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In a town where image is everything and personalities become larger than life, Harvey Weinstein has always been a force of nature. For three decades, the cigar-chomping movie mogul has used his explosive persona and mercurial talent to occupy Hollywood's top table, confounding the critics who said his career was built on style and bluster, rather than substance.
A sense of history in the making is therefore greeting speculation that Weinstein's media empire has sailed into choppy waters. In a troubled market, he faces mounting commercial pressures that might leave a lesser mortal resembling a bloodied extra from a Quentin Tarantino film.
The impresario, who made his name bringing intelligent, independent movies to the masses, faces a multitude of problems, but they all boil down a single, intractable difficulty: he is struggling to produce and distribute enough intelligent, independent movies that the popcorn-scoffing masses actually want to see.
Weinstein's troubles can be laid bare in the roll of his recent films: Grindhouse, The Promotion, and Death-Defying Acts. All three boasted swanky casts and highfalutin' directors, and all three flopped at the box office. The last of the three, a biopic of escapologist Harry Houdini which cost $20 million to make and starred Catherine Zeta-Jones, was launched two weeks ago (it's due out in New Zealand on August 14) with no premiere and little fanfare. Its box-office performance has been far from magic: ticket sales have totalled just $5665.
Weinstein's troubles are also apparent in a string of bad news from his empire. US television network NBC last week filed an expensive lawsuit against him, his home video company Genius lost $50 million and there have been upheavals and departures at senior management level in his film, book and fashion companies. Most damningly, to an unforgiving industry which measures success in Oscar victories, there is a whiff of decline about Weinstein's failure to add a single gold statue to his collection since he left Disney in acrimonious circumstances in 2005.
To a man who, in his prime, won Academy Award after Academy Award, and whose CV includes such modern classics as Shakespeare in Love, The English Patient and Pulp Fiction, that is quite a comedown. Yet Weinstein is no ordinary film mogul. This week, in characteristically defiant mode, he went on a PR offensive, claiming that malicious rumours about the alleged demise of his Weinstein Company were being gleefully exaggerated by jealous former rivals. Despite his "love me or loathe me" manner, Weinstein remains one of the last hopes for a vibrant independent film sector, which recently suffered the loss of one of its biggest players, New Line Cinema, now merged into the Warner Bros empire. Supporters hope he is merely drawing breath, in the middle of a (mostly) glittering career. Real film lovers are praying that Weinstein can, at the age of 56, bring the world another City of God or My Left Foot.
First, though, the bad news: like every other player in the faltering American economy, Weinstein is suffering from a tightening credit market that has, say Wall Street insiders, left his companies running low on capital. Although it is impossible to study The Weinstein Company (TWC) balance sheets (as a private firm it does not publish accounts), a string of recent box-office disappointments will not have helped its bottom line.
In addition to the raspberry of Death-Defying Acts, this month also saw the launch of The Promotion, an $8m comedy about supermarket managers which earned just $408,000. His other high-profile flops include The Nanny Diaries, Grindhouse (a $53 million production involving Tarantino which made half that), and Grace is Gone, a John Cusack film Weinstein bought for $4m but which pulled in just $50,000.
This month, Weinstein stoked speculation about his finances by unveiling plans to seek backing from major studios for two of his most eagerly-awaited future releases: Tarantino's Second World War epic Inglorious Bastards and the musical Nine, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Nicole Kidman.
Although few in the industry will speak publicly about Weinstein's affairs, there is now a private consensus that the next few months represent a crucial test for his prospects.
Of course, coping with adversity has never been a problem for Weinstein, who founded his first company, Miramax with his younger brother Bob in 1979 (Disney bought it in 1993) and made his name with a string of hits including The Crying Game, My Left Foot, Good Will Hunting and Scandal.
Coming from a tough suburb of New York, he has often annoyed film-makers with his streetwise manner. In a 2004 memoir, James Ivory said Weinstein was "unlovely in manner and speech, possessing no artistic talent of any kind" and added: "That he is emotionally 12 doesn't help matters." Saul Zaentz, who produced The English Patient, described him as "full of shit", while Spike Lee said: "I'm not scared of him: he can't whiteball me out of the industry."
Weinstein may have become a victim of his own success. Having created a market in which independent film can thrive, he now faces competition from many rivals. It must also be said that TWC's recent films do include some hits, including Scary Movie 4 and 1408. Spokesmen insist that rumours of financial trouble are unfounded and the future is bright.
A more immediate test comes next month, when TWC releases Crossing Over with Harrison Ford, fresh from his success with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Hollywood will be watching, and Weinstein will no be doubt be praying that cinema audiences do, too.
- Independent
