Harvey Weinstein poses with actress Michelle Williams at a party. Photo / Getty
Harvey Weinstein poses with actress Michelle Williams at a party. Photo / Getty
Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein had an alleged obsession with star Michelle Williams and used to show up unannounced when she was filming nude scenes, according to former colleagues who have spoken out in an explosive documentary.
Presented by the ABC's Four Corners on Monday night, Working With Weinstein examined the UK-based claims of sexual harassment and alleged abuse carried out by Weinstein — once regarded as the most powerful man in the film industry — stretching back three decades.
Actress Michelle Williams. Photo / Getty Images
The documentary featured interviews with former assistants and staff at Miramax and The Weinstein Company, as well as producer David Parfitt, who said Weinstein physically, verbally and sexually assaulted multiple staff members during that period.
Parfitt had previously won an Oscar with Weinstein for Shakespeare In Love, but said he was "quite surprised" when Weinstein later showed a significant amount of interest in his 2011 project, My Week With Marilyn, which starred Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe.
"We were quite surprised at the amount of attention we got from Harvey on the film. I hadn't seen this before," Parfitt said.
"He was turning up on a regular basis on set, desperate to be around Michelle as far as we could see in a sort of creepy, stalkerish way. In particular, turning up on a day when we had nude swimming."
When Weinstein viewed the final edit of the film he was "furious" that Williams was not featured more heavily, according to Parfitt.
Producer Harvey Weinstein and Actress Michelle Williams attend the Blue Valentine After Party at Palais Stephanie during the 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2010. Photo / Getty
"When we actually got through the main shoot and into the test, he decided that it wasn't enough Marilyn's film and he wanted more Marilyn," he said.
"The scores came in at the end of the test, and they were very good, and I think he'd expected it to be not good.
"In his fury about it doing so well when he thought it wouldn't, it was."
Parfitt said Weinstein physically assaulted him as his fury escalated.
"We were talking at the back of the theatre after the audience had left, but the Miramax crowd were around, and he pinned me up against a Coke machine and threatened all sorts of stuff," he said.
"It was very scary.
"But he was just furious that the film in our version had worked."
Parfitt decided never to work with Weinstein again.
Former director of production at Miramax, Laura Madden said she had a disturbing encounter with Weinstein after being called to his hotel room and introduced to him for the first time.
"He took my top off and he started massaging me ... and all my clothes ended up coming off," she said.
"And he was wearing a robe and masturbating. And then ... It was a constant ... there were constant new requests.
"I remember going into the shower with him, and at that point just feeling completely out of my depth and horrified and crying. And I think he was a bit exasperated and sort of said: 'Oh, you know, OK, OK, I'll leave you to it'.
Michelle Williams, Harvey Weinstein and Busy Phillips attend an event in 2012. Photo / Getty
"And he left the room and I locked myself in."
Weinstein has denied all allegations made in the hour-long documentary in which former employees also spoke about a "code" between assistants where they would wear large jackets, stay in groups or refuse to sit next to him to avoid his advances.
"It was a bullying environment. It wasn't just, you know, these episodes ... Well, what had happened to me or what was maybe happening to other people," Madden said.
"There was also just this fear of the wrath of Harvey."
Several former staff members who claimed they were assaulted by Weinstein said he had been allowed to behave with impunity because of the non-disclosure agreements frequently exchanged from within The Weinstein Company.
Former Miramax staff member Zelda Perkins, who worked as an assistant for the company from 1994-1998, said it was "initially a really great place to work".
"We were a very young, all-female office and there was nobody really telling us what to do," she said.
"And Harvey was this sort of black cloud that would call in and when he called, the entire office would shut down and go into panic."
Perkins said she came to expect Weinstein's advances after he first made a move on her in the Savoy Hotel.
"Harvey's requests were always the same," she said.
"He would appear in the room either totally undressed or just in his underwear, he asked you to join him in the bathroom. He was insistent, and he didn't take 'no' the first time.
"As I worked for him over the years, it just was the routine."
But it was also one that regularly put women, particularly those who were unaware of Weinstein's reputation, at risk. Perkins said one such incident took place when some of the Miramax crew, including Weinstein, attended the Venice Film Festival.
"I had a fairly new Miramax colleague with me for the festival and I had spoken to Harvey and I had said, 'You're not going to be a pain with her, you're not going to hassle her, you've got to promise me', because I felt very much that she was under my care and he promised me that he wouldn't," Perkins said.
"She did the first evening shift with Harvey and she came to me and told me that he had attempted to rape her that evening, that night.
"She was in an extremely distressed state, very frightened, very frightened of any recriminations, of even telling me."
Perkins said she confronted Weinstein about the incident and later signed a non-disclosure agreement, along with the colleague who was allegedly almost raped by the film producer, and she claims was paid "hush money".
Gaia Elkington said Weinstein physically assaulted her at his London home while packing for New York.
"He smacks me across the room, so I fall over the baggage," she said.
"As he was going through check-in he basically turned to me and said, 'Just don't work for me anymore you f****** mongoloid c***' ... You're fired'."
Elkington said she was reinstated by Weinstein the next day, but left the company shortly after.
The documentary is the first to detail the UK-based allegations against the former Hollywood powerbroker following an outpouring of allegations from high-profile stars including Rose McGowan, Salma Hayek and Uma Thurman. UK police are also investigating allegations from nine different women against him that stretch back to the 1980s.
Lawyer Jill Greenfield, who represents "half a dozen" women in a UK Civil Court Action said many of those who felt powerless are now fighting back.
"You've got an awful lot of women who have been afraid for many years and are still very afraid, but these women now have an awful lot of other women and people around them who are really not afraid and are prepared to go all the way on this.
"He may be or may have been a powerful man, but it doesn't matter. He's not above the law. He's just a man."
