The former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein did not seem to have a great reputation even before he was convicted for his actions. Before landing a huge deal with Disney, he and his brother Bob Weinstein founded an independent distribution company Miramax, where he worked with the Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. Miramax produced and distributed Jackson’s 1994 Oscar-nominated film Heavenly Creatures.
However, when the filmmaker approached him with plans regarding a live-action adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy, the former producer put in some conditions and even threatened to replace him as director if he refused to follow them.
Harvey Weinstein Suggested New Plan For The Lord of the Rings
Starting with the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, it developed into one of the most popular franchises in Hollywood. Following The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson directed the prequel series, The Hobbit, starring Martin Freeman.
However, the franchise that grossed over $5 billion collectively at the box office was almost canceled due to budgetary issues. In a conversation with The Independent, Peter Jackson’s manager, Ken Kamins, revealed that Disney had set a budget limit for Harvey Weinstein‘s Miramax.
The King Kong director had reportedly planned two films under the adaptation and was looking forward to filming them “back-to-back.” However, considering that the “director was not exactly an A-list name,” the studio did not want to risk investing too much money into the 2001 movie.
However, seems like Weinstein was not ready to let go of the director or his plans, as he advised him to make one two-and-a-half-hour film instead of two. His advice soon took a more menacing tone as he threatened to replace Jackson with Quentin Tarantino if he was unable to follow through.
Harvey Weinstein Challenged Peter Jackson
Further talking about Harvey Weinstein, Ken Kamins shared that after he suggested cutting short their plans to one The Lord of the Rings movie, they demanded a window to shop it to a different studio. Unlike the standard timeframe of six to twelve months, he gave a mere three weeks to shop the project.
While the former producer expected them to fail and come back to him, things turned out pretty well for Jackson. Producer at New Line Cinema Mark Ordesky was familiar with the filmmaker’s work and vouched for the Braindead director within the production company.
The founder of New Line Cinema was immediately into it and even suggested doing three films instead of two, saying, “There are three books, why are you only making two films?” Kamins shared that Weinstein was stunned by the news. “He set us up to fail and expected us to fail,” he shared.
The Lord of the Rings franchise is available on Max.
Source: The Independent
