Harvey Weinstein

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Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein at Cannes, 2002
Born March 19, 1952 (1952-03-19) (age 56)
Flushing, New York
Spouse(s) Eve Chilton (1986-2004)
Georgina Chapman (2007-)

Harvey Weinstein, CBE (Hon) (born March 19, 1952) is an American film producer and movie studio chairman.

Contents

[edit] Education and career

Born in Flushing, New York, Weinstein and his younger brother, Bob Weinstein, grew up in New York City, residing in a housing co-op named Electchester. He attended and graduated from John Bowne High School, and then the State University of New York at Buffalo. He currently lives in Westport, Connecticut.

Weinstein, along with his brother Bob Weinstein, and Corky Burger independently produced rock concerts as Harvey & Corky Productions in Buffalo through most of the 1970s. Both Weinstein brothers had grown up with a passion for movies and they nurtured a desire 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 called Miramax, named after their parents - Miriam and Max. The company's first releases were primarily music-oriented concert films such as Paul McCartney's Rockshow. In the early 1980s Miramax acquired the rights to two British films of benefit shows filmed for 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 US.

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's 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 the release of Adams and nationwide publicity for Miramax. The following year, their successful launch release of Steven Soderbergh's Sex, Lies, and Videotape propelled Miramax to become the most successful independent studio in America.

Also in 1989, Miramax released two art-house 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 their rating system and while his lawsuit was thrown out, the MPAA agreed to introduce the new NC-17 rating following this episode.

Miramax continued to grow its library of films and directors until, in 1993, after the success of The Crying Game, Disney offered Harvey and Bob $80 million for ownership of Miramax. Agreeing to the deal that would cement their Hollywood clout and ensure that they would remain at the head of their company, Miramax followed the next year with their first blockbuster, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction and the indie favorite Clerks by Kevin Smith.

1996 brought Miramax its first Best Picture Academy Award with the victory of The English Patient. This started a string of critical successes that included Shakespeare in Love and Good Will Hunting.

In 2000, Harvey Weinstein was bestowed an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters, from the State University of New York at Buffalo despite not completing his course of study there, having dropped out to form Miramax Films in 1979.

On March 29, 2005, it was announced that the Weinstein brothers would leave Miramax on September 30 to form their own production company, named The Weinstein Co. with several other media executives as well as, reportedly, directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez. The new studio immediately garnered Academy Award nominations for Transamerica and Mrs. Henderson Presents, and box office success through Hoodwinked and Scary Movie 4.

Weinstein was awarded an Honorary CBE in November 2004 for services to the British Film Industry. Many of his films, including Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient, were shot at least partially in British studios.

He serves on the board of the Robin Hood Foundation, a charitable organization which attempts to allieviate problems caused by poverty in New York City, New York.

In 2006, Weinstein acquired a stake in the exclusive Web community aSmallWorld, and a DVD distributor, Genius Products.

[edit] Criticism of Weinstein

While lauded for opening up the independent film market and making it financially viable, Weinstein has been lambasted for some of the techniques he has applied in his business dealings. He has been accused of purchasing some films solely to keep them off the market during the awards season.[citation needed] In Peter Biskind's book Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film, Weinstein is painted as a control freak, a slob, and a liar.[citation needed] The most specific criticisms have come from his purchases of Asian films including Shaolin Soccer and Hero. These films were huge critical successes in Asia and Hong Kong but languished on Miramax's shelves for years. Shaolin Soccer specifically was redubbed into English and the soundtrack was altered.

Another notable example cited by Biskind was The Quiet American, directed by Phillip Noyce. The film tested relatively well on September 10, 2001. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Weinstein held the film until testing it again on October. This time, the scores were much lower, possibly due to the critical tone of the film towards America's past foreign policy. Noyce delivered the finished film in May 2002, but was unable to get a response from Weinstein. He refused to screen the film at the Toronto International Film Festival until he was lobbied by star Michael Caine, who threatened to boycott publicity for another film he had made for Miramax. Still, there were no press screenings. The movie was released in November and closed after two weeks. Miramax also made little effort to promote the film before the Oscars. Despite this, Caine was still nominated for an Academy Award. (Biskind 2004, pp. 463-464.)

Weinstein's demands to trim films' running times—sometimes drastically—earned him the nickname "Harvey Scissorhands", after the Tim Burton film Edward Scissorhands.

In a 2002 piece in New York magazine, Weinstein appeared somewhat repentant for his often aggressive discussions with directors and producers. [1]

While Weinstein was head of Miramax, the company often produced controversial films. Priest told the story of a gay priest struggling with the problems of an inner-city parish. Dogma lampooned many aspects of Catholicism. The filmmakers, including Miramax and its parent company Disney, were heavily criticized for these films by some Catholics. Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 presented a detailed critique of the Bush Administration's response to the September 11 attacks, and generated much controversy. In the end, the latter two films were distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment.

In April 2008, Weinstein, a Clinton supporter, threatened to cut off contributions to congressional Democrats unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi embraced his plan to finance revotes in Florida and Michigan[1]. Weinstein also mentioned the possibility of some powerful Democrats defecting to John McCain if the Flordia and Michigan situations are not handled to Weinstein's satisfaction. Three officials familiar with the converstion say that Weinstein appeared determined to buy Clinton more time in her battle against Sen. Barack Obama by pushing for the revote. He tried to pressure Pelosi to back off her previous comments that superdelegates should support the candidate who's leading in pledged delegates in early June. Heated negative reaction followed despite Weinstein's defiant denials.

[edit] Personal life

In 2004, Weinstein divorced his wife of several years, Eve Chilton Weinstein. He is married to designer Georgina Chapman.

[edit] Trivia

Harvey Weinstein is parodied in the form of the character Harvey Weingard in the Entourage episodes "The Sundance Kids", "Malibooty", "Sorry, Harvey", and "The Cannes Kids", played by actor Maury Chaykin. In one episode, a character actually calls Weingard "Weinstein", and the directors either forgot to edit it, or deliberately left it in, in tribute to Weinstein. Also in the last episode of season four, Ari Gold makes a reference "wait till Harvey gets his scissors hands on it" in reference to Weinsteins nickname.

On hearing that Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein would try to cut animator Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to make it more marketable, one of Studio Ghibli's producers sent an authentic katana with a simple message: "No cuts".[2]

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] Executive Producer

This film, television, or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Producer

[edit] Director

[edit] References

  1. ^ CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Sources: Clinton supporter pressures Pelosi « - Blogs from CNN.com
  2. ^ Brooks, Xan. "A god among animators", The Guardian, 2005-09-14. Retrieved on 2007-05-23. "There is a rumour that when Harvey Weinstein was charged with handling the US release of Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki sent him a samurai sword in the post. Attached to the blade was a stark message: 'No cuts.' / The director chortles. 'Actually, my producer did that.'" 

[edit] External links

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