Peter Jackson: filmmaker, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners, The Lord of the Rings.
Gilles Jacob: director, Cannes Film Festival.
Jim Jarmusch: filmmaker, Stranger Than Paradise, Dead Man.
Neil Jordan: filmmaker, The Miracle, The Crying Game, Interview with a Vampire.
Jeffrey Katzenberg: founding partner, DreamWorks, former chairman, Walt Disney Studios.
Dave Kehr: film reviewer.
Sarah Kernochan: filmmaker, Marjoe, The Hairy Bird/Strike/All I Wanna Do, Thoth.
Peter Kindlon: assistant, Miramax.
Jeff Kleeman: head, Sundance Productions; formerly, executive VP of production, MGM.
Howard Klein: board member, Sundance Institute, director for the arts, Rockefeller Foundation.
Cathy Konrad: producer, Citizen Ruth, Scream (1, 2, and 3); Cop Land, Kate & Leopold; co-producer, Kids; formerly of Woods Entertainment; married to James Mangold.
Harmony Korine: writer, Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy; director, Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy (uncredited).
Christina Kounelias: publicity, Miramax Films.
Jack Lechner: executive VP of production and development, Miramax Films.
Spike Lee: filmmaker, She’s Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing.
Mike Leigh: filmmaker, High Hopes, Secrets and Lies.
Martin N. Lewis: producer, The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball.
Linda Lichter: entertainment attorney.
David Linde: co-president Focus Features; formerly, partner, Good Machine; executive VP, Miramax International.
Richard Linklater: filmmaker, Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Waking Life.
Jeff Lipsky: founding partner, October Films; formerly, Skouras Pictures, the Samuel Goldwyn Company, New Yorker Films.
Mark Lipsky: head of distribution, Miramax Films. Brother of Jeff.
John Madden: director, Mrs. Brown, Shakespeare in Love, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin.
Amir Malin: partner, October Films; formerly, founding partner, Cinecom.
Barbara Maltby: producer, King of the Hill.
James Mangold: filmmaker, Cop Land, Kate & Leopold. Married to Cathy Konrad.
Liz Manne: executive VP, programming and marketing, Sundance Channel.
Todd McCarthy: lead reviewer, Variety.
Chris McGurk: vice chairman and COO, MGM; formerly, president and COO, Universal Pictures; president, Motion Picture Group, the Walt Disney Company.
Bill Mechanic: chairman and CEO, Twentieth Century Fox; formerly, president, International Distribution and Worldwide Video, the Walt Disney Company.
Larry Meistrich: founding partner, the Shooting Gallery; executive producer, Sling Blade.
Ismail Merchant: producer, A Room with a View, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, The Golden Bowl. Partner, James Ivory.
Jason Mewes: actor, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Anthony Minghella: director, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain.
Elvis Mitchell: film reviewer, the New York Times.
Rob Moore: senior VP and CFO, the Walt Disney Company.
Errol Morris: filmmaker, The Thin Blue Line.
Scott Mosier: producer, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma.
Tim Blake Nelson: actor, filmmaker, O.
Peter Newman: producer, Smoke, Blue in the Face, The Hairy Bird/Strike/All I Wanna Do. Partner, Ira Deutchman.
Robert Newman: agent, ICM; former executive VP, Miramax.
Bobby Newmyer: producer, sex, lies, and videotape, The Opposite Sex; married to Debbie Newmyer.
Debbie Newmyer: executive producer, The Little Rascals, How to Make an American Quilt; married to Bobby Newmyer.
Marc Norman: screenwriter, Shakespeare in Love.
Edward Norton: actor, Primal Fear, Rounders, Frida.
David Parfitt: producer, The Madness of King George, Wings of the Dove, Shakespeare in Love; consultant, Gangs of New York.
Alexander Payne: filmmaker, Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt.
John Penotti: founding partner, GreeneStreet; executive producer, In the Bedroom.
John Pierson: producer’s rep, She’s Gotta Have It, Working Girls, Clerks. Author of Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes.
Sydney Pollack: director, The Way We Were, Tootsie; board member, Sundance Institute.
