Harvey Weinstein and the Oscars: How Gwyneth and Shakespeare in Love Won

1999 was a year at the Oscars post Whoopi Goldberg entered like this roberta benigni did this half of the jokes were about this and people weren't sure how to react about this but despite all of that the oscar coverage was about this as Vincent Canby of the New York Times put it Saving Private Ryan was lyrically humiliated when Shakespeare and love took home Best Picture since its release in the summer of 1998 Saving Private Ryan had been the odds-on favorite so when it lost Best Picture and in several other major awards the press and industry stepped back and asked themselves why for most people the answer was this guy Harvey Weinstein maybe the most taboo figure in Hollywood right now but for a long time it was impossible to imagine the Academy Awards without him he didn't invent campaigning for awards it's been going on since the Oscar was a glimmer in Louie beamers eye but his campaigns for the English Patient Chicago the artists and more earned him the reputation of having invented the modern Oscar campaign his success was so pervasive that most of Hollywood seemed willing to overlook his abusive behavior just to get in on it more on this later I usually talk about best actresses on this channel and believe me we'll get to Gwyneth but in this episode I wanted to spend some time on what made Harvey successful not only because his tactics were integral to Gwyneth and Shakespeare and loves wins but also because the systems he created provide valuable insight into what campaigns look like today I don't outline this stuff to make him sound impressive or to applaud him for his work in fact I think a lot of what he did damage the integrity of the awards even further but the fact that the industry replicated his methods tells us a lot about its values and a lot about why he got away with the he did for so long in this video I'll use the 1999 Oscars and Gwyneth in particular as a case study to learn what gave Harvey his power and talk a little bit about why all of this feels horrible and gross in 1979 Harvey and his brother Bob founded Miramax in Buffalo New York by the 1990s Miramax had emerged as the most profitable recognizable distributor of low-budget critically acclaimed indie films in the United States aided by its 1993 acquisition by Disney Awards recognition became the cornerstone of Miramax's growth strategy both because of the Oscars very real economic implications and its symbolism as the benchmark of excellence the kinds of movies at Miramax has tend to make a lot of their money after they make an Oscar nomination it used to be that by the time the Oscars came around we're mostly dealing with movies that had come and gone from theaters it's not as true today with the smaller independent films in the foreign films an Oscar nomination can mean you can double your your your grosses but the degree to which they focus on the Academy Awards felt different as bill mechanic then chairman of Fox filmed entertainment told the New York Times in 1999 Harvey Weinstein was unusual among studio executives because he was consumed above all with winning Oscars quote they focused on one thing the Academy Award process so what tangibly did Harvey do to earn that reputation let's do a brief high-level overview of his tactics first Miramax sought access to Academy voters wherever and whenever possible in Peter Biskind book down in dirty pictures former publicist Mark Fuhrman described how Miramax set up screenings at the motion picture retirement home for example because Academy members lived there even if they were on life support they find out where people holiday in the period between Christmas and New Year's and if it's in Aspen they have screenings in Aspen if it's in Hawaii they'd have screenings in Hawaii Miramax also targeted members individually often calling them to nudge them in the right direction personally in 1997 one Miramax representative allegedly convinced a retired actor to nominate Billy Bob Thornton for Best Actor in Slingblade even though the member barely even knew who Billy Bob Thornton was and originally assumed that Slingblade was a Sylvester Stallone movie once an Academy members saw the film Miramax utilized its savvy press relationships to keep the film top of mind the LA Times stated that Miramax was the best at inducing the media to write broadcast feature stories creating a climate of anticipation and then providing story ideas to keep the momentum going once the movie was in theaters they provided ample opportunities to expose their talent to the press lavish parties galas even gimmicky events one of the most famous examples of this occurred when Harvey arranged for Daniel day-lewis to appear before Congress in support of the Americans with Disabilities Act this was part of his successful best actor campaign for playing a man with cerebral palsy in my left foot Miramax also invested heavily in advertising especially in trade publications like The Hollywood Reporter and variety in 1997 the New York Times estimated that Miramax's Oscar season trade ads accounted for about 40% of the 200 pages devoted to awards season promotions a substantial portion of which was targeted specifically at Academy voters if you pay attention to Oscar campaigns now a lot of this might look really familiar what once seemed like a Studios singular obsession now is an entire industry because everybody noticed that it works really really well as the saying goes Harvey Weinstein was think more often than God at the Oscars Harvey Weinstein Bob Weinstein Harvey Harvey and Bob Weinstein and Harvey and Bob Weinstein the muskoka Weinstein Harvey Weinstein who believed in us and made this movie thank you Harvey Weinstein especially Harvey and God Harvey Weinstein The Punisher Old Testament I guess haha huh according to Forbes Weinstein's ability to orchestrate Oscar nominations and translate them into wins resulted in 341 nominations and 81 Academy Awards for films he and his brother produced or distributed these numbers built the mythos of Harvey Weinstein like I said at the beginning of this section winds bring money and prestige so this guy had a whole lot of both