Meet The New Boss, Not As Nuts As The Old Boss
With Miramax releasing the Tsotsi, the first movie of the Daniel Battsek regime this weekend, it's a convenient time to discuss How The New Guy Is Not As Crazy As The Weinsteins. Offers the LAT:
Most important to his boss, Battsek plays well with others. The Weinsteins, whose feistiness was sometimes accompanied by hot tempers, never saw themselves as Disney "cast members" and largely shunned working with other Disney divisions.
As any former Miramaxer whose bowels instantly loosen upon the mention of the name Harvey will gladly tell you, the Weinsteins are "feisty" like a pair of pitbulls let loose in a phone booth full of poodles in sweaters made of bacon. But choosing a team player like Battsek makes sense for Disney; any executive charged with maintaining the continuity of fear established by the legendarily "enthusiastic" brothers would probably have to overcompensate by roaming the office and randomly stabbing employees in the neck with a letter opener, and they can't risk further morale problems at a division already decimated by layoffs.
