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  • FRIDAY MAY 25 2007 2:00 PM

War of Words: Luc Besson and Harvey Weinstein Duke it Out

Submitted by erin_broadley

Edited by erin_broadley



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 didn’t connect here?

Luc:I’ve 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 didn’t like Arthur was because they changed so much of the film and tried to pretend the film was American. The critics aren’t 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. It’s 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. I’d be pissed too.

According to an article in Variety,

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...

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Comments
almostfamous

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.

Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

MAY 25, 2007 02:46 PM

while the Weinsteins (with Miramax) championed some films in the past, it's stories like these that make me dislike them more and more

Mrs_Misha

Mrs_Misha

Los Angeles, CA
September 2003

MAY 25, 2007 04:08 PM

This is not the first time I have heard that Weinstein is a tool and ruins films. I'm not surprised at all.

SinnFein

SinnFein

Phoenix, AZ
December 2002

MAY 25, 2007 05:44 PM

I can totally see how Weinstein has room to talk after producing such classics as:

Spy Kids I, II, and III
Kate and Leopold
Jersey Girl

What an ass.

Jennifer_

Jennifer_

Venezuela
November 2006

MAY 26, 2007 02:45 AM

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.

Nea

Nea

New York, NY
October 2006

JUN 24, 2007 06:49 AM

SinnFein said:
I can totally see how Weinstein has room to talk after producing such classics as:

Spy Kids I, II, and III
Kate and Leopold
Jersey Girl

What an ass.



lOl.

Lemonkid

Lemonkid

Canada
May 2003

JUN 24, 2007 11:51 PM

Jenni said:

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.

snidebot

snidebot

Berkeley, CA
October 2005

JUN 25, 2007 01:24 AM

SinnFein said:
I can totally see how Weinstein has room to talk after producing such classics as:

Spy Kids I, II, and III
Kate and Leopold
Jersey Girl

What an ass.



and the lord of the rings trilogy, pulp fiction, gangs of new york, sin city, the aviator, and quite a few other pretty awesome movies. hits & misses.

Westley

Westley

Vatican City
April 2004

JUN 25, 2007 01:40 AM

snidebot said:

SinnFein said:
I can totally see how Weinstein has room to talk after producing such classics as:

Spy Kids I, II, and III
Kate and Leopold
Jersey Girl

What an ass.



and the lord of the rings trilogy, pulp fiction, gangs of new york, sin city, the aviator, and quite a few other pretty awesome movies. hits & misses.


He actually was not a producer of this film, only a distributor, which is what makes his bullshit Colonel Tom act particularly lame.

snidebot

snidebot

Berkeley, CA
October 2005

JUN 25, 2007 01:56 AM

Westley said:

snidebot said:

SinnFein said:
I can totally see how Weinstein has room to talk after producing such classics as:

Spy Kids I, II, and III
Kate and Leopold
Jersey Girl

What an ass.



and the lord of the rings trilogy, pulp fiction, gangs of new york, sin city, the aviator, and quite a few other pretty awesome movies. hits & misses.


He actually was not a producer of this film, only a distributor, which is what makes his bullshit Colonel Tom act particularly lame.



the whole thing is lame.

besson: it's all your fault, harvey!
weinstein: hey, fuck you buddy!

i just take issue with the implication that harvey weinstein only produces shitty movies.

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