By David Codrea
USA -(Ammoland.com)- “The Weinstein Co. co-founder and COO David Glasser refutes claims that the company is having money troubles, instead saying the independent studio is worth $700 million or $800 million ‘in a worst case scenario,’” The Hollywood Reporter informs its readers in a follow-up to earlier reports. “The House that Harvey and Bob built recently postponed two of releases … rais[ing] the question of whether the company is experiencing cash-flow problems.”
“One week, two films bumped to 2017 as pressure from a disgruntled board, a failed TV sale and Tarantino box office squeeze Harvey,” an earlier report noted. “In the space of a single week in July, the legendary independent film mogul’s company abruptly pushed two anticipated projects from the summer schedule to early 2017.
“More troubling is a growing chorus of industry voices – from producers to consultants to vendors to talent agents – who complain in interviews that TWC has failed to make payments and won’t respond to inquiries until specific legal threats are made,” that report continued. For a guy who claims to be so flush in funds, that could mean he’s either really not, or if he is, it would seem to be an ethics indicator.
After all, money appears to be no object when it comes to hosting a Hillary Clinton fundraiser. Then again, it wasn’t Harvey, but assorted left-wing “Hollywood A-listers” and other luminaries who ponied up $33,000 per plate at Weinstein’s New York City luxury apartment. Leave it to Harvey to serve chicken, but in fairness, there have been no reports of caterers threatening legal action to get paid.
If he really wants to prove all is fine with his board and investors, there’s one concrete step Harvey could take, one that coincidentally (?) involves another “bumped” film project that never seemed to get off the ground despite grandiose promises and threats.
Over two-and-a-half years ago, Harvey said he was going to make an anti-gun movie starring Meryl Streep. He said he was going to attack the NRA “head on.”
“They are going to wish they weren’t alive after I’m done with them,” Weinstein told Howard Stern. “I don’t think we need guns in this country, and I hate it.”
Curiously, he didn’t say if that hatred translated into disarming the bodyguards he hired because he was afraid of … uh … Scientologists. And that was “extra security” as “Weinstein had already been under close guard following a recent attempt to blackmail him.” Whether that was related to the NYPD investigation where Harvey “didn’t deny” groping a 22-year-old Italian model’s “breasts and privates” is left unsaid. The important thing is, he sent his wife flowers afterward.
But back to Harvey’s threat to make us (after all, if you’re an NRA member, he meant you) wish we weren’t alive after he’s done with us: We’re waiting.
It’s not like there are any news reports on the film’s progress—the last one I could find was from a year-and-a-half ago asking what ever happened to it. And the project has been listed as “in development,” with no other production data, on both IMDB and Movie Insider for over two years now. There are no indications of when a director – or even a screenwriter – are going to be picked, let alone get started.
Then again, if Harvey making good on his promises means anything, we’d do well to remember how long it took him to break his public pledge to Piers Morgan that he would stop making the violent movies. Those are the ones that that added so substantially to that fortune he says he’s still sitting on. It sure didn’t take long.
A likely explanation for the seemingly permanent sidelining of the Streep project: Those representing investors took one look at it and concluded green-lighting it would be nuts. As has been shown time and again – from the anemic Bloomberg bus tour to the way state initiative campaigns have been funded by the elites – grassroots Americans aren’t interested in paying for the ”privilege” of having bodyguard-protected control freaks telling them why they can’t be trusted.
The truth is, it’s the guy who opened his big mouth and made a threat he can’t back up who is afraid, as are those who have counseled him to quietly drop matters and hope no one notices. They’re terrified if Harvey proceeds, the resultant embarrassing box office flop will reveal how laughably shallow the “commitment” of the useful citizen disarmament idiots really is.
So bring it, Harvey. Reach into that “worst case scenario” $800 million stash and put on your little show. Make us wish we weren’t alive.
Come on, tough-talker. I dare you.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.