21 November 2013

Weinstein bails on Canberra

| johnboy
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weinstein

The SMH has the bombshell news that Harvey Weinstein is standing Canberra up and won’t be coming for the huge celebrations being planned for him.

When we hear more on the impacts of this we’ll let you know but we’re hearing the events are being shelved.

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Lookout Smithers said :

Masquara said :

Looks like Weinstein simply blew Australia off and told a porkie.

Far from banned from flying (and first-class travel negates thrombosis risk) , he flew to Zurich at the end of September; back to the US then off to the London Film Festival for a week in mid October; at a film opening in LA end October; White House film screening November 7; back to LA to appear on Piers Morgan November 14; then back to New York two nights ago.

Not much evidence of convalescence following a knee operation in among that schedule!

Banned wasn’t a term used. Even if it was a farce, he will be back for the event next year unless the sponsors acquit themselves. None of the claims you make with regard to HW whereabouts are in dispute. That isn’t any evidence that is adverse to his reason for cancelling attendance at the Canberra event? Is it? Im not sure what you are leading to with the ‘Nazi Sympathiser’ comment. Weinstein is Jewish, any reasonable person is unlikely to sympathise with the Nazis, even more so someone raised in a Jewish family. I don’t understand why you are taking any joy in the cancellation of the event. It is a real blow for the CIFF, and Canberra. Lucky we have you and the bling ring to find out if he is just faking eh.

Have another think, and don’t invite him back. He blew you off (rude!) because he hadn’t realised the Kennedy anniversary was coinciding with the planned visit. It was convenient to haul out his knees as an excuse. One that didn’t wash, as my little googling minute exposed, because he WAS travelling throughout the time when the supposed knee operation took place.

And yes, he’s Jewish, so who knows why he funded and distributed W.E., a film pretending to be a factual account, but that denied Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII’s roles in WWII – they weren’t actually just Nazi supporters, but traitors. That’s why they had to be sent to the Carribean. Basically, HW behaves like a piece of sh*t and, as I said, it’s good that he never disgraced our city! Anyway, New Yorkers are a pain. Get someone from the west coast!

Lookout Smithers7:06 pm 27 Nov 13

Masquara said :

Looks like Weinstein simply blew Australia off and told a porkie.

Far from banned from flying (and first-class travel negates thrombosis risk) , he flew to Zurich at the end of September; back to the US then off to the London Film Festival for a week in mid October; at a film opening in LA end October; White House film screening November 7; back to LA to appear on Piers Morgan November 14; then back to New York two nights ago.

Not much evidence of convalescence following a knee operation in among that schedule!

Banned wasn’t a term used. Even if it was a farce, he will be back for the event next year unless the sponsors acquit themselves. None of the claims you make with regard to HW whereabouts are in dispute. That isn’t any evidence that is adverse to his reason for cancelling attendance at the Canberra event? Is it? Im not sure what you are leading to with the ‘Nazi Sympathiser’ comment. Weinstein is Jewish, any reasonable person is unlikely to sympathise with the Nazis, even more so someone raised in a Jewish family. I don’t understand why you are taking any joy in the cancellation of the event. It is a real blow for the CIFF, and Canberra. Lucky we have you and the bling ring to find out if he is just faking eh.

Looks like Weinstein simply blew Australia off and told a porkie.

Far from banned from flying (and first-class travel negates thrombosis risk) , he flew to Zurich at the end of September; back to the US then off to the London Film Festival for a week in mid October; at a film opening in LA end October; White House film screening November 7; back to LA to appear on Piers Morgan November 14; then back to New York two nights ago.

Not much evidence of convalescence following a knee operation in among that schedule!

voytek3 said :

I don’t blame him. Why would anyone with half a brain actually make the conscious decision to come to Canberra. It is arguably a bigger hole than the Gold Coast, has less culture than a small tub of yogurt and the people here live in such a narrow bubble it is breathtaking.

I hafta say that I appreciate your ongoing engagement with the Canberra community, and the uninhibited manner in which you express the evident joy that you experience from living here.

