Also in Thursday afternoon’s news round up, Peter Bogdanovich will direct John Ledger , Locarno Film Festival will fete Johnnie To and Harvey Weinstein and Donald Sutherland take honors at a Paris festival. Tom Sizemore Set to Star in John Ledger Peter Bogdanovich ( Paper Moon will direct Sizemore ( Saving Private Ryan ) in the titular role. The story revolves around “one man’s descent into sex addiction and how it affects his family and friends. John Ledger is a 45-year-old, Southern Californian car salesman, who chases the demon of sex addiction while trying to maintain a normal life with wife, Mary and their teenage son, Brian.“ Johnnie To to Receive Locarno Fete Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To ( Breaking News will receive the “Pardo all carriera” award “for his exceptional contribution to cinema as a director and producer” at the Locarno Film Festival, taking place in the Swiss lakeside town August 1 – 11. The festival will also screen the European premiere of his latest production, Motorway directed by Soi Cheang in addition to a retrospective of a number of his past films. Around the ‘net… Maggie Gyllenhaal Boards White House Down Gyllenhaal will play the female lead in the thriller directed by Roland Emmerich. In the film Channing Tatum plays a secret service agent trying to stop a takeover of the presidential mansion. Jamie Foxx will play the U.S. president, Deadline reports . Harvey Weinstein, Donald Sutherland and Michael Madsen Join 1st Champs Elysees Film Festival Weinstein will receive a tribute at the Paris event, while Sutherland will be feted with a French award and a screening of Klute . The event is part of a strategy to “create a bridge between the independent American and French film industries,” SydneysBuzz reports from the event. MPAA Chief Chris Dodd Seeks Silicon Valley Piracy Support – Again The former senator is calling on Hollywood and Silicon Valley to work together on piracy after the latter helped kill anti-piracy legislation last year. Dodd wrote in a Huffington Post blog, “”It’s discouraging to hear Google executives say they ‘have done as much as they possibly can’ when in fact the theft of American products around the world is rampant – and often facilitated by their search engine,” Variety reports .
For the 14th consecutive year, the folks at Time Magazine have once again passed me over when considering their annual roster of the world’s 100 Most Influential People . Heretics! So be it — even an incomplete list is worth visiting judgment upon. Let’s check out (and rank, naturally) the film personalities included this year. And to my publicist: You’re fired! 10. Chelsea Handler * 9. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy 8. Asghar Farhadi 7. Claire Danes 6. Jessica Chastain 5. Viola Davis 4. Kristen Wiig 3. Louis C.K. 2. Tilda Swinton 1. Harvey Weinstein As for the rest of the list? I defer to Harvey . *: As long as Chelsea Handler makes terrible ethnic jokes at mainstream movie junkets, she will be a film personality. And the least-influential to boot. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
So did all that MPAA ratings nonsense and media outcry pay off for Bully ? What do you think? Lee Hirsch ‘s film achieved the year’s best documentary opening to date with $115,000 on five screens in New York and Los Angeles — a $23,000-per-theater average that amounted to the best of the week by nearly $10,000 over The Hunger Games . But now that The Weinstein Company has to take its unrated baby out of the doc-friendly megamarkets and into the mainstream wilds, a new report suggests that Harvey Weinstein may be preparing to make the cuts required for a PG-13. Surprise! Per the LAT : The new cut of the teen-bullying film, which would minimize in some manner the profanities featured in a controversial schoolbus scene, would hit theaters April 13, when the movie widens to 25 markets, and allow children of any age to see it without adult accompaniment. The film, which centers on five families affected by teen bullying, plays in limited release in Los Angeles and New York this weekend. The Weinstein Co. denied that changes were being made now but allowed for the possibility in the coming weeks. “At this time, there are no plans to change the film for a PG-13,” Stephen Bruno, the company’s head of marketing, told 