Harvey Weinstein’s Got the Good Stuff
Harvey Weinstein is to independent film what Berry Gordy is to R&B and Soul Music. The films that he has produced have collectively won 63 Oscars. Some of the brilliant films he is responsible for include Shakespeare in Love, Good Will Hunting, Chicago, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Gangs of New York, and the list goes on and on and on. He stopped by the SiriusXM studios this week to talk about three of his newest films, My Week With Marilyn, The Artist, and The Iron Lady.
Excerpts from that interview appear below.
My Week With Marilyn
Ron Bennington: This has got to feel fantastic to be out promoting these movies. You know when you’ve got these kind of movies on your plate?
Harvey Weinstein: I agree with you, especially promoting Marilyn. And especially promoting Marilyn, and because I know people mistake me for Michelle Williams all of the time.
Ron Bennington: I just saw Marilyn this week. And you mention Michelle, and there is just something about her. Once a generation we get that somebody that becomes that it girl.
Harvey Weinstein: I worked with her on Blue Valentine last year, and when she said she wanted to do Marilyn, we immediately jumped. Because there is no harder worker who can transform from Michelle Williams into Marilyn Monroe. But at the same time, she does the wiggle, she does the waddle, she sings, she dances, I mean she just does everything. And she works so hard at it. And god almighty she is so, se….that scene in the bath tub is so sexy.
Ron Bennington: I didn’t see this one coming. When I heard the casting, I thought, well that doesn’t line up. But you go into the theater and within minutes you are just caught up in the film.
Harvey Weinstein: It’s the story of a twenty-three year old guy– we should all be this lucky– his first job is working on a movie set where Marilyn Monroe is working on a movie in London. It’s a true story. And she has an argument with her husband, Arthur Miller. He walks out on her because he can’t stand being Mr. Monroe and the paparazzi and everyone attacking her. And this kid gets to know her, and little by little by little, you know, she kind of kidnaps him. And they spend this glorious week together. It’s romantic, and it’s funny. It’s not the side of Marilyn Monroe that we typically think of with the pills and the tragedy. This is the fun part of her. This is way before all of the bad stuff started. You know, she’s a bit of a diva on set but she’s got a good heart and she’s fun and funny and intellectual. I wanted to make a sexy fun movie about Marilyn Monroe. I didn’t want to do the tragedy one.
Ron Bennington: But she already had that thing, and we’ve all kind of known those girls who you think– I’m the guy who can help her– she needs the help.
Harvey Weinstein: Well that’s what this kid does. He thinks he’s the knight in shining armor. And you really believe it. And I think for a time, she did too. But the ending is– he gives her an alternative. I’m not going to ruin the movie but, there is a moment of decision in the film.
Ron Bennington: But if you had set the film, say, six months earlier, Arthur Miller would have felt the same exact way. He would have been the guy who was going to save her.
Harvey Weinstein: Exactly. I think that’s what happened with all her husbands. I must tell you I actively produced this film, which I rarely do at my company. I more executive produce and oversee. But this one I worked on in London and I had such a good time.
Ron Bennington: What makes some films work like that.
Harvey Weinstein: I think that you have chemistry between the actors. Judi Dench plays this actress Dame Sybil Thorndike and she knew Dame Sybil Thorndike in real life. And you have Kenneth Branagh playing Laurence Olivier. And then Michelle as Marilyn Monroe, and the dueling between them– I don’t know how much we can get away with on radio, but there’s a great line where Kenneth Branagh is totally exasperated with Marilyn and he goes F This. And without missing a beat, and Michelle’s timing is comedic perfect, and she says, I didn’t know you had the F word in England too. I made plenty of movies in my life where the chemistry had to be manufactured. In this case it was real.
Ron Bennington: Would Marilyn have been able to work on a Harvey Weinstein project without you going nuts. Would you have been able to put up with this woman who shows up three four hours later?
Harvey Weinstein: I think at the end of the day with me, somehow they don’t do that. It may be the fear factor. Or the respect factor either one. Look, I know the Billy Wilder stories of her on the set of one of my favorite movies of all time. Tony Curtis’s line of I’d rather kiss Hitler is one of the greatest movie lines ever. But I think at that point she was pretty unhappy with her life. At the point that she is in our movie, she’s still okay.
Ron Bennington: And yet, Some Like it Hot, we’re going to remember that movie long after we forget a billion other movies.
Harvey Weinstein: I couldn’t agree more. It’s a genius movie– it’s a classic movie. I find that if it’s on tv at 3:00 in the morning, I find it impossible or irresistible no matter how many times I’ve seen that damn movie, I can’t stop watching it. It’s that good, and she’s that good in it by the way.
The Artist
Ron Bennington: I want to talk to you a little bit about The Artist too. Just saw it the other night at the Paris Theater. The film ends, the whole place is applauding. It’s one of those experiences that you’re like– when it’s over you find yourself going– well that’s different than anything I’ve done at a theater before.
Harvey Weinstein: You know when we started the whole idea of The Artist, it’s a black and white movie, it’s almost silent, because there’s some noise and sound and words in it. But we just said, how do you describe this? Then Kenneth Turan in The Los Angeles Times said there had been two modern miracles recently in cinema. One is Avatar for its great technological use, and also great storytelling. And the other one is The Artist. And I guess what’s happening on The Artist is, it’s transcended movies. It’s become an experience. I no longer describe it other than to say, experience The Artist. Because, it’s funny and it’s moving and you’re laughing and you’re cheering and you’re going to be cheering at the end.
