The New Yorker, December 16, 2002 P. 64
ANNALS OF COMMUNICATIONS about movie producer Harvey Weinstein... On most days, Weinstein arrives at Miramax’s office, on Greenwich Street, in Tribeca, before 10 A.M. He’s driven in a black Mercedes, which has four phones and visors that flip down to become small movie screens; associates refer to the car as the Batmobile. Weinstein’s office, which his wife recently remodelled, has exposed-brick walls, and everything in it seems too small for the large man who occupies it... Describes a running fight between Weinstein and the director of "The Hours" over various aspects of the Virginia Woolf adaptation, and quotes a diffident Martin Scorsese on Weinstein’s production role in the upcoming "Gangs of New York"... Today, using an Avid video-editing machine, a studio can easily create alternative versions of a film. At Miramax, Scott Martin supervises a team of three people who prepare post-production prints of each film and sometimes produce, under Weinstein’s direction, an edited version of the film; when there are differences between the director and Miramax, Weinstein often shows the Miramax version to the director. Because Weinstein immerses himself so deeply in the work of filmmakers, he’s been called Harvey Scissorhands... Describes the history of the company, which the brothers formed in 1979... "You could buy a small movie in Europe for fifty thousand dollars, and, if that hit, you bought more." In 1982 the company released the film, "The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball"... . The film was Miramax’s first hit-and, for several years, its last... In the spring of 1993, the brothers sold Miramax to Disney, for between sixty and eighty million dollars (the higher figure if Miramax met certain financial thresholds). Miramax and the Weinsteins got financial security; Disney got the Miramax film library-which now includes approximately five hundred films... Disney money also permitted Bob Weinstein to launch Dimension Films, a division devoted to the revenue-producing horror- and teen-movie market. Bob succeeded brilliantly at making money for Dimension, even if he wasn’t developing the kinds of distinctive films that Miramax had pledged to make... Weinstein may quarrel with producers and directors, but he pampers actors. "Harvey has a more old-fashioned approach to relationships with movie stars," Gwyneth Paltrow told writer. Paltrow has made seven movies for Miramax since Weinstein cast her in "The Pallbearer," when she was twenty-two, and then in her first starring role, in "Emma." Even when she does a movie for another studio, he treats Paltrow, whom he calls "the First Lady of Miramax," like family and congratulates her on good reviews or box-office results... Weinstein tries to treat media profiles, including this one, as if they were a Miramax movie and he were the producer... Tells about Weinstein’s successful end to the 90s and his Talk magazine debacle... "I always thought it would be cool to have a magazine," Weinstein said. "I’m a magazine and book junkie. I don’t know that Harry Cohn read magazines!" (He expressed hurt to writer when compared to that famously abusive Hollywood producer.) Mentions a verbal fracas with Graydon Carter of "Vanity Fair" which ended outside an L.A. restaurant with Weinstein shifting mood and putting his arm around Carter... Tells about his recent political activities, which he admits may have cost him focus on the movie business... Miramax was shut out at the 2000 Oscars... There was also evidence of business friction between Bob and Harvey. Writer compares Weinstein to Michael Ovitz before a similar fall from grace...