meaning a whole lot of power and never was that more on display than in 1999 in what is considered his seminal masterpiece of Oscar campaigning [Music] in July 1998 Saving Private Ryan was released to rave reviews almost instantly becoming an American classic Steven hunters review in The Washington Post captured the fanfare most vividly quote there are movies and then there are movies and then there is Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan searing heartbreaking so intense it turns your body into a single tube of clenched muscle this is simply the greatest war movie ever made and one of the great American movies end quote then that October Shakespeare and love came out and while it didn't receive this is the peak of cinema fanfare it did receive surprisingly positive reviews to the point that many critics reevaluated Saving Private Ryan certain hold on Best Picture Saving Private Ryan versus Shakespeare and love made for good press the film's had drastically different tones and represented the best of the weird amount of Elizabethan and World War two films that came out in 1998 they also represented interesting industry dynamics for the press to unpack articles pitted indie culture and studio blockbuster culture and more specifically positioned the race as a personal competition between Harvey and DreamWorks Jeffrey Katzenberg who as former chairman of Walt Disney Studios had helped orchestrate Disney's acquisition of Miramax so generally speaking the behind-the-scenes drama provided a more compelling narrative for the press and the actual merits of the film's Miramax's campaigning played a huge part in this because not only did Harvey run his usual game but he also upped the ante is it different this year for any reason scrappier this year hasn't scrappy what's going on well the campaigning is a little more stressful I think on all sides than it usually is this all because Miramax is such effective marketeers of their program of their movies and so therefore the old guard in Hollywood has rebelled against that that's one way of describing it this was a pretty widespread sentiment Richard Corliss wrote in time that quote the fact that most people even think that this is a horse race is mostly a tribute to Weinstein's entrepreneurial savvy end quote Nicky Fink's infamous piece in New York Magazine highlighted both Miramax's tactics and the resulting discontent of industry peers first there was the spending Damien Bona co-author of inside oskar described being bombarded with Miramax ads it's nothing new he said they've always done this but the degree to which they've done it this year is astonishing Fink noted that quote true independence might spend up to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on an Oscar campaign major studios two million but Miramax was estimated by competitors to have spent at least five million in its campaign for Shakespeare and love Katzenberg later admitted that this figure prompted DreamWorks to spend more promoting Saving Private Ryan for in-person campaigning Miramax hired quote a fleet of ultra veteran Hollywood publicist who happened to be Academy members to schmooze their fellow Academy colleagues they were paid not just during the 5-month Oscar season but nearly year-round a practice which was then unheard of elsewhere in the industry Miramax also threw a welcome to America party for British Shakespeare and love director John Madden that just happened to have several Academy voters present seemingly violating a 1997 Academy rule that deemed it improper for studios to host receptions or dinners for Oscar nominees to which Academy members were also invited then there were the covert bad-mouthing efforts whisper campaigns that claimed saving private Ryan's only real value was in the first twenty minutes and after that wasn't worth much of anything Weinstein himself imparted this to at least one major critic these efforts of course paid off and Harvey himself got to accept the best picture award Eliza Perrin notes in India Inc quote that Shakespearean loves 1999 Oscar victory both reaffirmed Miramax's status as one of the key distributors of niche targeted films in the 1990s and confirmed that the company had effectively honed its marketing skills end quote obviously Shakespeare and loves win was more complex than Harvey campaigns good many articles cited screeners which are copies of films Academy members can watch at home as a factor Shakespeare in Love could play much more comfortably on VHS as it would have been back then then Saving Private Ryan which benefits the grandeur of a big screen the Academy tends to like films about the artistic process so jokes like this I'm the title of the space Mercutio is it I will play land really well many voters considered Saving Private Ryan too violent which prompted some speculation that women didn't like it which frankly seems like a very 90s assumption to make even saving private Ryan's release date was seen as a disadvantage eight plus months is a long time to sustain favoritism especially when you have people actively working against you but undoubtedly campaigning helps shape the conversation about these films and that conversation only benefited Gwyneth Paltrow's path to stardom was relatively fast-tracked the daughter of TV producer Bruce Paltrow and queen of stage and screen Blythe Danner she had grown up with the theater eventually starring alongside her mother on the Williamstown stage by age 19 she had the role of Wendy in Hook in 1993 she received her first critical acclaim for flesh and bone her celebrity took off as she and seven co-star Brad Pitt became Hollywood's newest it couple then Harvey Weinstein and Miramax came calling Gwyneth who Harvey eventually referred to as the first lady of Miramax was exactly the kind of star Harvey wanted on Miramax's team Eliza Perrin writes quote in an attempt to stay ahead of Fox Searchlight Sony Pictures Classics etc Miramax signed a growing number of talent agreements and offered more of the backend to key individuals the idea was to mimic some classic Hollywood business practices enlist a number of likable young actors to star in sweeping historical epics so it wasn't long before