Tom Pollock: executive VP, MCA; chairman, Universal Pictures.
Nik Powell: partner, Palace Pictures; co-producer, Mona Lisa; executive producer, Scandal, The Crying Game, Little Voice.
Terry Press: head of marketing, DreamWorks; formerly, senior VP of marketing, the Walt Disney Company.
John Ptak: agent, CAA.
B. J. Rack: producer, Terminator 2, Mimic.
Bingham Ray: president, UA; founding partner, October Films; formerly, Cinecom, Goldwyn, Island, Alive.
Robert Redford: Sundance Institute founder; actor, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; director, Ordinary People, Quiz Show.
Dennis Rice: president, marketing, Miramax; formerly, president, worldwide marketing, October Films; head of marketing, home video, Walt Disney Company.
Alexandre Rockwell: filmmaker, In the Soup, Four Rooms.
Robert Rodriguez: filmmaker, El Mariachi, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn.
Joe Roth: chairman, Walt Disney Studios.
Scott Rudin: producer, Marvin’s Room, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Hours.
David O. Russell: filmmaker, Spanking the Monkey, Flirting with Disaster, Three Kings. Husband of Janet Grillo.
Nora Ryan: president, Sundance Channel.
Tony Safford: VP, acquisitions, Miramax; VP, acquisitions, Fine Line; program director, Sundance Film Festival.
Michelle Satter: director of feature film program, Sundance Institute.
John Sayles: filmmaker, The Return of the Secaucus 7, Brother from Another Planet.
Maria Schaeffer: executive director, Sundance Institute.
James Schamus: co-president, Focus Features; formerly, founding partner, Good Machine; executive producer, Poison; Safe; Happiness; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
John Schmidt: founding partner, Content Films; formerly, partner, October Films; COO, Miramax.
Cathy Schulman: president, Artists Production Group; programmer, Sundance Film Festival.
Russell Schwartz: president, USA Films; formerly, president, Gramercy Pictures; executive VP, marketing, Miramax Films.
Bob Shaye: chairman and CEO, New Line Cinema.
Gary Siegler: president, Siegler, Collery & Co.; investor and board member, October Films.
Casey Silver: chairman and CEO, Universal Pictures.
Marjorie Skouras: acquisitions executive, Skouras Pictures.
Tom Skouras: president, Skouras Pictures.
Annick Smith: producer, Heartland; executive producer, A River Runs Through It.
Kevin Smith: filmmaker, Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Stacey Snider: chairman, Universal Pictures.
Steven Soderbergh: filmmaker, sex, lies, and videotape, King of the Hill, Schizopolis, Traffic. Married to Betsy Brantley.
Todd Solondz: filmmaker, Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling.
Stacy Spikes: VP, marketing, October Films; VP, marketing, Miramax.
David Steinberg: attorney, Miramax.
Fisher Stevens: founding partner, GreeneStreet Productions.
Quentin Tarantino: filmmaker, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Jackie Brown.
Nancy Tenenbaum: executive producer, sex, lies, and videotape; producer, The Daytrippers.
Billy Bob Thornton: filmmaker, Sling Blade; director, All the Pretty Horses.
Mark Tusk: VP of acquisitions, Miramax Films.
Mark Urman: executive, Lions Gate; publicist, Dennis Davidson Associates.
Christine Vachon: founding partner, Killer Films; producer, Poison, Safe, Kids, Velvet Goldmine, Happiness, Boys Don’t Cry, Far from Heaven.
Gus Van Sant: filmmaker, Drugstore Cowboy,
My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Good Will Hunting.
Sterling Van Wagenen: executive director, Sundance Institute. Cousin of Redford’s wife, Lola.
Lars von Trier: filmmaker, The Kingdom, Breaking the Waves.
Paul Webster: producer, Little Odessa, The Yards; head of production, Miramax.
Suzanne Weil: executive director, Sundance Institute.
Bob Weinstein: co-chairman, Miramax Films.
Harvey Weinstein: co-chairman, Miramax Films.
Tom Wilhite: executive director, Sundance Institute.
Cary Woods: founder, Woods Entertainment; producer, Kids, Citizen Ruth, Cop Land, Scream.
