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Academy Profile
HANDSACROSS THEATLANTIC
Miramax – named after their parents – was founded more than 20 years ago by New Yorker Harvey Weinstein and his younger brother, Bob. After several years as a hustling distributor mostly picking up independent product on the internation- al film festival circuit, the streetwise boys turned archetypally hustling pro- ducers. One of their earliest credits was on Palace Picture’s Scandal. Since then – and even more substantially since Miramax’s acquisition by Disney in 1994 – they have had a continuing and often fertile Oscar and BAFTA award-winning association with British filmmakers and UK-based production: Restoration, The English Patient, The Wings Of The Dove, Little Voice, Shakespeare In Love, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Chocolat, Iris... to name but a few.
Famously tough and single-minded – euphemisms for bullying and interfer- ing, some might suggest – the Weinsteins have had their fair share of critics down the years. One veteran writer-director recently accused Miramax publicly of lacking “any sense of responsibility,” adding, “they’d make a film about anything if they thought it would make some money for them.” Burly and gravel-voiced, Harvey – who from his company offices six blocks from the attack on September 11 helped spearhead the local response first with hot meals then later on by organising The Concert For New York – is the pub- lic face of Miramax. In London recently to pick up FilmFour’s Special Jury prize at the British Independent Film Awards, he shared a revealing Q & A with Quentin Falk.
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Q Can you explain your “special rela- tionship” with the British film industry?
A There’s such a rich literary tradi- tion here. I’ll risk the anger of the Americans by saying that the British scripts I tend to read are superior... Take Shakespeare In Love by Tom Stoppard, or Iris. I’m doing a movie now, Dirty Pretty Things, with Stephen Frears. They take me into another world. When I was a kid, I was sick for six months and I did a lot of reading. These films remind me of those literary roots. Yes, you’ve just got the best writing here.
Q Without the “Miramax connection”, what would be the international profile of the British industry?
A I am happy with whatever part I might have played in it, though I’m sure everything would have been just fine without us. The fact is there are so many good companies here that need encouragement. Your press is tougher than ours. It should be a little more experimental and encourage British films, and the public should celebrate British films as their own entity. I did it with Enigma. I wasn’t distributing it anywhere else in the world but I knew it needed a distributor here and I took the mission on because I had three dear friends involved in the production. I just sold the ‘Britishness’ of the movie. Lo and behold, it worked.
Q Your brother Bob is specifically con- cerned with Dimension Films [the genre arm of the company behind the Scream and Scary Movie series]. What is your role and what is the current status of Miramax?
A We both make the major decisions. Bob created Dimension and he’s having a good time with it because the movies are wildly successful. But I generally look after the Miramax label, which tends to be a little more artistic, a little more challenging. After 20 years we finally built some offices where we have bathrooms for some of our executives, including me and Bob. We keep the independent spirit and our deal with Disney is such that we make all the decisions. We don’t report to anyone anymore. So it’s just our own island, our oasis. We do what we want.
Q Does the idea of running a proper studio remain a lure? Say, Disney?
A (laughs) If there was right oppor- tunity. Every time I get a offer to run a studio I think I already have the best job. I’m always tempted, though. I’ve said to Michael [Eisner, Disney chair- man], ‘Let me do it for a year...’ and Michael says, ‘ I’m not going to let you do it at all.’ I’m always up for it. It’s not a financial thing, it’s just the idea of doing it.
Q Did September 11 change Miramax?
A We screened Serendipity in Toronto two days after the 11th and people got weirded-out when they saw the World Trade Center in the movie so we had to take away the prints and digitally remove the twin towers. The Center was also in my logo at the opening of the movies. My staff unanimously out- voted me – I was only dissenter because I wanted to be defiant – and said that there was “no f****** way” we could keep that logo. They said that nobody would want to start a movie
that way, that when we’re in a theatre we want to start a movie with a blank slate and don’t want any reminder. They’re right – probably.
Q ...and how about the choice of future material?
A It’s the wrong time for ultra violent movies and for political movies. If you go into a movie theatre right now, you want to go into another world – in our country, at least. That doesn’t mean