24 Frames on Friday. “We are in constant conversation with the MPAA and hope a compromise can be reached.” The MPAA has been steadfast that the existing cut wll not be given anything lower than an R. Hmm. Where have we seen this before? Oh, right . Also from the LAT : “I did that on The King’s Speech , and Colin and Tom killed me for it,” Weinstein said, referring to a new PG-13 cut for the 2011 Oscar winner, and to star Colin Firth and director Tom Hooper’s criticism of the move. That was another April gambit, for the record — after the R-rated Speech was already out of theaters with $134 million in its pocket. A little more than two months and $3 million later , kids didn’t want to see that either. Anyway, if you need any more evidence that all this “controversy” is just another hustle, then I can’t help you. [ LAT ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It has come to this for “unaccompanied” teenagers desperate to see the unrated Bully : “An AMC spokesman said it will indeed allow that, but only if the child presents a signed permission slip from a parent, either via a form letter made available by the theater or an improvised note on a standard piece of paper. The move is an apparent attempt to support the film — AMC executive Gerry Lopez has two teenagers and has been vocal about its importance — while still paying deference to the Motion Picture Assn. of America and its ratings system.” Related: Is Harvey Weinstein just recycling tricks from his Kids playbook ? [ LAT ]
Their five-time Oscar winner The Artist may have just experienced its most lucrative weekend at the box office to date, but newly installed Legionnaire of Honor Harvey Weinstein and his Weinstein Co. minions remain firmly focused today on the Great Bully Ratings Non-troversy of 2012 . How do we know? To Twitter, where #BullyMovie is this morning’s highest-ranking (promoted, ahem) trending topic. Here’s the official shout-out from the Bully gang, carrying over last week’s ” human rights ” crusade to get the Weinstein release’s R-rating reduced to a PG-13. Wildfire petition to tell the @ MPAA to give @ bullymovie a PG-13 breaks 180,000 RT to keep the fire! bit.ly/AbQWZ1 #bullymovie — Bully Movie(@bullymovie) March 2, 2012 So how’s the response? Mostly positive, naturally, with a few contrarian opinions and hilarious misunderstandings thrown in for good measure: #BullyMovie needs to be PG13. #MiddleFingerUp to the bullies at the MPAA who rated this important film R. — Extrovert (@RamiTime) March 5, 2012 I’m curious about #BullyMovie . Does it only look at the victims?Because the bullies themselves are almost always victims of bullies as well. — Scott S Kramer (@scottskramer) March 5, 2012 If @ WeinsteinFilms cannot change the R rating to #BullyMovie then no one can. Seriously, they made “The Artist” won best picture. — Natalia Cariaga (@natajunk) March 5, 2012 Sorry guys, but this #BullyMovie isn’t going to stop bullying any more than “Roots” and “The Color Purple” stopped racism. — FTKL Images (@FTKL) March 5, 2012 #BullyMovie Mean Girls — Erica Mabrey (@adagewhentola67) March 5, 2012 #BullyMovie Precious! — Aidan DeVaughn (@adm1022) March 5, 2012 kind of a #BullyMovie The Little Rascals its the best, back in the day ! — Julian Bolton (@SupermanJr35) March 5, 2012 Harry Potter and the chamber of First Years. #bullymovie — All was well (@iManageMischief) March 5, 2012 Harvey’s secret weapon? What else? @ KhloeKardashian calls @ BULLYMOVIE trailer “heartbreaking” – WATCH THE #BULLYMOVIE TRAILER: bit.ly/znJ8C0 — Bully Movie(@bullymovie) March 5, 2012 What a grotesque fucking circus. Knowledge is power! Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Their five-time Oscar winner The Artist may have just experienced its most lucrative weekend at the box office to date, but newly installed Legionnaire of Honor Harvey Weinstein and his Weinstein Co. minions remain firmly focused today on the Great Bully Ratings Non-troversy of 2012 . How do we know? To Twitter, where #BullyMovie is this morning’s highest-ranking (promoted, ahem) trending topic. Here’s the official shout-out from the Bully gang, carrying over last week’s ” human rights ” crusade to get the Weinstein release’s R-rating reduced to a PG-13. Wildfire petition to tell the @ MPAA to give @ bullymovie a PG-13 breaks 180,000 RT to keep the