THE AWARDS EDITION 2011-2012

Vertigo has been used in many other movies. Terry Gilliamused it in 12 Monkeys. Ludovic Bource composed 80minutes of original music. Most of my other movies have40, 50 minutes of original music. He won the EuropeanFilm Award; he’s won awards everywhere for this and Iwould hate to think that that could hurt him. …A|l: You mentioned The Artist being about a guy who is on top andfalls. You had some rough years after leaving Disney, and there you arewith the best picture winner The King’s Speech and now TheArtist. How are you different this time around?WEINSTEIN: People always say mogul. I don’t feel that way.I read books, I read scripts, I’m involved in politics.The description always falls into, two-fisted mogul, butreally, what happens the second time around is, you justappreciate all of it. I asked Cameron Diaz how she wasfeeling at the Golden Globes ® and she said, ‘blessed,we are blessed to be able to do this for as long as wecan.’ Steven Spielberg also talked to me about beingable to do this for as long as he can. I feel that in thesecond incarnation, I’m blessed too. I’m mellower;I laugh more. Meryl Streep [said in her GoldenGlobes ® acceptance speech that] I’m God; three of mydaughters sent me simultaneous emails and they eachwrote, “Ha!” And hours later, the cast of The Artist,who had been incredibly punctual and done anythingI asked, celebrated and they were a little too inebriatedto do the Today Show at 4:30 in the morning. They hadalready built this set for The Artist and said, ‘we’ll takeHarvey and the dog.’ I think it was the dog and Harvey,actually. So, between worrying about the dog wanting topoop, and my kids making fun of me, I did not feel likea deity of any sort.A|l: What do you see as The Artist’s strongest competition for bestpicture and what 2011 movies did you love?WEINSTEIN: I don’t look at it as a competition on the moviesbut I can tell you which 2011 movies I loved. I lovedSteven Spielberg’s War Horse. The second to last shotof the movie, with the horse going up the hill, cominghome? That’s Lawrence of Arabia and The Searchers, the spiritof David Lean or John Ford. Nobody does that anymore,and it took my breath away. Steven’s skill-set with theactors and the command of his visuals are incredible. Iloved Hugo, my kids all read the book and when I tookthem, they loved it too. I loved The Descendants. Anyfather of teenage girls that doesn’t like the ending ofthat movie is nuts. Alexander Payne and I have fourdaughters. Tintin I saw in London and that was incrediblyenjoyable and better to see it there because the characteris so popular it was like watching a Bruce Lee movie. Ithought Puss in Boots was just classic animation.My second job is politics, and Clooney’s movie, TheIdes of March, that movie was so realistic, it’s almosta documentary. I never expected The Girl With Thew.e.from left to right, langmann, dujardin, bejo, weinstein at bfi london film festivalDragon Tattoo to be so romantic. The original Swedishmovie was good, but this was better because RooneyMara’s Lisbeth Salander broke my heart. To me, thekey is how great Daniel Craig is. If you don’t love him,Salander doesn’t work at all. He’s so much more powerfulthan the Swedish actor and he’s the center strength andselflessness of the movie, so when he walks off with RobinWright, I’m thinking, why am I welling up at DragonTattoo? That’s Fincher’s great skill. I loved Moneyball.Brad Pitt’s out of this world, and Jonah Hill and PhilipSeymour Hoffman. Ridiculously good.A|l: W.E. won best song at the Globes ® , but critics have been harsh[It received one Oscar ® nomination, for costume design.]. Yourrelationship with Madonna goes back to Truth or Dare. What didyou see in the film when you acquired it at Cannes?WEINSTEIN: Of all the movies this year that have gottena bad shake from the critics, this is the one. And Ithink it’s Madonna. I think they see the personalitybehind the film. You have extraordinary performancesin the movie. Nobody can say Andrea Riseboroughisn’t absolutely brilliant and one of our emerginggreat actresses. And the rest of the cast is great. Thesetting, the lighting, the costumes, all of which isMadonna’s vision. And the music, the ballsiness toput The Sex Pistols into a period piece. I wanted to© getty imagestake the adventure with her. She did a damn good joband she’s getting a bad shake from people. The greatthing about sending out the DVDs is, you get audiencereaction, unfiltered and with no critics in front of themovie. People call me all the time and go, 'Wow, Ireally enjoyed it'. So, if it wasn’t Madonna, if it wasJoe Smith this movie would be getting three stars andas far as the director we would be saying 'Wow, this is atalent to watch and a movie you should see'. Of course,Madonna’s line is, ‘I don’t want to be Joe Smith.’A|l: When you have rival performers like Meryl Streep for TheIron Lady and Michelle Williams for My Week WithMarilyn, how do you balance it so you don’t appear to be servingone over the other?WEINSTEIN: You just do your job. These are two elegantwomen. And Michelle’s so excited to hang out withMeryl Streep in the first place. I’ve done a bunch ofmovies with Michelle. She hates when I talk about it, butmy brother actually did a Halloween movie, and she wasactually good in H20 with Jamie Lee Curtis. I picked upThe Station Agent, and then Blue Valentine. Now, she just wonthe Golden Globe ® and 10 critics’ awards. She’s prettyhappy. As for Meryl, she’s not a campaigner at all; andLord knows I’ve tried. What blows my mind is that shehasn’t won the Oscar ® in 29 years. She won in 1982 forSophie’s Choice and in ’79 for Kramer vs. Kramer. So, she’s onlywon a supporting actor and she won an actress awardand has been nominated a lot of times. People think she’sup for her sixth Oscar ® , and you remind them there arepeople with more Oscars ® than Meryl Streep. I’ve donefive movies with Meryl; I’ve never seen her prouder of amovie than this and she had a great deal to do with thismovie, too, behind the scenes.A|l: You were rough and tumble the first time around as you built yourcompany. How about now?WEINSTEIN: I would say this. I think it’s important that thereis strength across the independent film sector. You talkedabout the problems these movies have being seen. I thinkwe should help each other more. I’m happy to go througha list of movies and talk about great films that I saw thisyear. If I was a threat at Miramax, I guarantee I’m nothreat now. I’m Harvey without the bow and arrow.There are no more arrows in my quiver. •