Well don't act so surprised. With all the terrible fortune befalling Harvey and Bob Weinstein lately: from the lawsuits and counter-lawsuits over Project Runway, to the failed MGM distribution deal, to the fact that the Weinstein Co. can't scramble together a Academy Award-pitching movie this season to save their life, it was inevitable that the ecomonic pressure would finally catch up to the high-living duo.
And now it's official: The Weinstein Company is cutting 11% of their workforce. What does that mean for your movie going experience?
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Oh, now we get why NBC issued that injunction to keep the Weinsteins from moving their baby, Project Runway, from Bravo to Lifetime. At first everyone thought it was just because NBC wasn't given their rights of first refusal when Lifetime offered to buy the show for double the price per episode, something that obviously would help out the drowning Harvey and Bob as they try to keep their company afloat amid massive setback after massive setback.
Turns out, NBC isn't as vindictive as everyone thought, or maybe they are: the peacock is trying to stall the move in order to ready their copycat show.
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Several of the bigwigs over at the Weinstein Brothers production company have left on the down-low, giving more credence to the rumors that Harvey and Bob are floundering to make it past awards seasons. So far, the company has two major contenders on the table; Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and The Reader. But MGM already dropped their distribution deal with the brothers, several months before the contracts were up for renegotiation.
And let's not even mention all the problems Harvey is having with the court injunction keeping Project Runway from moving to Lifetime. Now, five executives in vp/co-head positions have moved on, or are in the process to do so by the end of the year? Um, not a good sign.
But according to Harv, everything is a-okay in the land of Weinstein:
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Reports a breathless The Great Debaters insider to Page Six:
"The Wiley team never wrote to Harvard, never debated Harvard, never beat Harvard," a knowledgable [sic] source tells Page Six. "And no Harvard administrator would have ever referred to the university as an all-white college since it had long been integrated."
In another glaring error, the black team couldn't even have called themselves victors as they did in the movie because blacks were not truly considered part of college debating circles until after World War II.
You're kidding! SCANDAL! It's as if producers should be red in the face — unless, of course, they (and stars like Denzel Washington) were upfront and on-record about this all along. And these shocking revelations hadn't been reported elsewhere much earlier. Is a MGM-Weinstein movie – that is, a non-News Corp. studio movie – that inviting for an attack?
• When Brangelina welcome their first child together, just be happy it isn't named Moses. [TMZ]
• Page Six picks up our Colin Farrell got drunk item, but in Blind Item packaging. [Page Six]
• GQ's May issue doesn't only feature TomKat parading down a deserted road in black and white. It also has an interview with the twosome, where you learn Cruise thinks pregnancy seminars are "a fun game of learning." [AP]
• With Scary Movie 4 delivering the biggest Easter weekend opening ever, the brothers Weinstein muster decent starter evidence their billion dollar Weinstein Co. might have a shot. [AP]
• It doesn't shock us that the U.S. Figure Skating Association is trying to ignore Olympic flame Johnny Weir, but that he's still making headlines. [Gatecrasher]
• With zero accounts of Naomi Campbell beating an assistant this week, we needed a report of Pete Doherty assaulting a photog. [Perez Hilton]
• Lizzie Grubman – perhaps the PR community's biggest Big Brother fan – wields a Sidekick, Blackberry and a cell phone. But no camera phones for her .. they "scare" her. You know, 'cause they're all big brother-y. [Forbes]
• Since Lisa Kudrow will likely not be back as Valerie Cherish on HBO, it just makes sense that Madonna has taken over the look. [Queerty via kenneth]
• We're quite impressed with Don Diva, the parental advisory-sporting magazine published by gangsters for gangsters (or "gangstas," as the kids are calling them). Not because we're certain there's plenty of ripe content for the feature well, but that they managed to agree on what color will be big this winter. [WaPo]
• Just when Madonna almost convinced us to revisit the Roxy, Liz Smith tattles that it's closing next year. Must John Blair ruin all the gay fun? [Liz Smith]
• When he's not pretending it's everyone else's fault that his hurricane relief single won't get recorded, Michael Jackson is avoiding more litigation by returning antiques he purchased at auction but never paid for. Which, we're pretty sure, is how his plastic surgery operations usually go. [AP]
• Now that Spamalot, Wicked and Mamma Mia! have broken through the $100 ticket threshold, you have a very expensive excuse not to go see Sweet Chariot. [AP]
• If you planned on taking the Holland Tunnel anytime between now and 2008, there's a $225 million reconstruction project between you and New Jersey. [1010 WINS]
• Another day, another report that the Weinstein brothers have raised some fraction of a billion dollars to finance their "go fuck yourself, Disney" marketing campaign. [LAT]
• Kate Moss Watchâ„¢: The latest celeb to come to the supermodel's defense is British rocker Robbie Williams, who says that he's stunned she hasn't committed suicide over all the bad publicity. Maybe now that he's endorsed her, she will.