Steve Woolley: founding partner, Palace Pictures; producer, Mona Lisa, Scandal, The Crying Game.
Ron Yerxa: producer, King of the Hill, Election, Cold Mountain.
Saul Zaentz: producer, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The English Patient.
Marty Zeidman: senior VP, distribution, Miramax Films.
Ed Zwick: producer/director, Legends of the Fall; producer, Shakespeare in Love; director, Glory; executive producer, thirtysomething.
Cannes, 1989: Steven Soderbergh, looking glum, holds his Palme d’Or as if it might bite him, as Jane Fonda looks on. He said, “When sex, lies happened, I martyred myself out of enjoying it. And it’s disingenuous and borderline offensive not to enjoy it.”
(© AP/Wide World Photos)
Bob (left) and Harvey Weinstein at the Dogma premiere in November 1999. “They were good and evil in one package. You wouldn’t know who was good and who was evil on any particular day.”
(© Eric Charbonneau/Berliner Studio/BEI)
The young Bingham Ray at Telluride, c. 1987, with hair. “I would come in from the suburbs, wearing a button-down shirt, to the Elgin, sit next to a guy in a raincoat,” he recalls. “My father would say, ‘You keep going to all these movies, you’re going to turn into a bum!’ ”
A match made in heaven? The Weinsteins flanking Jeffrey Katzenberg, on April 30, 1993, announcing Disney’s acquisition of Miramax. “People were calling me and saying, ‘They’re never gonna keep their word,’ ” Harvey recalls. “We were terrified.”
(© AP/Wide World Photos)
Todd Solondz and Sony Classics’ Michael Barker at Telluride in 1994 for Welcome to the Dollhouse. Solondz wanted to call it Faggots and Retards, which perfectly captures the flavor of the film. Harvey wanted to sweeten the ending, reshoot it, so Solondz went with Sony.
“When Pulp Fiction had the outrageously good opening weekend at the box office, we all saw it as something good for Quentin and presumed that it was good for ourselves as well,” said filmmaker Allison Anders. “But in fact, that victory was sort of the beginning of the end for the rest of us, because very few indie films can compete in that same kind of a way.”
(© Photofest)
Bowling for October: John Schmidt (bottom left) and Bingham Ray (holding beer bottle, right), among others, raise the flag; Amir Malin (left) and Jeff Lipsky, next page. Although the partners fought like cats in a sack, the Little Company That Could scored big with Breaking the Waves and Secrets and Lies, and sold itself to Universal.
Bernardo Bertolucci coaches one of his actors on the set of Little Buddha in 1994, not one of Miramax’s finer moments. Says Harvey, “For me and Bernardo, it was an unhappy chapter.” Bertolucci recalls, “He started to believe too much in himself as auteur of the film . . . He’s like a little Saddam Hussein of cinema.”
(© Alessia Bulgari)
David O. Russell on the set of Flirting with Disaster in 1994 shows Mary Tyler Moore how to raise her shirt so she can say, “Look at these breasts! Are these the breasts of a fifty-year-old woman?”
(© Barry Wetcher)
Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary accepting the screen-writing Oscar for Pulp Fiction in March 1995. At the time, the two former friends were barely speaking. Avary memo-rably excused himself on national television to take a leak, and Tarantino was miffed because Avary failed to thank him.
(© Gary Hershorn/Reuters/Landov)
Quentin Tarantino and Mira Sorvino at the Miramax pre-Oscar party. “Mira and I were in Paris together for our exciting romantic week,” Tarantino recalls. “She had never been to the Rodin Garden, so we had a picnic and were making out, and everybody was looking at us. It was like, Ohmigod, that’s been taken from me. If I had known in advance, before I got famous, I would have gone to the Rodin Garden more.”
(© Eric Charbonneau/Berliner Studio/BEI)
Anthony Minghella and producer Saul Zaentz on the set of The English Patient. The picture made $229 million worldwide, but Zaentz never saw a piece of it. He called Harvey “a pushcart peddler who is more than happy to put his thumb on the scale when the old woman is buying meat. When I talked with him about it, he says, ‘I am a filmmaker; I’m not an accountant.’ ”
(© Photofest)
Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarantino taking curtain calls on the opening night of Wait Until Dark in the spring of 1998. The blood on Tomei’s shirt might as well have been spilled by Tarantino, who was gored by the critics. “I tried not to take it personally, but it was personal,” he says.
