There are certain things one tries to avoid when working in the entertainment industry like agents with halitosis, crazed paparazzi, losing your job to your ex, public toilets...you catch my drift. But getting embroiled in a full-on, movie mogul catfight, well, that's just fun.
French director Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, The Professional) and Miramax honcho Harvey Weinstein are in the midst of some very heated, public shit-talking - all because of something Besson revealed to our very own Daniel Robert Epstein during a recent SuicideGirls interview. The Frenchman cites Weinstein as the reason his animated movie Arthur and the Invisibles bombed at the US box office. Remember that movie? Neither do I.
DRE: Arthur and the Invisibles did very well all over the world except in America. Why do you think it didnt connect here?
Luc:Ive worked in the movie business for 30 years now and for each film I work 40 different distributors around the world. The American distributor on Arthur [The Weinstein Company] was the worst I have worked with in my entire life, in any country. I think this is the essence of all the problems. Why the critics didnt like Arthur was because they changed so much of the film and tried to pretend the film was American. The critics arent stupid. They watched the film, they vaguely smell American but they can feel the film is forced for an American audience. The film is European. Its made by a Frenchman. This was the only country where the film was changed. The rest of the world has the same film as France.
For the American version of the film Weinstein replaced the original French actors with Madonna, Robert DeNiro and Snoop Dog. Id be pissed too.
Harvey responded in the New York Daily News by calling Besson a "has-been" and offering him $1 million if he could prove that he made the film for the $85 million he originally claimed.
Oh Harvey, you can't buy your way out of battle, silly. Oh wait, yes you can...
2
almostfamous
NEWSWIRE
United Kingdom
MAY 25, 2007 02:41 PM
Besson is wrong there, I can remember seeing the posters all over the place with Snoop's name on here in the UK. I found it hilarious Snoop was a voice in a kid's film.
almostfamous said:
Besson is wrong there, I can remember seeing the posters all over the place with Snoop's name on here in the UK. I found it hilarious Snoop was a voice in a kid's film.
+1
Either Besson was lying, or he doesn't know how his film was released in Britain. Or he thinks Britain and America are the same place.
almostfamous said:
Besson is wrong there, I can remember seeing the posters all over the place with Snoop's name on here in the UK. I found it hilarious Snoop was a voice in a kid's film.
+1
Either Besson was lying, or he doesn't know how his film was released in Britain. Or he thinks Britain and America are the same place.
Either way you spin it, its a bit twuntish.
Weinstein probably bought all the English language rights (pretty common in film distribution) which usually covers US, Canada, Britain and New Zealand/Australia.
erin_broadley
Los Angeles, CA
October 2006
MAY 25, 2007 01:00 PM