At the Golden Globes, one name was honoured again and again, and it was not anyone really “famous.” Instead, Harvey Weinstein, awards season kingmaker and notorious Hollywood producer, was thanked five separate times; with Madonna dubbing him, “The Punisher,” and Meryl Streep even calling him, “God.”
Harvey, president of The Weinstein Company, and former head of Miramax, dominated the 69th annual Golden Globes, winning six statues, including Best Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Oscar frontrunner, The Artist. Tonight at the Academy Awards, his golden reign will continue, as will the mythology of his Hollywood divinity.
So, what’s the deal?
Harvey is a non-movie star, but still subject of a series of many profiles, including an “unauthorized” documentary by Toronto’s own Barry Avrich.
He’s a master promoter, and an over-the-top showman, whose brash outspokenness often leads to more harm than good — well, at least in the press. Yet, he has an eye for talent and crossover hits, aligning himself with smaller, independent movies; selling them as great, American stories.
Above all, he’s a classic New Yorker who is pushy, knows what he wants, and will do anything to succeed.
Harvey, along with his press-shy brother Bob, have been behind a number of the biggest small-time-to-big-time stories in Hollywood for years, including Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction, Chicago, and last year’s big Oscar winner, The King’s Speech.
Moreover, Harvey is credited with inventing the Oscar campaign. In 1999, Harvey cemented his reputation as a relentless Hollywood heavyweight, when his then-studio Miramax spent $5-million campaigning for Shakespeare in Love; astronomical compared to the then-average of $2-million. Many credit Love famously beating out Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture to Harvey’s ruthless hard-sell of the film.
Since then, his in-your-face marketing strategies of films that would have otherwise not attracted such a large audience, has been co-opted by rival studios.
This year, he is championing The Artist, The Iron Lady, My Week with Marilyn, W.E., and the Oscar-nominated documentary, Undefeated.
The Artist, a black-and-white silent movie with unknown French leads, and a French writer-director originally seemed to be his toughest sell yet, but now it looks unstoppable.
How did he do it?
1) From the start, he sold The Artist as a uniquely American story. Sure, the leads may be French, but in every interview, Harvey hammered that the film was shot entirely in Los Angeles, using an American crew, for a pint-sized $14-million budget.
2) According to an interview with the Associated Press, it is the “funniest movie of the year. It’s so richly, bloody entertaining.” A master-brander, he is selling the movie as more than a love letter to old Hollywood, but also as an accessible film, full of pratfalls, and a very, very cute Jack Russell Terrier named Uggy. The cast of the film rarely makes an appearance without the scene-stealing dog, and after all, isn’t one of the oldest tricks in the book to, ‘when all else fails,’ direct the audience’s attention to a trained animal performing adorable tricks?
3) With almost everything working against it, The Artist became an extension of his brand as a producer, that of an ambitious risk-taker who takes chances on talent. Harvey appeared on NPR in December to talk about the film, and said, his investment in the movie was a way to step away from “the same old” blockbuster; a uniqueness to the story that could not be clearer in the film’s marketing.
4) A David vs. Goliath story. The Artist’s marketing pushed it as a charming underdog, using its unknown leads to promote the strength of its story, when compared to typical epic juggernauts or Oscar bait, like War Horse.
5) Push the leads to build their American brand based on charm and humour, two universal concepts. Take a look, for example, at Jean Dujardin’s Funny or Die video, or how he flew into New York to do a quick dancing spot on Saturday Night Live right before hopping on a flight to the UK for the BAFTAs.
So, do not be surprised when once again, Harvey becomes the most-thanked person at the Oscars tonight. He’s earned it. Just ask Paul Rudd.
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This is the third of four articles in our Toronto Standard Oscar Crash Course series.
Toronto Standard’s Oscar predictions
Why TIFF (and Toronto) deserve the most Oscar bragging rights
Oscars 2012: A final five list of possible upsets, and snubs that still sting
Joanna Adams is a reporter for Toronto Standard. She obsesses about the Academy Awards year-round, and her favourite Oscar host is David Letterman.
Join the Toronto Standard on Sunday as Joanna Adams, Jessica Carroll, and Scott MacDonald live blog the Academy Awards. Or, watch alongside them at 7 p.m. on CTV, or ABC.
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