he gave her Emma an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel as her first star making vehicle then came Shakespeare in Love and major critical acclaim with it Lea Lowenstein a variety wrote that she had quote a luminosity that made viola irresistible Peter Travers wrote in Rolling Stone that she had quote never looked more radiant or acted with such spirit and made will seem a changed man after one gander at her nipple God as the buzz around Shakespeare and love increased so did her profile culminating in a Best Actress nomination her fellow nominees were Cate Blanchet and Elizabeth Fernanda Montenegro in Central Station Meryl Streep and one true thing and Emily Watson and Hilary and Jackie now we sort of look at this race in retrospect as being between Kate and Gwyneth and ultimately it was the to split Awards fairly evenly going into Oscar night however critics largely believed that Fernanda Montenegro Brazil's first lady of theater gave the best performance of the year and while she did win some critics Awards she was never taken seriously as a real contender for the Oscar which I'm sure has nothing to do with the Academy's excellent record on Latinas it was easy to frame Kate and winneth as part of a head-to-head race because while they don't really have comparable roles their films share time place and characters they even share a lover literally but Gwyneth had two distinct advantages first people liked Shakespeare in love a lot more than they liked Elizabeth reviews and box office corroborate this as do the results of the Oscars with Shakespeare and love taking home seven and Elizabeth taking home just one second and this is where Harvey helps Gwyneth's press coverage was widespread and had a very specific tone while researching this video I was practically tripping over comparisons of her to Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly she embodied the archetypal Hollywood ingenue and reporters often used phrases like it's her moment and predicted that Shakespeare and love would define her as the star of her generation it seemed like there was a fascination with her as a cultural figure that Cate Blanchet never really had and while that's not always a factor it definitely breeds that way here especially given what we know about the extensive behind-the-scenes campaigning are you here of your own free will as someone coerced you into being here you count Harvey Weinstein is of course Harvey every Weinstein is a as I I don't know whether he's in some kind of organized crime now but he used to be like some kind of Junior mob kind of got right it was like in the mob auxiliary that's what they tell me yeah and now he's like a big powerful film guy right yes I do all my movies for Harvey Weinstein that's Miramax yeah and I'm lucky to do them there but he will coerce you to do it so Harvey's knowing what we know now it's impossible to look at this win the same way we might have even a few years ago Gwyneth ostensibly represented the fairy tale version of what stardom was and yet behind the curtain she was stuck in what she recently described as a classic abusive relationship and had already fended off Harvey's propositions of course she was one among many for him by this time he'd already settled several sexual assault cases cynically I know I'm going to receive comments along the lines of didn't he get her an Oscar why should she complain can we really feel bad for her first of all yes because abuse in any form is wrong secondly women shouldn't feel like they have to withstand abuse in exchange for work Harvey silence women through threats and legal action but so did a culture that normalized the belief that you just have to ignore it if you want to succeed Gwyneth a very beautiful white girl from a prominent family was petrified convinced that her refusal would get her fired imagine how women less lucky than her felt and it wasn't just Gwyneth for every actress he helped another was destroyed add to this that no one thought Harvey Weinstein was a nice chill guy who could never abuse people in fact probably the best-known thing about him other than his business savvy was that he was an abrasive manipulative there are hundreds of articles about this dating back to the 80s in 2004 Matt Damon called him a scorpion Rolling Stone called him a big bad wolf it goes on and on and it was all public even if we give people the benefit of the doubt and assume none of them knew about the sexual assault they were still completely fine with this otherwise offensive behavior why I was gonna say don't you think everybody in Hollywood is actually just dying for Miramax ruin a campaign for them I mean I can't imagine too many actors are offended by Miramax they're just waiting up a Miramax movie so they didn't win an Oscar soon it's actually part of the reason they're able to get all these actors to sign on for no money in these movies they know that their odds are getting a nomination are probably twice as high when they're in a Miramax movie it's a fact for this for an eight and a half pound little gold man that is the exchange rate for politeness professionalism for women's bodies historically Society has been very forgiving of talented men who do bad things and the past couple of years have certainly proven that Hollywood was slash is extremely guilty of this I don't think it's a coincidence that his downfall occurred during his weakest professional streak since the 80s remember tulip fever yeah neither did any Academy members my point is to a certain extent the Oscars have been shaped in Harvey's image and the Oscars are also part of a power structure that allowed him to exist as a predator for so long it's painful I think to know all of this about him and simultaneously realize his influence on movies I really love to watch him be praised and rewarded over and over and to know that in the minds of some audience members it was all worth it so when I see these speeches now the other guy that we really need to think though is Harvey Weinstein who had the guts the courage the commitment to make this picture and get it done I wonder are they still thankful [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 1,629,407

