It seems fallen movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is about to fall even lower. Regarding the recent allegations made by Salma Hayek, who released an op-ed in the New York Times detailing accostment from Weinstein, he denies doing any of it.
The op-ed TIMES explains the difficulties she had to face to get a movie role she was very passionate about making, while at the same time spurring the sexual advances of a man who used to be one of Hollywood’s top producers. Hayek claims Weinstein made multiple unwanted advances, forced her to film a full-frontal nude lesbian sex scene, and suffered psychological and emotional abuse.
Weinstein’s statement, published by USA TODAY, his spokeswoman, Holly Baird, essentially calls Salma a liar. It begins trying to gloss over the fact that after filming Frida, Hayek never landed a starring role with Weinstein ever again.
“Mr. Weinstein regards Salma Hayek as a first-class and cast her in several of his movies, among them Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Dogma and Studio 54. He was very proud of her Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Frida and continues to support her work.”
It then goes on to justify threatening to take the Frida role away from Salma and discrediting the portrayal of him as someone who was always trying to sabotage the film in Hayek’s op-ed.
“While Jennifer Lopez was interested in playing Frida and at the time was a bigger star, Mr. Weinstein overruled other investors to back Salma as the lead. Miramax put up half of the money and all of the P&A; the budget was over 12 million. As in most collaborative projects, there was creative friction on Frida, but it served to drive the project to perfection. The movie opened in multiple theaters and was supported by a huge advertising campaign and an enormous Academy Awards budget.”
He flat out denies pressuring Salma and all allegations she made against him.
“Mr. Weinstein does not recall pressuring Salma to do a gratuitous sex scene with a female costar and he was not there for the filming. All of the sexual allegations as portrayed by Salma are not accurate and others who witnessed the events have a different account of what transpired.”
And finally, the statement gives another explanation behind lashing out after Frida’s test screening.
“His boorish behavior following a screening of Frida was prompted by his disappointment in the cut of the movie – a reason he took a firm hand in the final edit, alongside the very skilled director Julie Taymor.”
Hayek has yet to respond to Weinstein’s rebuttal.
This article was inspired by USA TODAY // Harvey Weinstein responds to Salma Hayek calling him her ‘monster.’