Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBEis an American film producer and film studio executive. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005. He won an Academy Award for producing Shakespeare in Love, and garnered seven Tony Awards for producing a variety of winning plays and musicals, including The Producers, Billy Elliot the Musical, and August: Osage County...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFilm Producer
Date of Birth19 March 1952
CityQueens, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I think audiences can deal with these mature themes.
All that self-control stuff, I tried all that stuff from analysts. I went everywhere to these guys, every kind of anger-management, psychologist, psychiatrist. 'Get rid of my temper, get rid of my temper.' And there was only one guy who just said, 'I don't think this is related to, uh, issues. I think there has got to be something wrong.'
People want to see big, escapist fare. They don't want to be challenged to think.
I think we do have our true, original stories that work. I can tell you that 'The King's Speech,' which we did, became a worldwide smash because people loved the personal story.
I must admit, even though I'm the product of two Jewish parents, I think the Irish temper got in there somewhere, so I'm going to check Mom's genealogy.
I think for us - the Weinstein name, the Miramax name - they've both become synonymous with brands. We have a real winning formula when it comes to championing a different kind of movie, and I think the audience trusts us.
Last year, when 'Black Swan,' 'True Grit' and 'King's Speech' all grossed over $100 million, it gave studios and independent financiers the confidence to make daring movies and not do the same old you-know-what.
It's hard to think of yourself as a brand, especially when I have four daughters who kick my butt early in the morning every day before I go to work.
I remember when I took Quentin Tarantino with me to a very private screening of the documentary 'Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,' which shows some of the legal irregularities of his case. I was involved by the film, and it was an amazing experience to see people weep at the end of it.
If an Internet company steals content, they shut it down. And let me tell you, Apple France, Yahoo France or Google France, none of them have gone out of business.
We've been able to access deals that under our former relationship with Disney - with tax advantages and strategic partners - that we just weren't able to do.
We didn't care if we were well-liked as long as the movies were good. We served the movie - that was our master at Miramax. In our second incarnation, the movie is still the master but we're getting the same results in more subtle ways.
I think I took my eye off the ball. From about 2005, 2006, 2007, I was out of it. I thought I could oversee movies and have it done for me, so to speak.
When people ask me what makes movies great, it's the material.