Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Woody Allen & The Weinsteins Ride Again



(image via indiewire)

Harvey Weinstein may be a vulgarian and a bit of a thug (Averted Gaze); and Harvey Weinstein may be sleazy and a tad creepy; but -- dammit! -- does he or does he not know how to surround himself with the right kind of cultural superheavyweights, offsetting his own fleshy Cro-Magnon brow and dragging knuckles.

Apparently this desire to be perceived by the world-at-large as having "kul-cha" has to do in a sort of Echt-Freudian way of wanting to impress his parents -- Mira+Max -- who, unlike Big Harv the Greasy, were actually intellectual. This is not entirely uncute, however. We almost forgive "Big Harv" for providing starring vehicles for Gwyneth Paltrow back-in-the-day (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). You do your thug-thing, Harvey Weinstein, you do that thug-thing. From Variety:

"The Weinstein Co. has acquired U.S., Australian, and New Zealand rights to Woody Allen's suspense drama 'Cassandra's Dream,' starring Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell and Tom Wilkinson .. Allen turned down a Cannes closing-night berth for the pic, which will likely make its debut at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

"While heading Miramax Films, Bob and Harvey Weinstein distributed Allen's 'Everyone Says I Love You,' 'Mighty Aphrodite,' 'Bullets Over Broadway' and 'Celebrity.' 'Cassandra's Dream' marks Allen's third pic to be set in London, after 'Scoop,' which Focus Features released to a $10.5 million Stateside gross, and DreamWorks' 'Match Point,' which topped out at $23 million in North America. 'Cassandra's Dream's' tragic tale of two brothers and their entangled relationships marks a return to a darker palette for the filmmaker.

"Harvey Weinstein is 'one of the only producers-distributors around who actually can see beyond the grosses and gets real pleasure out of presenting fine movies,' Allen said.'Woody Allen has once again poured his tremendous passion and talent into creating a very powerful and compelling drama,' Weinstein said."

We're not sure what happened next, but telling from the trajectory of those cinematical sweet nothings, it was probably a robust reach-around. (Variety)

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