fire! bit.ly/AbQWZ1 #bullymovie — Bully Movie(@bullymovie) March 2, 2012 So how’s the response? Mostly positive, naturally, with a few contrarian opinions and hilarious misunderstandings thrown in for good measure: #BullyMovie needs to be PG13. #MiddleFingerUp to the bullies at the MPAA who rated this important film R. — Extrovert (@RamiTime) March 5, 2012 I’m curious about #BullyMovie . Does it only look at the victims?Because the bullies themselves are almost always victims of bullies as well. — Scott S Kramer (@scottskramer) March 5, 2012 If @ WeinsteinFilms cannot change the R rating to #BullyMovie then no one can. Seriously, they made “The Artist” won best picture. — Natalia Cariaga (@natajunk) March 5, 2012 Sorry guys, but this #BullyMovie isn’t going to stop bullying any more than “Roots” and “The Color Purple” stopped racism. — FTKL Images (@FTKL) March 5, 2012 #BullyMovie Mean Girls — Erica Mabrey (@adagewhentola67) March 5, 2012 #BullyMovie Precious! — Aidan DeVaughn (@adm1022) March 5, 2012 kind of a #BullyMovie The Little Rascals its the best, back in the day ! — Julian Bolton (@SupermanJr35) March 5, 2012 Harry Potter and the chamber of First Years. #bullymovie — All was well (@iManageMischief) March 5, 2012 Harvey’s secret weapon? What else? @ KhloeKardashian calls @ BULLYMOVIE trailer “heartbreaking” – WATCH THE #BULLYMOVIE TRAILER: bit.ly/znJ8C0 — Bully Movie(@bullymovie) March 5, 2012 What a grotesque fucking circus. Knowledge is power! Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
This just in: “French President Nicolas Sarkozy has named Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company (TWC), a recipient of the 2012 Légion d’Honneur, in recognition of Weinstein’s contributions to cinema and his decades of work producing some of the most highly regarded films of our time.” And those are just the ones on his shelf ! Read on for the full release. Seriously, though: How else would you expect Harvey Week to end? You didn’t think that the guy who acknowledges he was introduced to foreign film because he thought The 400 Blows was porn was just gonna let all that French post-Oscar goodwill get away, did you? Sigh. Anyway, this happened. Congrats, Harvey. Will raise a glass or 70. ====== Paris, France – March 2, 2012 – French President Nicolas Sarkozy has named Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company (TWC), a recipient of the 2012 Légion d’Honneur, in recognition of Weinstein’s contributions to cinema and his decades of work producing some of the most highly regarded films of our time. Weinstein was nominated personally by President Sarkozy on July 22, 2011 and will receive the award in a ceremony to take place in Paris. President Sarkozy wrote the following upon nominating Weinstein to the Légion d’Honneur: “This prestigious distinction, which I wanted to come from my personal allocation, is a testimony of the admiration of millions of French citizens for the exceptional quality of the films that you have produced. It also expresses our gratitude to someone who has always shown great friendship towards our country and our cinema which you have enabled so many Americans to discover.” Said Weinstein, “I am honored and humbled by this recognition from President Sarkozy and the people of France. All my life, I have loved and been inspired by French cinema. I am still the young boy who walked two miles to The Mayfair movie theater in Flushing, NY to see films by the greats – Lelouch, Godard, Renoir and my personal favorite François Truffaut. They inspired me and led me to the place I am in today. I hope to continue my friendship with France and its filmmakers for many years to come.” France’s oldest and highest distinction, the Légion d’Honneur was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802 and is awarded to outstanding individuals who have contributed to France and to the ideals it upholds. Past recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Marlene Dietrich, Akira Kurosawa, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, Satyajit Ray, and Steven Spielberg to name just a few. Weinstein requested to keep the honor private until now to avoid any conflict of interest with Academy Award® Best Picture winner THE ARTIST. Weinstein will enter the Légion d’Honneur with the grade of “Chevalier.” Weinstein has been