There have been many actors and directors who have come across the path of Harvey Weinstein. Amongst these names also includes Bong Joon-ho and Hayao Miyazaki. Not many have had the power to face him. His reputation has gone down the drain because of all the accusations put against him and since then, many filmmakers, and actors have stepped forward to share their own experiences with the disgraced director.
Out of the many people who were forced to be quiet, there were many who chose to speak up about how he treated them and how they fought back. Not many could tolerate what he tried to get away with and stood against him. One such filmmaker was Hayao Miyazaki.
Hayao Miyazaki Gifted Harvey Weinstein A Sword
Hayao Miyazaki is the director of Ghibli Studios, best known for works like Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. The studio has done some amazing projects which have been visually very appealing, making Miyazaki one of the most renowned filmmakers in Japan. One particular movie that he was making was Princess Mononoke. The film was to have a worldwide release and the person in charge for the United States release was none other than Harvey Weinstein.
“Actually, my producer did that. Although I did go to New York to meet this man, this Harvey Weinstein, and I was bombarded with this aggressive attack, all these demands for cuts.” He smiles. “I defeated him.”
Miyazaki had reportedly gifted him a sword, a katana to be precise. Although he later revealed that it had been a gesture from his producer. He added that he did end up meeting Weinstein. There was a message attached to the katana which read, “No cuts.” However, the day he met him, he ended up learning about how the director had done exactly that. The katana was sent as a warning, one which Weinstein ignored. Ultimately Miyazaki got his way, removing any cuts that were made by the director.
Bong Joon-ho’s Disagreements with Harvey Weinstein
There was a lot of back and forth when Bong Joon-ho and Harvey Weinstein collaborated on a project. The two got together to make Snowpiercer and the result seemed to be something the former was not very happy with. The director never made any unnecessary cuts in his movie and wanted to make sure the same did not happen for Snowpiercer either. However, Weinstein was a force to be reckoned with.
“It’s something personal. My father was a fisherman. I’m dedicating this shot to my father.”
Every shot Joon-ho wanted was cut by Weinstein so he knew that the only way he could get his shots in was by lying to the director. He told the director that a scene with the fisherman was significant to his father and Weinstein melted with that idea. That was not the case at all as Bong Joon-ho completely lied to get his way.
Source: The Guardian
