Harvey Weinstein says he is a ‘pioneer’ when it comes to championing female directors
Also argued that his work has been forgotten amid rape charges
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Your support makes all the difference.Harvey Weinstein has argued that he was a “pioneer” when it came to championing female directors and actors.
The former Hollywood mogul, who goes to trial in January accused of five counts of predatory sexual assault, criminal sex act and rape, said that the charges against him have also meant his work has been “forgotten”.
“I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I’m talking about 30 years ago,” Weinstein told Page Six. “I’m not talking about now when it’s vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it!”
“I feel like the forgotten man,” he continued. “It all got eviscerated because of what happened. My work has been forgotten.’’
Weinstein also referenced the salaries he paid female actors like Gwyneth Paltrow to prove his feminist credentials.
“Gwyneth Paltrow in 2003 got $10 million to make a movie called View from the Top,” he said, referring to the Miramax Films airplane romcom in which Paltrow starred with Mark Ruffalo and Christina Applegate.
“She was the highest-paid female actor in an independent film. Higher paid than all the men.”
Paltrow, who once referred to View from the Top as “the worst movie ever“, has accused Weinstein of sexually harassing her in a hotel room in 1994. Weinstein denied the allegation.
Weinstein, who goes to trial on 6 January, has pleaded not guilty to charges he raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on a different woman in 2006.
Last week, a lawyer revealed that a $25m (£19m) settlement had been reached for more than two dozen actors and former employees who claim Weinstein sexually harassed them.
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