bringing interesting and cutting edge independent films to audiences for three decades, first as founder and Chairman of Miramax from 1979-2005, and subsequently as founder and Co-Chairman of TWC, launched in 2005. In spring 2011, he acquired Michel Hazanavicius’s THE ARTIST, a French production that went on to win five 2012 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Over the years, the cultural impact of some of his most well known films – PULP FICTION, GANGS OF NEW YORK, THE AVIATOR, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, THE PIANO, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, GOOD WILL HUNTING – has been recognized and awarded on many levels. Weinstein has been responsible for the distribution and promotion of more than 30 French films in the United States, including previously released EDITH AND MARCEL (EDITH ET MARCEL, 1983); DELICATESSEN (1991); THREE COLORS: BLUE (TROIS COULEURS: BLEU, 1993); THREE COLORS: RED (TROIS COULEURS: ROUGE, 1994); THREE COLORS: WHITE (TROIS COULEURS: BIALY, 1994); AMÉLIE (2001); LE CONCERT (2009); SARAH’S KEY (ELLE S’APPELAIT SARAH, 2010); and upcoming releases including box office sensation THE INTOUCHABLES (UNTOUCHABLES, 2011); A GANG STORY (LES LYONNAIS, 2012); WAR OF THE BUTTONS (LA NOVELLE GUERRE DES BOUTONS, 2012); and PLAYERS (LES INFIDELES, 2012). LETTER TO HARVEY WEINSTEIN FROM PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY July 22, 2011 Dear Mr. Weinstein, I have great pleasure of informing you that I have signed a decree which nominates you to the order of the Legion D’Honneur. This prestigious distinction, which I wanted to come from my personal allocation, is a testimony of the admiration of millions of French citizens for the exceptional quality of the films that you have produced. It also expresses our gratitude to someone who has always shown great friendship towards our country and our cinema, which you have enabled so many Americans to discover. I would like to express my personal congratulations for the well deserved distinction which France has bestowed on you. Yours sincerely, Nicolas Sarkozy ###
What week for Harvey Weinstein: Win a truckload of Oscars on Sunday, re-up on a PR war with the MPAA on Tuesday, and then today — as his company’s other notable French import Intouchables prepares for its U.S. premiere in New York City — start a trans-Atlantic flame war with France’s most infamously racist old coot. It’s like Linsanity, but for Hollywood megalomaniacs! Weinsanity! And there’s more . First though, here’s the notorious, ultra-conservative French nationalist and political firebrand asshole Jean-Marie Le Pen weighing in on Intouchables , the blockbuster buddy flick about (per a Weinstein Co. statement) “a wealthy, physically disabled risk taker, the picture of established French nobility, who lost his wife in an accident and whose world is turned upside down when he hires a young, good-humored, black Muslim ex-con as his caretaker.” I don’t know how one exclaims, ” Say whaaaa? ” in French, but it probably sounds something like this: That aforementioned Weinstein Company statement translates: “France is like this handicapped person stuck in this wheelchair, and we are going to have to wait for the help of these suburb youngsters and the immigration in general. I don’t subscribe to this point of view. It’s a movie, a novel. And we have to take it that way and not like an example for the future. It would be a disaster if France would find itself in the same situation as this poor handicapped person.” On the one hand, this is just Le Pen being Le Pen. Big deal. On the other, check out Harvey being Harvey — i.e. waiting a full month after the interview aired (he acquired Intouchables ‘ distribution and English-language remake rights last summer) to lay into the easiest, fattest target imaginable on his film’s behalf: “It’s not a surprise to hear such an intolerant statement from the man who founded and was president of the extreme-right, xenophobic, racist National Front party. Le Pen made a repulsive statement, representing a bigoted world view. And right now, Jean-Marie’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, is running for president of France as the leader of the National Front party — and she is fourth in the polls with almost 16% of the population intending to vote