The future of the production house of the Weinstein brothers also seems uncertain …
“The time of deliberate ignorance and shameful complicity” is over, says the American Academy of Cinema after the Harvey Weinstein scandal . The organization, which awards the prestigious Oscars , decided Saturday to exclude the deposed producer, accused of harassment, assault or rape by some thirty women.
The 54 members of the board of directors of the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Cinema, meeting urgently, “voted (this decision) well beyond the required two-thirds majority”, announced the flagship institution of Hollywood in a statement. “Not only do we distance ourselves from someone who does not deserve the respect of our colleagues, but we send a message that the time of deliberate ignorance and shameful complicity in the behaviors of others, sexual assault, and harassment in the workplace in our industry is over. “
According to the specialized media Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, only one member was expelled in 90 years of existence of the venerable institution: Carmine Caridi, the actor who circulated confidential copies of films found on the Internet.
“A deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society”
Harvey Weinstein, a 65-year-old who has been in Hollywood for a long time, has turned into a genuine untouchable since the New Yorker and New York Times investigation revealed the charges in a row last week .
“What is at issue here is a deeply disturbing problem that has no place in our society,” said the Academy, an exclusive club with more than 6,000 voting members. “The Board of Directors of the Academy continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all members of the Academy will have to set an example.”
Another Hollywood institution, the union of American producers, also met on Saturday to decide on possible “disciplinary proceedings”. The British Academy of Film, without going so far as to exclude it, suspended its membership.
The fate of the Weinstein production house uncertain
Bob Weinstein said Saturday in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter that he knew his brother was cheating on his wife but that he did not know the extent of his “sick and depraved” behavior. “It was not even as if he had a mistress. It was one after another and that I knew (…) But I did not know what type of predator it was. And how he convinced people to do these things? I thought it was a given situation. “
The fate of Weinstein’s production house is now very uncertain. Rumors of sales or bankruptcy run in the trade press and TWC projects fall into the water one after the other.
Featured director Oliver Stone, after initially appearing to defend Weinstein, retracted and withdrawn from a series project, Guantanamo, as long as TWC is associated with it. Amazon Studio, the audiovisual branch of the Internet giant, has confirmed the abandonment of a series project of the director David O’Russell star ( Happiness Therapy ) and continues another project, a series on the Romanov, without TWC.
