Is there any colder dish of revenge than one served from the grave? True, Harvey Weinstein's final all-bomb slate of Miramax releases may not look great lumped together on his IMDb profile, but the demonic jollies he's no doubt getting over Disney's $313 million cliff-dive more than makes up for it:
Another former MiramaxClassic employee shares further heartstring-tugging details about their impromptu "Drink-the-Kool-Aid" farewell party Thursday night at Barney's Beanery:
There's all kinds of goodies in the Defamer tip box: Ben & Jerry's coupons, Peruvian currency, little notes that say 'Next time, don't screw up my order.' But once in a while, there's something truly special, like this report of a MiramaxClassic staff reunion. Attended by Harvey Weinstein himself:
The press releases are flying as Disney has finally, officially named Daniel Battsek (don't pretend you don't know that he's Executive Vice President/Managing Director of Distribution and Production for Buena Vista International) as the new president of what's left of the lean-and-mean Miramax. Effective immediately, Battsek begins a tenure of being referred to as "the new Harvey Weinstein," whether or not he actually presides over a fresh reign of Weinstein-style terror.
A reader reports: "I was in attendance for "An evening with Harvey Weinstein" at the Learning Annex this evening. Actually it was an immense ballroom at the New York Sheraton. The ballroom was full of aspiring bad actors and aspiring bad
directors. Additionally a clutch of people from Flushing, Queens came out to cheer on their home town boy. In fact many found it impossible not to yell out assorted Flushing related messages during the interview."
As mentioned earlier, we've decided to change our corporate motto from "if you can't say anything nice about people, start your own weblog" to "everyone is happy, pretty, and smart in their own special way." I know the similarity is confusing, as the differences are quite subtle. On that note"Random Nice Things About People" by Gawker Editor, Liz Smith:
· David Gest and Liza Minelli: you say "dysfunctional, fucked-up relationship"; I say "highly-rated made-for-TV movie."
· Miramax chief, Harvey Weinstein: big cuddly ass-kicking teddy bear.
· Vogue Editor, Anna Wintour: Oh, to have her smooth freshly-botoxed skin!
· Catherine Zeta-Jones: How does she stuff her face with cake like that, and still manage to stay so thin? Amazing!
· Designer Zac "Perfect" Posen: the trust fund only enhances his obvious talent.
· Nicky and Paris Hilton: (Cat)walking and talking at the same time! How many other beautiful hotel-fortune heiresses can do that? Not many!
New York Magazine just turned 35, which means it's roughly five years away from running off with a leggy underage blonde and blaming it on an existential crisis and/or the price of GE when the trading floor last closed. As part of their "celebration," they've put together a list of "100 People Who Changed New York" that includes a few of our contemporary favorites and a few "classics":
· IVAN BOESKY, arrested Reagan-era arbitrageur. Had three phones in his car; still got caught. Quote: "Immoral is probably wrong...I prefer the word unethical." A cautionary tale.
· TINA BROWN, editor. Carp, carpTina's New Yorker doesn t look so bad these days.
· CALVIN KLEIN, designer, Latrell Sprewell interlocutor. Billboard pioneer made you look at the label. From Brooklyn.
· DONALD TRUMP, fortunate son, builder, tabloid headline. Trump this, Trump that. The name itself is onomatopoeia.
· HARVEY WEINSTEIN, neo-maverick film producer. No him, no power omelette at Bubby s
· ANNA WINTOUR, editor, Vogue. Bringing fashionable chill to the masses.
100 people who changed New York [NY Mag]
· Jaws star Roy Scheider participated in a Hamptons peace protest the other day by lying down in the middle of Montauk Highway pretending to be a casualty of war. [Page Six]
· A dog recently took a suicidal running leap off the roof of P. Diddy's West Village town house. [Ed. notesomeone must have been playing his last album.] [Page Six]
· Joan Rivers, on her revised Oscar plans: "First, I called Arnold Scaasi to maybe rethink the gold gown I'm supposedly wearing. Second, I'm redoing the jokes. They must be timely, a war-time theme. Like one I just wrote is, 'I'm going to start stockpiling Botox.' And another where I beat up the goddamn French. I'll say, 'All they ever did for us was give us the Statue of Liberty and even that's turning green." [Cindy Adams]
· Wednesday was Harvey Weinstein's 51st birthday. CNBC's Maria Bartiromo's stalker was sentenced yesterday after he called her from jail in September of 2001. [NY Daily News]
As you know, if you know what's good for you, under the fearsome public persona, the Miramax boss is a kindly, lovable, gentle man. Here's Harvey Weinstein, as you've never seen him, relaxing with friends as he waits for guests to arrive at his famous pre-Oscar party. Thanks to David at Acerbia for this revealing shot.
It's Harvey Day at Gawker! (Again!) A reader points out that Mila 18 won't be Harvey Weinstein's directorial debut. He co-directed a teen comedy in the '80s called Playing for Keeps with brother Bob Weinstein. "It's sort of Footloose meets Ringolevio, featuring Marisa Tomei," writes our tipster.
Playing for Keeps [IMDB]
Playing for Keeps movie poster [eBay]
Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein has been saying for years that several of his movies would have been better if he had directed them. Now he's getting his chance. He's currently working on "Mila 18" with screenwriter Hossein Amini. The film will be produced and edited by Martin Scorsese and Anthony Minghella and directed by Harvey Weinstein. Harvey to Hollywood: I can't direct? Wait, how many Oscar nominations did my films get this year? How many? I'm sorry, I can't hear you. How many? Oh, right. Nearly all of them. I'm pretty sure I could cast myself in Catherine Zeta-Jones' Chicago role at this point and no one would blink. Hear that, Disney?
Weinstein planning to make directorial debut [Zap2it]
Miramax, with Chicago and Gangs of New York among other movies in contention, drew 40 nominations yesterday. Last time a single studio cornered the market to the same extent was back in 1940. So the New York Times gives Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of Miramax, his due. Everyone's making nice to Weinstein again, even Martin Scorsese, with whom he famously clashed during the making of Gangs. Well, not entirely.
LAT movie critic Manohla Darghis suggests that Martin Scorsese may be getting the DGA lifetime achievement award because people feel sorry for him. "I think that what the Guild is really doing here is rewarding Scorsese for having survived Gangs of New York and, in particular, for having survived uber-producer Harvey Weinstein."
Ask Manohla Dargis [LAT]
· Bruno Jamais' private restaurant features luxury products ensconced in display cases; Random House execs are snickering at Ann Godoff and Sonny Mehta's expressions of mutual respect; and Michael Gross runs a not-so-blind item about Harvey Weinstein looking for a $500 million bailout. [The Word]
· Oliver Stone is (not surprisingly) amazed Fidel Castro has never seen a shrink. [Page Six]
· A San Francisco doctor is retracting statements made to a Rolling Stone reporter stating that 25% of all HIV cases were contracted on purpose. [Page Six]
· Press clippings from Lotus double as passports in some countries. [Page Six]
· Robert Downey, Jr., on his music career: "I'd like to play some small venues, but under the name of whatever the band would be not like, 'Robert Downey Jr. invites you and David Hasselhoff to an auditorium,' because I just smell the demise right there." [Page Six]
Oh dear, Harvey Weinstein will be really insufferable now. Last night at the Golden Globes, Miramax won best director for Gangs of New York, best drama for The Hours, and three awards for Chicago. Cue a chorus for the great leader that wouldn't have been out of place at a Ba'athist party conference.
