championed and financed the artists who
created some of the best films of the past 30
years? Weinstein helped build the careers of
directors Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino,
Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, and Ste-
ven Soderbergh, and produced films with
Oscar-winning roles for Streep, Paltrow, Judi
Dench, and Jennifer Lawrence. Among the
actors who claimed trophies under his watch
were Jean Dujardin, Colin Firth, and Michael
Caine. Unfortunately, the ruthlessness that
made him a formidable producer and awards
campaigner made him a terrifying presence to
those he preyed upon for sex.
Unlike being unable to stomach Bill Cosby
as the genial face of Cliff Huxtable onTheCosby Show or to watch a movie told from the
perspective of Roman Polanski or Woody
Allen, there’s an added degree of distance to
Weinstein as producer—but as a viewer,
there’s no ignoring that this legacy of great
films emerged from a horrible environment.
Laura Palumbo of the National Sexual
Violence Resource Center says Miramax and
TWC must be transparent about what hap-
pened and should conduct a full investigation.
“The question everybody is asking is how
could this have been happening for nearly
three decades without people believing the
victims as they came forward or putting a stop
to this inappropriate behavior?” she says.
Many in the industry could have had no idea
what was happening, but for those who did,
Palumbo says it’s never too late for them to
speak out: “They have a reach and a power
with so many audiences,” she says.
TWC bears a deeper burden. Weinstein
wasn’t fired because of what he did; he was
fired because the actions became widely
known. If the studio wants to protect its films
and filmmakers, its board should publicly
pledge a portion of the proceeds from all
back-catalog earnings to charities that protect
people from workplace abuse. Miramax, once
a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company,
should consider the same donation for its
slate of movies created during Weinstein’s
tenure, since some of this abuse took place
during that time frame. And it shouldn’t be a
one-time gift: As Palumbo says, the harass-
ment and abuse were enduring, and the sup-
port for organizations working to alleviate
and prevent such pain should be too.
After a 12-month period that saw Fox
News chair Roger Ailes resign amid sexual-
harassment allegations while Donald Trump
weathered sexual-abuse allegations to
become president, our culture’s response to
these topics has been a disturbingly mixed
bag. Let’s hope Weinstein’s precipitous and
public fall signals a real change in the climate,
so that abuse victims everywhere feel increas-
ingly safe to bring their complaints forward
and excuses like “It’s just locker-room talk”
quickly become as obsolete and inadmissible
as they ought to be.XHOLLYWOOD
STANDS UP
Stars who worked with
Weinstein speak out on his
scandal.BY JOEY NOLFIMERYL STREEP
Weinstein’sIron LadyOscar
winner called his alleged behav-
ior “inexcusable” but indicated
“the abuse of power [is] familiar.”GWYNETH PALTROW
TheShakespeare in Lovestar
refused Weinstein’s massage
requests while he was casting
Emma, something Paltrow
thought would end her career:
“I was a kid.... I was petrified.”JESSICA CHASTAIN
“The stories were everywhere,”
theLawlessactress
tweeted. “To deny that is
to create an environment for
it to happen again.”ANGELINA JOLIE
Jolie recalled a “bad experience”
involving advances after
starring in Miramax’sPlaying
by Heart:“Ichosenevertowork
with him again and warn others
when they did.”BEN AFFLECK
Good Will Hunting’s co-writer
says he’s “saddened and angry”
and finds himself “asking what
[he] can do to make sure this
doesn’t happen to others.”STREEP: CORBIS/GETTY IMAGES; JOLIE: HAROLD CUNNINGHAM/GETTY IMAGES;PALTROW: MAT HAYWARD/GETTY IMAGES/NORDSTROM; CHASTAIN: RICH FURY/GETTY IMAGES; AFFLECK: GABE GINSBERG/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
OCTOBER 20/27, 2017 EW.COM 13