Weinsteins step down as Miramax CEOs

also indicative of those men's tolerance of assholes with power

I'm not defending him, but QT's career would've been over (or at the very least radically different/diminished) if he tried to buck his major benefactor. Weinstein's industry power was basically hush money for people like QT.

and yeah obviously people like QT ultimately weighed getting to make their movies the way they wanted to as being worth more than their coworkers/employees/significant others' safety

otm

frankly I think Tarantino comes off about as well as he possibly could in that piece, given his own admitted culpability

I dunno. Weinstein was no doubt instrumental in turning Tarantino into a star director, but he became a star pretty early on. Basically, after Pulp Fiction he could have got anyone to produce his films, he was probably just more comfortable continuing with Weinstein. There weren't too many people who could have challenged Weinstein without paying much of a price, but I'd say Tarantino was one of them.

there is so much dodgy shit in Tarantino's films that other studios/producers would have balked at

not to mention ridiculous money-losing schemes like 70mm roadshows and grindhouse double feature tours

Is it an honest apology though? He really only heard about Weinstein's bad behavior secondhand? They collaborated for over two decades.

what would firsthand be? witnessing it? participating in it?

He says "It wasn’t secondhand".

Hateful 8 made 100 million over production budget, 70mm screenings sold well and got the film twice the publicity it would have otherwise

Printing the programmes for each territory probably cut into things, but that's on the local distributors/exhibitors, not Weinstein Co

xpost

Past Tarantino interviews and books have suggested he found Harvey's publicly-known behaviour personally disturbing, but that nobody fought harder to get them, which indicates how hard he'd fight to sell them.

(This could back up Shakey's perception of Grindhouse as a boondoggle, being a Bob joint)

there is so much dodgy shit in Tarantino's films that other studios/producers would have balked at

not to mention ridiculous money-losing schemes like 70mm roadshows and grindhouse double feature tours

no argument there

w/out Weinstein we might've been spared Q's career

o brave new world

Maybe I'm just old/jaded/grumpy but I've come to think art is overvalued when it's weighed against this level of victimization. I don't even like Tarantino, but even if it was someone I liked I'd trade their whole body of work to end systemic rape and molestation.

That sounds kind of duh now that I read it back.

Someone's films? Sure. Think the entire system's morally corrupt anyway, predatory men becoming (consciously or unconciously (though the latter's a bit generous, we're not talking paedophilia)) directors/producers due to access to beautiful young (and ever younger, since they control so much casting) women, etc.

in many cases we ARE talking about paedophilia

I dunno. Weinstein was no doubt instrumental in turning Tarantino into a star director, but he became a star pretty early on. Basically, after Pulp Fiction he could have got anyone to produce his films, he was probably just more comfortable continuing with Weinstein. There weren't too many people who could have challenged Weinstein without paying much of a price, but I'd say Tarantino was one of them.

― Zelda Zonk, Thursday, October 19, 2017 6:49 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he could've easily become a flash in the pan after Pulp Fiction. i can totally see him being the Michael Cimino of the 90s in another universe. i mean i think he could've done Jackie Brown with another studio, but probably not Kill Bill. not excusing it of course but the Weinsteins could and did destroy lives and careers over this shit. QT along with many others stayed silent to avoid that personal destruction, moreso than any allegiance to Harvey & Bob.

the USA is built on slavery and genocide

behind every great fortune/nation/industry lies a crime

or as Jerry Lewis said of '50s Vegas, "THOSE GUYS knew how to run this town."

To be honest Tarantino also stayed at Miramax because the entire industry is rife with misogynistic, controlling assholes and at least Harvey was in his corner. There are worse out there and I guess QT was comfortable living with the kind of harassment he alluded to as “chasing the secretary around the desk,” as opposed to options he considered worse (either professionally or ethically).

It’s telling how few A-list male directors/producers have spoken openly and in an enlightened way about this, I think. Lots of skeletons being buried deep in lots of closets, shirts thrown over the top, and the Academy’s general kicking-out saving a lot of top-shelf talent from having to make hypocritical comments that might draw the bead on their own NDAs.