It’s a real breath of fresh air!

Lookout Smithers said :

Masquara said :

Suckers! He was fine to travel to the Kennedy Center last night for an appearance! No knee trouble or evidence of a recent knee op!

Body of work were already aware of that big guy. I have his Itinerary for the last week up till tues evening for him. Trust me. The contracts were done as one would have thought for a guest this size. On a plane was the event last night? Noooooo. Shhhh up now, and why would you say suckers as if to say you are happy about it? You sound like someone with a great idea for a film.

Little guy, looks as though you didn’t have his Wednesday night or Thursday night programs, however! Like, the relevant bits. In any case, very happy to have the guy responsible for the W.E. ‘movie’ glorifying Nazi sympathies never, ever come to Canberra.

I don’t blame him. Why would anyone with half a brain actually make the conscious decision to come to Canberra. It is arguably a bigger hole than the Gold Coast, has less culture than a small tub of yogurt and the people here live in such a narrow bubble it is breathtaking.

Lookout Smithers1:20 am 23 Nov 13

Masquara said :

Suckers! He was fine to travel to the Kennedy Center last night for an appearance! No knee trouble or evidence of a recent knee op!

Body of work were already aware of that big guy. I have his Itinerary for the last week up till tues evening for him. Trust me. The contracts were done as one would have thought for a guest this size. On a plane was the event last night? Noooooo. Shhhh up now, and why would you say suckers as if to say you are happy about it? You sound like someone with a great idea for a film.

Suckers! He was fine to travel to the Kennedy Center last night for an appearance! No knee trouble or evidence of a recent knee op!

I really read that headline as Weinstein balls on Canberra. This made me remember my favourite thread EVAH:

But I can’t find the link! It was about painted balls for Christmas with jolly messages. It really put the fat into fatuous. Does anyone else remember? Or have I finally lost it?

Lookout Smithers7:23 pm 22 Nov 13

I’ll tell you I have been here all week coordinating the transport and such for this event and was going to be his driver for the 25 hours he was going to be here. In the last few months I have had more problems and incidents with Talent that Im starting to think all the big names are in fact Precious little gems and putting on the down to earth facade to keep their life style flush. All week I would hear this and that about demands, private jets bla bla bla. So I was not surprised by the news at all and was suspicious about the legitimacy of the claim too. But its all above board and Im satisfied by what was provided. Its a huge blow for the event producers and Canberra too. I got to be here for a week though so Im still stoked.

Dr. Andrew Feldman, Weinstein’s physician, adds, “After Mr. Weinstein’s recent fall, he needs an immediate operation which, of course, he refuses as he still wants to go to Australia. Our fear is that the thirty hour flight can cause a blood cot – deep vein thrombosis – and we’re absolutely insisting in no uncertain terms that he does not take the trip and instead treats his knee.”

I’m not sure what he did to his knee, but that seems like a good enough reason to me. But I hear he eats babies.

Postalgeek said :

But all the punters think they know better.

No, it’s the late notice that’s the problem. If he’d let people know that he was going to have a knee operation, they might have rescheduled it to a date that would suit him better. It’s the fact that this event was so low on his priority list that he didn’t bother doing anything about it until the last minute, that shows what contempt he has for this place.

Holden Caulfield2:55 pm 22 Nov 13

Postalgeek said :

But all the punters think they know better.

They always do. You should be reading BigFooty or your club footy forum of choice today, the day after the AFL draft, haha.

Postalgeek-correct me if I’m wrong but the press release quoted ‘knee injury’ not ‘knee surgery’- something of a critical distinction I would have thought.

FFS The bloke’s just had a knee operation and faces the very real threat of clotting in the leg. Thirty hours on a plane is a recipe for DVT or pulmonary embolism and sudden death half-way over the Pacific, and he probably hasn’t had a chance to naturalise on Wafarin.

But all the punters think they know better.

