Roy Price’s departure turns Amazon upside down
If Harvey Weinstein was The Weinstein Company than Roy Price was absolutely Amazon Video and Amazon Studios. Beginning in 2004 he built the content division up from just a flicker of an idea that Amazon’s offerings could be bigger than rival Netflix. But as his friend Harvey faced his own demons, Price’s own sexual harassment history came to the forefront including allegations from Isa Hackett, a producer of the Amazon series “The Man in the High Castle.” It was also disclosed that the company had investigated Hackett’s complaint, but no action was taken. Rose McGowan also revealed she’d told Price that Harvey Weinstein had raped her and Price ignored her, setting up TV production deals with his company. When all this came to light, however, Price was “indefinitely suspended” and then resigned. Now, both divisions are without a captain, but rumors have been circulating that everyone from 20th Century Fox’s Emma Watts to current Paramount Television head Amy Powell to former Sony chairman Amy Pascall to current Fox chairman and CEO Stacey Snider are taking a look. In theory, Amazon would have someone in place before Sundance (or as soon as possible to deal with the Jeffrey Tambor “Transparent” situation), but considering how long it has taken up until this point, perhaps no
Harvey Weinstein unintentionally starts a national movement
On Oct. 5 the NYT reporter’s Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey published a detailed investigation on Harvey Weinstein’s decades long history of sexual harassment and that he had paid off at least eight settlements to keep women quiet. On Oct. 10, Ronan Farrow, in a piece acquired by the New Yorker, detailed that he had harassed or assaulted 13 women and raped three. A few weeks later Farrow revealed that Weinstein had hired lawyers and private intelligence agencies such as Black Cube to spy on and intimidate his victims. In the weeks that followed, over 80 women came forward publicly about harassment from Weinstein including Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Kate Beckinsale, Eva Green, Daryl Hannah, Salma Hayek, Lena Headey, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lupita Nyong’o. Out of those incidents there are at least 13 women who have accused Weinstein of rape. It’s a scandal like none Hollywood has ever seen and in a flash Weinstein had been effectively destroyed. The NYPD, LAPD and London Police are all investigating the allegations. He’s had his membership stripped from AMPAS, BAFTA, and PGA, and The Weinstein Company is effectively finished, looking for a new owner to rebrand it or buy it portions of it assets. More importantly, the stories and willingness of Weinstein’s victims to go on record began a cascade of women having the courage to speak out for the first time. It has been felt across the entertainment industry, in Silicon Valley, in the fashion industry and, most importantly, in Washington, D.C. And it’s such a significant historical marker that it will likely be years until the ramifications of Weinstein’s actions are fully known.
Kevin Spacey’s creepiness isn’t an act
In the wave of sexual harassment allegations that began with Harvey Weinstein, actor Anthony Rapp revealed that Kevin Spacey made advances to him in 1986 when he was just 14 years old. Spacey issued a public apology saying he was likely drunk at the time and also tried to spin the story by coming out as a gay man (something that was common knowledge in the industry early in his career before he went back into the closet before filming “American Beauty”). Over the weeks that followed, 15 other alleged victims came forward, most notably, eight people who worked on Netflix’s “House of Cards.” The streaming service claims they knew of no improprieties, but MRC, which produces “Cards”, noted that there had also been an “incident” during the filming of the inaugural season of the show in 2012. Spacey was fired from “Cards” and after some back and forth the series is moving forward with a six season without him. Subsequently, it has been reported that 20 people have claimed to have been harassed by Spacey during his time as the artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London. Spacey was also removed from Ridley Scott’s “All The Money In The World” and replaced by Christopher Plummer. It’s unclear if the films Spacey finished before the scandal broke, “Gore” (where Spacey played the lead role; it’s another Netflix production, and one the streaming giant quickly dumped) and “Billionaire Boys Club,” will ever see the light of day or if the two-time Oscar winner will find the forgiveness Mel Gibson and Roman Polanski were afforded.
“Solo: A Star Wars Story” implodes
What a whirlwind year Lucasfilm has had. While things ended on a positive note, with “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” triumphing with critics and at the box office, the rest of 2017 was a mess. Following the 2016 narrative of a newer director being pushed aside for a veteran (‘Bourne’ writer Tony Gilroy leading rewrites, reshoots and post-production) for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” with Gareth Edwards put in the backseat) the same thing happened again with the “Solo: A Star Wars Story” only in much, much worse, uglier fashion. In a completely unprecedented move that rocked the industry, directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord (“The LEGO Movie”) exited from the “Star Wars” movie with two weeks of production left to go. This is unheard of, and double shocking to happen on such a public, high-profile movie like a “Star Wars” picture, but goes to show that a) you should never cross Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and b) the company knows how it likes its sausage made so you better stick to the recipe (though perhaps Rian Johnson proved you can experiment a little with the formula). In the tradition of newbies kicked to the curb in favor of veterans, Lord and Miller were replaced with Ron Howard and he reportedly reshot and helped retool much of the film.
Trouble with “Star Wars: Episode XI”
Lucasfilm’s problems didn’t end there. Shortly after the company fired Lord and Miller, Kennedy and co. parted ways with Colin Trevorrow (“Jurassic World”), the would-be co-writer and director of “Star Wars: Episode IX.” Granted, ‘Episode IX’ was devastated and irrevocably complicated by the death of Carrie Fisher—General Leia Organa was supposed to have a major role in the movie and confront her son Kyle Ren—and the entire original script had to be tossed in the garbage. Trevorrow and his writing team (that seemed to keep evolving when Lucasfilm wanted more rewrites) had to start from scratch which is a bit of an impossible task. While rumors said Trevorrow’s arrogance chafed on Kathleen Kennedy (which should make further ‘Jurassic’ movies interesting since her husband produces them), what seems to be crystal clear is that no one could decide on an ‘Episode IX’ take in a post-Princess Leia world. Butting heads on how to deal with her death, no doubt, Trevorrow parted ways, though the word is, was once again, fired. J.J Abrams was brought back into the fold and hired to close out the trilogy with “Argo” writer Chris Terrio helping him pen the script.