(© Henry McGee/Globe Photos, Inc.)
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon react to their Golden Globe for their Good Will Hunting screenplay in January 1998. Says Damon, “I didn’t realize that it was going to be over in a flash, that no matter who you are, if you don’t have a movie in the theater that’s making money, people will just think you’re someone they went to high school with.”
(© Lisa Rose/Globe Photos, Inc.)
Marc Norman, Ed Zwick, Harvey, Donna Gigliotti, and David Parfitt accepting their Oscars for Shakespeare in Love on March 24, 1999. Says Norman, “Harvey came on like a linebacker from the backfield just as Zwick was moving towards the microphone, pushed him out of the way, and grabbed the mike.”
(© Gary Hershorn/Reuters/Landov)
October’s Scott Greenstein, Chris McGurk, and John Schmidt, c. 1998. In December, Greenstein waltzed into Schmidt’s office and said, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is, Barry Diller wants to buy October. The bad news is, he wants me to run it!”
Kevin Smith and actor Jason Mewes on the set of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Says Smith, “It came out that Jay’s mom was HIV positive, flat-out dying of AIDS. Harvey said to him, ‘I’m gonna give you my number, and you call me, and we’re gonna set your mother up with this great doctor, the best HIV doctor in the city, if not the world. We’re not going to let your mother die.’ I was blown away.”
(© Tracy Bennett/Photofest)
Director James Mangold and producer Cathy Konrad at the Identity premiere, April 2003. Says Mangold, “Harvey does both good and bad. But the problem is that the same personality type that has the hubris to face the wind and say, ‘I looked in his eyes, and I believe in this guy,’ is also the person who will look in that same kid’s eyes and say, ‘I saw your movie, and I don’t believe in it.’ ”
(© Lester Cohen/WireImage)
Producer Christine Vachon and Todd Haynes at the Independent Spirit Awards in March 2003, where Haynes won Best Director for Far from Heaven. “Soderbergh had final cut on Far from Heaven, and I felt completely safe around that,” says Haynes. “He got tough with me, but in a very constructive way, saying that whatever I ultimately decided, he would support.”
(© Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
ALSO BY PETER BISKIND
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls:
How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ’n’ Roll
Generation Saved Hollywood
The Godfather Companion
Seeing Is Believing: Or, How Hollywood Taught Us
to Stop Worrying and Love the Fifties
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Notes
A NOTE ON THE RESEARCH
This book is based on hundreds of interviews. Conversations are based on interviews with at least one of the participants. When thoughts are attributed to a principal, they are also derived from interviews.
AI = author interview.
PREFACE
“Independent filmmakers don’t” and following: Quentin Tarantino, AI, 4/30/03.
“A lot of people are afraid”: James Ivory, AI, 7/9/01.
“No comment” and following: Ethan Coen, AI, 10/15/03.
“I’ll speak my mind.”: Spike Lee, AI, 11/8/02.
“return to [his] roots”: Rick Lyman, “After Talk, Miramax to Refocus on Movies,” New York Times, 1/21/02.
“Matthew, get in here!”: From author’s notes.
“What do you really want to write?” and following: From author’s notes.
INTRODUCTION: THE STORY TILL NOW
Epigraph: Edward Norton, AI, 8/8/02.
“He’s not a”: Confidential source.
“I knew what”: Robert Redford, AI, 11/13/90.
“I’m here to listen and learn”: Confidential source, nd.
“It was a combination”: Liz Manne, AI, 10/5/01.
When the photo op: After Lory Smith, Party in a Box: The Story of the Sundance Film Festival (Salt Lake City: Gibbs-Smith, 1999), 38.
“You might not think” and following: Alan Brewer, AI, 4/2/00.
“So Harvey, what”: Bingham Ray, AI, 5/19/99.
Down and Dirty Pictures Page 73
