Harvey Weinstein Denies Peter Jackson’s Assertion He Blacklisted Ashley Judd & Mira Sorvino
Harvey Weinstein isn’t speaking directly to defend against the myriad sexual assault allegations leveled by dozens of women which fomented a movement that brought down the careers of numerous men, and permeated the zeitgeist to the point women are wearing black at the Golden Globes to shine a light on the seriousness of the sexual harassment problem that had for so long been swept under the rug and settled with hush hush payouts and non disclosure agreements. Through a spokeswoman, Weinstein is disputing today’s story about Peter Jackson’s recollection that Weinstein told the director that Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino were nightmares to work with, while Jackson was putting together casting lists for The Lord Of The Rings. This was before Miramax ultimately was denied permission to make the film by Disney, and put it into turnaround. Here is the statement by his publicist:
“Mr. Weinstein has nothing but the utmost respect for Peter Jackson. However, as Mr. Jackson will probably remember, because Disney would not finance the Lord of the Rings, Miramax lost the project and all casting was done by New Line.
While Bob and Harvey Weinstein were executive producers of the film they had no input into the casting whatsoever.
Secondly, until Ashley Judd wrote a piece for Variety two years ago, no one at the Company knew that she had a complaint and she was cast in two other films by Mr. Weinstein [Frida and Crossing Over] and Mira Sorvino was always considered for other films as well.
There was no indication that Mira Sorvino had any issues until Mr. Weinstein read about the complaints in the news.
As recently as this year, Mira Sorvino called Mr. Weinstein and asked if her husband could be part of the SEAL television series [Six] he was producing and Mr. Weinstein cast him; when Christopher Backus received a better offer, Mr. Weinstein allowed him to amicably break his contact to pursue the opportunity.”
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Peter Jackson Rebukes Harvey Weinstein's Denial On Ashley Judd & Mira Sorvino
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