Rating: 4.799439 out of 5

Keywords: harvey weinstein, gwyneth paltrow, shakespeare in love, saving private ryan, 1999, 1998, best actress, best picture, cate blanchett, elizabeth, oscars, academy awards, the english patient, be kind rewind, miramax, dreamworks, steven spielberg, fernanda montenegro, meryl streep

Id: 6tihITlPAn4

Length: 18min 57sec (1137 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 16 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Mr_The_Captain]

This is one of my favorite channels that seemingly nobody knows/talks about.

Her focus is so specific (women and the oscars) and yet has so much that can be drawn from it, every video she puts out is incredibly well-researched and interesting. You can tell she absolutely loves looking into this stuff.

I also recommend her video comparing the four versions of A Star is Born, but that's really only the tip of the iceberg. This is one of those channels that has few enough videos that you can just binge all of them.

[u/girafa]

Really wish it stayed on the topic of Oscar campaigns, and included other studios as well as what they do now. It tells how Harvey did it, but omits everyone else. He isn't alone in campaigning fiercely, although he did reinvent it.

[u/photolouis]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting!

[u/haazil]

Great

[u/2-Headed-Boy]

Remember all this when you think the Oscars matter at all or should be given any of your respect or attention.

[u/Aquilam]

Many scumbags throughout the entertainment industry.

Keep being reminded of abusers like R. Kelly, Chris Brown, Tekashi, tentacion...yet these guys don’t hold a candle to master manipulators like the Weinsteins.

[u/MeSmeshFruit]

How the fuck can someone put Harvey and Polanski in the same category as Lois C.K? What the fuck, just what the fuck... And ofc the comments are disabled...