• We always knew Judy Miller's story was ripe for a movie of the week, but a graphic novel? Only if it stars Tribeca emigrant Bobby De Niro.
• Not that you've cared since Pieces of April, but Katie Holmes does indeed get busy between the sheets — but only when Tom Cruise is nowhere to be found.
• With Harvey and Bob Weinstein raising just enough cash to best the value of Donald Trump's nursery, the Los Angeles Times thought it might be nice to give them a free, full-page ad. They call it a thank you, we call it a handjob.
• Hearst greenlights Weekend, Conde Nast greenlights Men's Vogue and, in unrelated news, Jossip greenlights the crack pipe.
• Meanwhile, to Conde Nast's shock, Men's Vogue is not the "most notable launch of the past two decades." It's Cooking Light, which has skyrocketed to a circulation of 1.7 million — or, if you're using Newsday's counting methods, 19.7 million.
• Had you decided to actually grin and bear the NRQW line and, uh, been blown up by a terrorist bomb, you have WNBC/Channel 4 to blame for withholding the story.
• The Weinstein duo have hit the $420 million fundraising marker for their Weinstein Company, with hopes of releasing 25 films per year. We hope there's a The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3D spin-off in there somewhere.
• TiVo isn't just a means to watch Katie Couric's legs on repeat, but it's also an advertiser's best friend. And we thought blogs held that title.
• If New York magazine is to believe, JT Leroy is a fraud. But remember, New York is also where you heard (stratospherically falsely) that Jessica Coen earned a paltry $30,000 a year.
• Camilla Al Fayed (daughter of Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed) will not, in fact, be working at Vogue under Anna Wintour's whip, as had been rumored. She'll be stashed away in the fashion closet and ad sales, otherwise known as where editorial and advertising blend into one homogeneous black hole.
• Time Inc. is trying its hand at a humor website with former Maxim editor Mark Golin at the helm, with some help from Upright Citizens Brigader Chris Kula. Bonus round: Even Norm Pearlstine might get the punchlines.
Today is the last day of Harvey and Bob Weinstein's 12-year love-hate (okay, just "hate") relationship with Disney, and to celebrate we're helping pimp their new venture, The Weinstein Company.
With the help of Goldman Sachs, the brothers Weinstein are close to raising the $1 billion they need to turn it into "a giant multimedia company." But that doesn't mean the duo are done asking for help.
While today may be their last official day with Mickey Mouse, they've long been looking for help — and that's where you, the thrill riding film industry staffer, comes in.
Just be thankful the assistant to the CFO gig is as high up the ranks they're asking.
Risktaking isn't dead at Disney! It just took until last night's media conference call - the official announcement of Harvey and Bob Weinstein's departure from Miramax - to announce it, and by none other than Harvey (well, now that Bob Iger is holding court):
Let me say that I think at the new Disney, I think that those entrepreneurial efforts will be met with a stronger response. So that’s the irony of this deal. What I think that Bob and I were trying to do was take the Miramax outfit and turn it into a $5 billion asset—as opposed to what I believe is probably a $2 billion asset today.
Billion, schma-gillion.
Editorial Director
