showtime
Beyond the boardroom squabbles and oneupsmanship following Paramount's recent break with Showtime, two basic questions remain: Who will actually broadcast the new Paramount Channel? (Answer: Nobody, of course!) And besides its original series like Weeds and Dexter, what will Showtime air once its output deals expire in 2011? Come on — when you think of "corporate rescue," don't you think of Harvey Weinstein? More »
weinstein woes
Jeff Zucker's Wife and Kids Nervous About Harvey Weinstein's 'Runway' Restitution
Some days we're so full of love for Harvey Weinstein that our weak, arrhythmic blogger hearts nearly explode. It was one thing last week when he brazenly moved Project Runway to Lifetime, pulling the rug out from a supposedly unwitting NBC. It was another thing entirely on Monday when Harvey rolled the rug up and started whacking NBC boss Jeff Zucker over the head with it: More »
weinstein woes
More Fallout For Controversy Magnet Harvey Weinstein As 'Runway' Heads To Lifetime
Spring 2008 hasn't been kind to Harvey Weinstein and his little production company. First, his close friend Anthony Minghella passed away (prompting a highly critical piece penned by New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein), then he butted heads with the Marley family over his planned biopic on the reggae singer, and now the portly producer finds himself at the center of NBC and Lifetime's battle for Project Runway. Moments after Lifetime announced their five-year $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co. to take over the helm of Bravo's signature show, Jeff Zucker and his peacocked lawyers immediately responded by suing Harvey and his goons for breach-of-contract. And insiders at NBC aren't keeping mum about their feelings towards the money-hungry Weinstein:
"Harvey hates us passionately, always did...He despises Bravo because he thinks we didn't pay him enough."More »
chinese democracy
World War Weinstein Ensues as Harvey Finds Film Scuttled by Chinese Government
When it rains, it pours for our beloved Harvey Weinstein, assailed on all sides by Star Wars geeks, wayward film critics and now the Chinese government, whose leery rebuke of Western cinema following the art-smut epic Lust, Caution resulted in yanked permits for his forthcoming John Cusack/Gong Li romance, Shanghai. The sudden change of heart after three months of pre-production provoked Harvey to exotically blow off some steam call an emergency scouting summit in the Far East:
Weinstein, who claims he has good relations with the Chinese government, has gone to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, which is where he decided to do the bulk of the filming, after 35 days of shooting interiors in Britain.More »
In a fairly unprecedented move for a film critic at a major publication, New York Magazine's David Edelstein issued an apology for his eulogy last week attributing late filmmaker Anthony Minghella's artistic slump to the meddling of his studio backer (and good friend) Harvey Weinstein. "I had decided to eat shit even before Harvey called," Edelstein wrote today. Wait — Harvey actually called? "Yes, he called — did you think he wouldn't?" Edelstein continued. "He was the soul of politeness, believe it or not. He said he cried for hours when he got the news. He said Minghella came to him with most of the projects. He said despite his 'Harvey Scissorhands' reputation, Minghella was not a man whose work you recut." Edelstein (who also noted Defamer's reaction at the time) later reaffirmed his right to give Harvey shit at a later time, to which we hear Weinstein recommended the Oct. 31 release date of Kevin Smith's latest, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. [NYM]
poison pens
'Fanboys' Second Director Courts Viewer Support With Profanity-Laced Love Letters
Our day just wouldn't feel complete without an update from the spittle-streaked slapfight surrounding Fanboys, the geek-world equivalent of a cuddly endangered panda being shepherded to its unwitting demise through the dark reaches of Harvey's Ye Olde Butchery and Movie Co. The pimpled purists still plan to boycott Friday's release of Superhero Movie if the Weinstein Company doesn't promise to leave Fanboys' critical cancer subplot intact, but a series of e-mail dialogues published Wednesday on /film indicates that Harvey's designated re-shooter, Steven Brill, has a thin skin that itches like crazy:Fanboy 1: You suck for re-cutting 'fanboys.' You really do.More »
Brill: U suck for e mailing me your bullshit whining. U r gonna like fanboys better because of me and then u can kiss my ass
critic's corner
'NY Mag' Critic Manages Impossible Task of Compelling Sympathy For Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein's tough week didn't get any easier today, with his Marley family squabbles and Star Wars-geek travails cycling back around this morning to the Anthony Minghella tragedy that started it all. Except that film critic David Edelstein had more than what you might call a moment of clarity in his New York Magazine blog entry slamming Harvey for the filmmaker's artistic demise:
Now that the shock of Anthony Minghella's sudden death has dissipated slightly, I think it's less unseemly to say that this brilliant and soulful filmmaker died unfulfilled. ... And I can't help thinking that what happened has something to do with someone whose name rhymes with Shmarvey Shmeinstein. ...More »
freaks and geeks
Darth Weinstein Relents, Geeks Stay Hungry as 'Fanboys' Saved From Hacky Death
After last weekend's flash of rebellion threatening to engulf parents' basements across America with smoldering dork rage, the Weinstein Company announced late Monday that it would in fact release the Star Wars-devotee dramedy Fanboys on DVD in both a cancer-subplot-free edit and the original, disease-of-the-geek version preferred by the angry fans at StopDarthWeinstein.com. But that's not enough for the fanboy offensive, who lashed out in protest yet again this morning:
This is clearly a vain attempt by the Weinstein Company to avert Star Wars fans' impending boycott of all of their films. Well, guess what? It's not going to work, Darth Weinstein!More »
get up stand up
Bob Marley's Family, 'Star Wars' Geeks Finally United in Loathing for Harvey Weinstein
Still reeling from the shock of close friend and colleague Anthony Minghella's sudden death last Tuesday, Harvey Weinstein's hope for a quiet week around the office was vanquished late Friday as resistance mounted for two of his company's upcoming projects. And you have to know that when you've made enemies of groups as diverse as Bob Marley's family and Star Wars fanboys, things really aren't going your way.More »
r.i.p.
Last Film Still Up In Air as Colleagues Remember Anthony Minghella
Details regarding director Anthony Minghella's sudden death early this morning are finally emerging, with the official cause of death now listed as a brain hemorrhage, which may have been a result of surgery he had several days ago to remove a growth in his neck. Harvey Weinstein, a longtime collaborator of Minghella's who distributed all five of his theatrical features in the States (ultimately handling his final film, No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, as a TV pilot with HBO and the BBC), issued a poignant remembrance to Variety:More »
weinstein watch
Weinsteins Set New Standard for DVD Oblivion
With interests including Halston, A Small World and, well, the Weinstein Company, the post-Miramax Weinstein brothers have proven their uncanny ability to diversify, crash and burn as well as any moguls this side of Charles Keating. No reversal of fortune is complete, however, without a boutique DVD label and a few classics freshly extracted from Harvey Weinstein's TiVo:
The Miriam Collection, named after the brothers' mother, launched in late January with the release of one of the last great epics not previously available on DVD, Anthony Mann's El Cid.More »