The most telling thing to me in Tarantino's comments was the reference to the "boss chasing the secretary around the desk," which he then immediately acknowledged was not OK as a trope. It speaks to how engrained all of this is in the culture, it's been the stuff of jokes and gags and knowing invocations of the "casting couch" for decades. That doesn't excuse anybody, but there is a whole sense of a bunch of people suddenly going, "Oh, wait ... this thing we're all used to is actually terrible."

similar to Woody Allen's "the guy winking in the office," but he's almost 30 years older

Tipsy OTM, that's what I was getting at upthread as well.

Lupita Nyongo’s story...infuriating...hallelujah for these women tho seriously

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/opinion/lupita-nyongo-harvey-weinstein.html

if there was a tarantino type who did stand up to him, would we know who he is now?

as i recall, kate beckinsale said one of her male friends, an actor, did stand up to him, and was essentially blackballed

i 1000% agree men need to stand up more just across the board, and recognize their complicity when they dont. i also think there's something inherent in the system that makes it so both men and women are discouraged from doing so. It breaks your heart to read an almost *guilty* feeling in Lupita Nyongo's essay, like she's lamenting she didn't do more about it.

but yeah I mean the system is set up so that powerful people can do what they want, capitalism is a ponzi scheme for effectively channeling sociopaths in the hopes theyre at least economically productive while being sociopathic monsters right

all roads lead to the end of the world

I was thinking about what made this takedown of a powerful predator successful, and I think one thing is having a number of women's stories all go public at the same time. That's makes it undeniable. It's sort of unfortunate because you won't always have that, but there's probably a lesson there in going after habitual predators.

To be honest Tarantino also stayed at Miramax because the entire industry is rife with misogynistic, controlling assholes and at least Harvey was in his corner.

See also: Don Simpson.

I thought I liked Miramax more than I do. Aside from a few pretty Oscar-bait films (The English Patient, The Wings of the Dove, Malèna), I could easily live without the catalogue.

the system is set up so that powerful people can do what they want, capitalism is a ponzi scheme for effectively channeling sociopaths in the hopes theyre at least economically productive while being sociopathic monsters right

ding ding ding

"Oh, wait ... this thing we're all used to is actually terrible."

women have been saying this is terrible and no one has taken them seriously until now
if this is the dawn of a new age in which people believe women, i'll feel like it's a net win for society

Even for me as someone with relatively feminist parents I feel a consciousness shift happening in myself.

hot

women have been saying this is terrible and no one has taken them seriously until now
if this is the dawn of a new age in which people believe women, i'll feel like it's a net win for society

Yes. Let's hope. And by "a bunch of people" I mostly meant a bunch of men, although I think women have been acculturated in a lot of the same ways, to accept that "that's just the way things are." So the awakening there is maybe less "Oh, this is terrible" than "Oh, we can do something about this?"

yeah -- i recommend men watch out for their usage of "we"
it's frequently unclear who "we" are

"what do you mean we, white man?"

NY Post's Page Six:

Weinstein is currently in Arizona for sex addiction treatment; a source tells the Post, "In one group therapy session, Harvey arrived 15 minutes late. Then, when it was his turn to speak, he launched into a speech about how this is all a conspiracy against him... Harvey fell asleep in his chair [during others' personal stories]. He was only woken up by the ringing of his smuggled mobile phone [which is banned at the facility] ... Harvey jolted awake, jumped up, immediately took the call and then ran out of the room."

1) "sex addiction" um yeah no, you're a fucking predator
2) what the fuck is wrong with people spying on therapy groups, fuck this fucking world

oh it was probably one of the attendees. fuck people.

i guess i probably would've blabbed

he does seem pretty special even within the field of multi-millionaire egotist sexual abusers

I'm currently in treatment for my addiction to lighting matches. You're welcome, people whose houses I torched. You're welcome.

is like 'sex addiction' like "addiction to popsicles"

yea wtf i would've blabbed too if dude ruined my group therapy session

group therapy with a Famous Person would be the worst ever