Ron Bennington: The interesting thing about it, is that, I think it becomes like a trance like quality. So that when we left the theater and we’re walking down the street, we’re looking at people’s faces differently. Because I think that we’ve been reading faces for the last hour and a half but subconsciously. So we’re walking down the street and everybody’s face just kind of explodes at us, and it’s almost as if you just suddenly picked up another language in that time that you came out. You kind of see the world a little different because you’re using difference senses.
Harvey Weinstein: Ron, you’ve encapsulated it. I was wondering what it is myself, but I think that’s exactly right, because you are using different senses. The experience of experiencing The Artist goes on. Because I find myself doing it to. I’ve seen the movie a number of times and then I find myself looking at situations almost a la the movie. I think there’s a crazy tendency, because there’s a dance sequence– I don’t want to give it away– but it’s not like the dance sequence where you watch people dance. I find myself in the middle of the day toe tapping– like– a la the scene in the movie. Don’t go in thinking it’s this– or it’s a silent movie. It is an experience called The Artist.
Ron Bennington: Now when you get the script for that, there’s nothing in it but description right?
Harvey Weinstein: The producer is a guy named Thomas Langmann who I think is the greatest riverboat gambler in movies. And I loved the directors work and I’d seen him do a James Bond spoof in France. And I knew the actors involved in the production. And James Cromwell’s father and mother– I think his mother had been in silent movies, and his father was the great John Cromwell the great director. And then John Goodman and Penelope Ann Miller—- you just felt that with the cast that they had put together that there was just something special here. Because, it’s not like they were big stars, but everybody fit into his vision of the movie. And as a result, just tremendous performances.
Ron Bennington: It’s true, ‘cause you’re using the great character actors because they already have character too them.
Harvey Weinstein: John Goodman particularly, I think he’s just bigger than life, literally.
Ron Bennington: John Goodman has done so many great roles that we almost take him for granted.
Harvey Weinstein: And the nice thing about this is, you won’t this time around. He really is– BOOM! And Cromwell, my god! What a performance! Incredible!
The Iron Lady
Ron Bennington: Also at the end of this month you have Meryl Streep film coming out, and again, it’s another person who we go, we just expect it. It’s almost like you were with Michael Jordan. He’s going to get his 38 points and it doesn’t even occur to you that it’s still a phenomenal thing to pull off. This is how Meryl Streep has been.
Harvey Weinstein: I think she was involved in more than just acting in the movie. She really had a say in things. She’s special. And she’ll kill me for saying it but, I think she very much served in a producing capacity for this movie. She had ideas for every aspect of the movie. Phyllida was the director that she worked with on Mamma Mia who is a brilliant stage director and a brilliant movie director. And I think that it was their collaboration on the film, everything is down to those two. There’s something beyond. You do expect Michael Jordan to come in and score, but this is the 84 point game. This is the big one. This is like, after 17 years of doing 35 points a night, 45 points and being the biggest superstar, this is the one where ok, there’s Wilt Chamberlain’s record, I’m going to break it tonight. I’m going to show you just how good I am. Just when you thought acting was at this level, I’m gonna take it to another level.
Ron Bennington: Well I haven’t seen the film yet but…
Harvey Weinstein: …when you do, I’m coming back…you tell me.
Ron Bennington: When I even see the trailer, you don’t see her in the trailer.
Harvey Weinstein: That’s because of the acting. She disappeared. There is no Meryl Streep in this movie, you just see Margaret Thatcher. Barbara Walters said, I interviewed Margaret Thatcher six times and she said Meryl Streep just became Margaret Thatcher. The people who know Margaret Thatcher and see this movie, flip out over it.
Ron Bennington: And all those people say, not only did they capture it but they love the story as well. At that point it time, it was probably one of the roughest times in England’s history and this incredibly hard-nosed woman came into it making as many enemies as she did friends.
Harvey Weinstein: And the movie will do the same. It’s incredibly controversial. The conservatives will really love the movie but there are some who, because we didn’t saint her and make her Mother Theresa, they’re angry with us. And then the liberals love the movie and say wow you humanized her, it’s incredible. But then there’s the ultra-left that said, why didn’t you demonize her more. So every once in a while I get the rare privilege to make a movie that just makes everybody crazy and this is that movie. Because one thing about Margaret Thatcher, she had guts, she had principles, and she called it the way she saw it. But she wasn’t afraid to lead. Whether it’s the leadership in the congress or the state legislature, you need people to stand up for their principles. You watch this movie and you’re going to get a kick out of it.
Ron Bennington: And to be a great leader you have to make enemies along the way.
Harvey Weinstein: And mistakes.
Ron Bennington: Or you’re never going to make any broad broad moves. I think it’s fascinating that these three films that you’ve got coming out this time of the year. And you don’t get this every year but it seems like every year you have something.
Harvey Weinstein: Last year we had a good year with The King’s Speech. I often give that movie credit– I got locations on Marilyn that were amazing– we got Windsor Castle, we were allowed to use the lake where Michelle Williams and Eddie were skinny dipping on the grounds of Windsor Castle when we shot this. I think two things happened– the Queen knew Marilyn, they were the same age, and a lot of the red tape got lifted. And I also think I helped my own cause because she loved The Kings Speech. I always apply to these places in England to shoot– I never get anything. This time I got everything I wanted. I said the Palace– got the Palace; I wanted the library at Windsor Castle– got the library; I wanted Eaton– got Eaton. Before I made The Kings Speech I tried the Palace, and they said, go make a studio somewhere, build the God damned set, get out of here, shoot it in America. Now it’s like, incredible.
Ron Bennington: Congratulations on everything Harvey.
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Follow Weinstein Films on twitter @Weinsteinfilms and check out the trailers for these three excellent films below.
