Due to Harvey Weinstein affair, many things are changing in today’s Hollywood.
The Current War, a historical period drama about the rivalry between electricity innovators Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse, had an original release date of last year Black Friday; Nov. 24. 2017. The movie is postponed because of toxicity of sexual assault allegations against the disgraced producer. Weinstein acted as producer on the project.
However, it should be taken into account that the movie already premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, with criticism over its length and pacing. Since then, Gomez-Rejon and editor David Trachtenberg have shaved 12 minutes off the movie.
Considering that the movie has one of a most popular star, Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison, surely they are wanting to release the movie as soon as possible. Perhaps if the movie is worth of watching, it would have been released earlier despite Weinstein affair. Cumberbatch even said to The Hollywood Reporter: If it takes us not releasing our film for a couple of years just to be rid of that toxicity, I’m fine with that.
Hollywood after Weinstein
In the future, Hollywood will be most likely be divided into two periods; before and after Weinstein affair.
While Hollywood struggles to find original stories, one story is born in their yard. The story of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey and their roles in taking down movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is getting the Hollywood treatment. They received the Pulitzer Prize for public service for their stories on the mogul’s alleged abuses and they helped spark the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements.
There is love between movies about research journalism and getting an Oscars. Spotlight (2015) received two and All the President’s Men (1973) received four Academy Awards. It will be interesting to see if Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be also generous to a movie about their former member.
While we wait for the feature film about Weinstein we can shorten the time by watching documentaries about fallen mogul. One documentary, Barry Avrich’s The Reckoning: Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret, is already finished and the other, Citizen Harvey, will be soon available. Both documentaries will be showing Weinstein scandal, #MeToo and Time’s Up movements and its far-reaching global impact.
An interesting fact is that director Barry Avrich already made a documentary about fallen mogul, 2011 documentary Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project. This documentary was made when its subject was at the height of his power and there is no mention of his predatory behaviour.
