If there was a list of the most infamous people in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein would undoubtedly top the list. With his records of crimes and allegations imposed against him, the former film producer is nothing less than a disgrace to the industry. Although he is currently spending his time in jail for his 23-year prison sentence, the r-pe and assault convict was renowned for making ‘excessive demands’ of those directors whose movies he produced, which had to be inevitably met.
One director, however, stood up to the disgrace of the man and even intimidated him with a samurai sword after the ex-producer threatened to destroy his $169 million masterpiece. This filmmaker was none other than the legendary Hayao Miyazaki.
Hayao Miyazaki Got Harvey Weinstein To Comply With Him By Threatening Him With A Samurai Sword
Hayao Miyazaki is nothing less than a masterpiece himself. An animator, manga artist, and director, he is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, the famous Japanese filmmaking studio in the entire animation industry. Being the talented filmmaker he is, he decided not to put up with Harvey Weinstein’s absurdly excessive demands, unlike other directors.
This dates back to 1996 when Studio Ghibli affirmed a deal with Disney for releasing English dubbed versions of the superhit animes. One such film, Princess Mononoke, was assigned to Weinstein’s Miramax, and Miyazaki had to collaborate with the infamous producer for the movie.
But unlike others, the Spirited Away director was clever enough not to be fooled by Weinstein’s intimidation. Thus, he sent a samurai sword to the producer with a note that read ‘no cuts’ as soon as the latter demanded that the movie be cut from 135 minutes to a mere 90 minutes. This enraged Weinstein, and he said to the former executive of Studio Ghibli, Steve Alpert,
“If you don’t get [Miyazaki] to cut the f–king film, you will never work in this f–king industry again! Do you f–king understand me? Never!”
However, all the rights to the movie remained with Miyazaki, and Harvey Weinstein could do nothing but ‘bombard’ the director with threats that could never come true. Nonetheless, the filmmaker’s decision stood and his $169 million worth masterpiece was also released accordingly. Years later, Miyazaki even proudly stated that he ‘defeated’ Weinstein in the movie. True that!
The Time When Bong Joon-Ho Had To Lie To Harvey Weinstein To Keep A Scene
Years after the release of Princess Mononoke, the former producer was working on the film Snowpiercer with director Bong Joon-Ho. There was a scene in the movie where a train guard had to gut a fish to intimidate a group of rebels, and Weinstein didn’t like it. Recalling the situation, the filmmaker said,
“Harvey hated it. [He said] ‘Why fish? We need action!’ I had a headache in that moment: ‘What do I do?’ So suddenly, I said, ‘Harvey, this shot means something to me. It’s something personal. My father was a fisherman. I’m dedicating this shot to my father.’ It was a f–king lie. My father was not a fisherman.”
Just like that, he too managed to keep the scene that had a personal significance to him, but only at the cost of a lie. Yet another infamous act of the convicted criminal that is more than enough to drive anyone crazy!
You can watch Princess Mononoke on Netflix.
Source: Far Out Magazine
