Harvey Weinstein is currently in prison serving a well deserved sentence for abusing women, and in comparison to that this story seems trivial. But it turns out that when Peter Jackson fell out with Weinstein, he had an orc specifically designed to resemble him.
So, Lord of the Rings (the movie) star Elijah Wood was talking on the Armchair Expert podcast and confirmed the story. Basically, Weinstein’s company Miramax owned the rights to the Lord of the Rings and Weinstein was arguing with director Peter Jackson over the direction. Such big arguments, Jackson asked if he could try and find another company.
The Hollywood Reporter quotes presenter Dax Shepherd on what happened next: “Miramax said, ‘We will only give it back to you in turnaround, but two things have to happen. One: You have to go get it set up this weekend. And two: Whoever agrees has to agree to make all three at once…”
“The window of time was insane,” Wood added. “They shopped it around town. Peter made a pitch video that’s pretty impressive, taken to a variety of places. Most people were balking at the notion of doing more than one film. The popular opinion was, ‘No, you have to see how [the initial movie] does and then invest the rest of your money.’” And three at once? “An incredible risk. Miramax thought there was no chance in hell.”
But of course New Line Cinema did the deal and it went ahead. And then from Wood: “And one of the orc masks — and I remember this vividly — was designed to look like Harvey Weinstein as a sort of a fuck you… I think that is OK to talk about now, the guy is fucking incarcerated. Fuck him.”
0 Comments