What a crock- what a girls blouse this self- important jerk has proven himself to be- knee injury !- they have these things called wheelchairs that you can even use on planes- I recall there was an American President who was in one fulltime- to pike on this event at the 11th hour and blow out that many people for the sake of an inconvenient issue like that is a measure of the disregard this blowfish has for this country and the Australian acting fraternity- perhaps the event was misguided in the first place- but a character check on Mr Smallbeer (literal translation?) would have been a good idea…

Is Skywhale available to fill in for him? There are some similar bulges, folds and creases between the two and they’re both full of hot air.

Holden Caulfield said :

TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said “It’s with great disappointment that doctors’ orders force me to cancel my plans to be in Australia due to a knee injury.

How is that not a reasonable excuse?

It’s not like he would have been carrying his own bags and sitting in economy.

The more I think about it, there are two things at play here.

1. Weinstein is a self-important prick who can’t be bothered to come to an event that was organised simply to celebrate him. If it had mattered to him, a knee injury wouldn’t have stopped him. According to the website, some of Australia’s biggest film stars, plus Rachel Griffiths, were to be in attendance (apologies for that joke if she’s a relative of yours johnboy).

2. The energy that has gone into the creation of this hagiographic event was misguided, and smacks of energetic Canberrans trying to create something of international relevance in this town, but toward the wrong figure. Obviously Canberra is the capital, which is why we graciously receive/endure visits from people like Mr Obama and Mrs Windsor. But really, Harvey Weinstein? Nobody cares about the producers of a film, and for good reason. Sure, his studio enabled a bunch of indie films to get off the ground that otherwise might not have, but in the end, who is really interested in where the money comes from, as long as the movie gets made? Obviously the funding is no small thing, but why does it matter who’s organised it? Only because their name appears near the director’s (and above those of other important people involved) in the credits.

Judging from the number of witty “Who?” comments above and in the other threads about this event, most non-film nerds don’t know or care who this person is. But Canberrans aren’t that deluded to know that a festival dedicated to the Coen brothers or Paul Thomas Anderson wouldn’t have the necessary dedicated following in the bush capital to make it worthwhile. Someone like Weinstein, though, with his professional connection to some of these legends of cinema is apparently enough to merit a festival to celebrate his existence.

So it’s a shame for those involved that Weinstein couldn’t be bothered acknowledging the people of Australia doing something nice for him, but in the end why were we bothering to celebrate the life of some rich film executive anyway?

This must be crushing for those involved! The inaugural Body of Work festival, and the subject doesn’t even show up.

johnboy said :

I’m imagining it went down something like this…

However, considering that johnboy’s insight is almost certainly what happened, you can sort of see the funny side of it.

Tim33 said :

Well I don’t like him anymore.

You’ve made yourself a very powerful enemy, Weinstein. Snub Canberra at your peril…

Holden Caulfield3:54 pm 21 Nov 13

http://www.bodyofwork.org.au/

TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said “It’s with great disappointment that doctors’ orders force me to cancel my plans to be in Australia due to a knee injury. I was incredibly excited to take part in the Canberra Body of Work weekend and humbled to accept the festival’s generous honor. I know a tremendous amount of hard work and man power has gone into the planning and orchestration of the event, and I cannot express my appreciation enough to all those who took part. My sincerest thanks to the Body of Work festival for their understanding and continued support.

Well I don’t like him anymore. I must admit I only first heard about him on Barcham’s post regarding the competition.

It is his loss though. Seriously imagine being rich and coming here for a weekend, you could see the sights of Canberra – then go to Sydney and spend some ca$h to sample the high life there, maybe pick up a beautiful Aussie blonde groupie or three. Better than any other country.

I’m imagining it went down something like this seeing as it’s Wednesday in the US:

“Mr Weinstein it’s time to get your plane to Australia”

“Get the plane? But I’m only going for the weekend”

“Well yes sir but they’re a day ahead and it takes 16 hours to fly”

“Well screw that”.

Or maybe he thought he was getting an award at the Capital of Austria?

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