for her. That’s frightening to me, and I think it’s important to speak up and speak out against Le Pen and his ideas. That’s why I’m proud to bring THE INTOUCHABLES to American audiences. This movie is based on a true story, and it’s a funny, extremely entertaining illustration of how simple human connection trounces socioeconomic, religious and racial divides.” Perfect . Did I mention Intouchables premieres this evening as the Opening Night film of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Rendez-Vous with French Cinema series and opens May 25 in limited release? Ahem. Meanwhile, all of Harvey’s recent protesting-too-much has received one of its most devastating rebuttals to date from Mark Lipsky, the former indie exec turned filmmaker who got his start in the Weinsteins’ Miramax regime. That experience yielded today’s extraordinary takedown at indieWIRE , where Lipsky further exposed Harvey’s hypocritical, gratuitously self-serving and exploitative handling of his documentary Bully : I hate bullying and always have. I also have an abiding contempt for hypocrisy. If Harvey has, in fact, reformed, he needs to come out and say so publicly. He needs to own his past behavior, admit to his addiction – bullying is an addiction, after all, both to power and dominance – and pledge to never bully anyone again. If he’s looking for ink and controversy (and he certainly is) there’s no more honest or powerful way for him and the film to get it. Harvey, you have a rare opportunity with Bully to actually move the needle and leave the world a better place. I believe that you’d like to see bullying stop. I believe that you “want every child, parent, and educator in America to see “Bully,” and not just for the boxoffice. So get up on that incredibly high horse of yours and use that bully pulpit to assure children, parents and educators everywhere that if you can reform, anyone can. Light a fire, Harvey, for every kid that’s ever bullied someone and for every parent who taught them how. Ouch. Your move, Harvey. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
It’s only taken a few years, but the success of director Daniel Espinosa’s Safe House means that Harvey Weinstein is finally ready to let the filmmaker’s Swedish-language hit Easy Money — née Snabba Cash — off his shelf on July 27. The distributor cited the eventual Stateside publication of the film’s source novel (as opposed to Safe House ‘s $83 million-and-counting domestic haul ) as his motivation: “We love the movie, but we needed the book to be out here,” he told the LAT . Right . As always with Harvey, all release dates are subject to change and/or revocation at any time, so remember to mark your calendars in pencil. [ LAT ]
File under the ever-thickening berth labeled “Dirty Oscar-Season Tricks”: No sooner did the sun rise on the Academy’s final-ballot mailing day than word circulated about the author and publishers of The Reader suing The Weinstein Company for undercompensation. I know, I know — you’re shocked. In a nutshell, author Bernard Schlink and his publishers claim that they are owed 2.5 to 5 percent of gross receipts from 2008 film — AKA the other Daldry co-produced by Scott Rudin that was hustled into theaters at the last minute only to shock the world with a Best Picture nomination (and eventually earn Kate Winslet a Best Actress Oscar) — but that they “have received only one profit participation statement from TWC that says no monies are due.” Of course. More from Deadline : The suit also alleges overstatement of production costs of which $10 million were subsidized by the German government, overstatement of distribution fees as well as overstatement of costs of advertising, marketing, publicity, promotion and of the negative cost of the film. Specifically the charges include breach of contract, fraudulent concealment, money had and received, breach of implied contract and accounting. Plaintiffs seek $1 million or more in consequential damages, a complete, up to date and correct accounting of monies due plus 10% interest from the dates any sums were due, punitive damages and court costs. Just when things were going so well for The Artist , too! Speaking of which, the Weinsteins’ designated awards-season legal representative Uggie responded to the suit this morning with typically eloquent defiance: [ Deadline ]
