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Today's Hollywood Reporter features a long profile of producer Cathy Schulman, who's currently locked in an entertaining bout of legal shit-flinging with former business partner (and fellow Crash producer) Bob Yari. And while it's always difficult to capture a large, complicated personality in a single column in a trade publication, this is what we took away from the story: 1) She is "flat broke," despite the Oscar, 2) she has professional "man trouble," and 3) she's a little defensive about her tendency to fight back against these men in court. Some illustrative pullquoting follows:

And at what should be a career pinnacle, Schulman finds herself flat broke. "I have the interesting distinction of having made five movies in a row without ever being paid," she says. "I can't pay my bills." [...]

In the film community, while many respect Schulman's taste and acumen as a producer, some question her business judgment when it comes to the men with whom she works. "Cathy's emotionality makes her a good producer on-set," says one producer, "but gets her into trouble in business."

Schulman admits that she has been "saddened and angered" by the time spent fighting those legal battles. Amid the Ovitz litigation, she filed for bankruptcy. "I bring the same total commitment and passion to movie projects and to managing my process," she says. "It's my greatest strength and weakness. It's the same thing that made me fight tireless battles to get 'Crash' to the screen without pay. I don't suffer wrongdoing well. I right wrongs with legal battles. I want to pave the way for people who follow me not to let this happen." [...]

"Twice, I've built companies for powerful men who've gotten [ticked] off ... and sued me," Schulman says. "In defending myself, I'm considered litigious, like I'm the problem."

As much as it pained us to watch Schulman and writer/director Paul "Ask Me About How I Made Millions By Getting Carjacked" Haggis step up to the stage to accept the Best Picture Oscar, we were quite impressed that she actually thanked Yari in her acceptance speech, perhaps wanting to save for the witness stand the dramatic moment where she invites the producer to insert her hard-won statuette into a body cavity not usually recommended for the storage of awards hardware.