scott rudin

Big Screen

Will Miramax’s Impending Doom Signal The Death Of Studio Indies?

4:15AM Foster Kamer | The Disney-owned production house named after founders Bob and Harvey Weinsteins’ parents, Miramax, is—like Bob and Harvey’s current shop—facing tough times. But while The Weinstein Company struggles for air, Miramax is being choked out by its corporate parents. More »
Flotsam & Jetsam

Jennifer Aniston Must Compete With Gerard Butler’s War Pug

1:15AM Foster Kamer | Jennifer Aniston: now eliciting tabloid sympathy. Scott Rudin: still a dick, but a funny one who hates his mother. Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart: prisoners of the vampire kingdom, which needs to go. Winehouse: mess-y. Presenting your Monday Morning Gossip Roundup: More »

Academy Allows Four ‘Reader’ Producers — None Named ‘Scott Rudin’

6:30AM STV | We can officially cross one of this year’s must-watch Oscar subplots off our list, with the Academy announcing a rare exception of four producers for Best Picture nominee The Reader. More »

Grateful Harvey Weinstein Cultivates Fragile Mogul Peace With Scott Rudin

4:53AM STV | When we awoke this morning to discover California hadn’t yet crashed into the sea, we had little choice but to acknowledge that the culturally cataclysmic worst was behind us. Another profound symbol of recovery arrived shortly thereafter, when we heard that Harvey Weinstein actually paid tribute to exiled Reader producer Scott Rudin at the film’s premiere Wednesday night.

‘Reader’ Trailer Drops as Kate Winslet Craves Oscar in ‘Vanity Fair’

3:45AM STV | The Reader may still require a month’s worth of round-the-clock editing under armed guard, but the Kate Winslet drama has at last yielded a trailer to remind us that there is an Oscar-hopeful under all those layers of Harvey Weinstein-Scott Rudin ego-crisis. And like last week’s not-embarrassing Valkyrie teaser, the preview assures us that its prestige creds are in place, thus setting the table for the next phase of its awards campaign, “Getting Winslet to Say Anything Positive About It At All.” Though the Rudin loyalist spends most of her time in a new interview with Vanity Fair promoting her and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Revolutionary Road, there is the modest admission that “you bet your fucking ass” she wants an Oscar this year: More »

Casualties Mount in Scott Rudin’s ‘Reader’ Implosion

5:45AM STV | If the plot isn’t exactly thickening today around Scott Rudin’s exit from The Reader, it’s at least sustaining a low, convoluted simmer. Still nobody knows for sure the specific reasons for Rudin’s move beyond the obvious, routine desire to gut Harvey Weinstein with a letter opener, but looking forward, a few new clues suggest the Oscar-season bloodbath has a while before it’s drained.

BREAKING: Scott Rudin Yanks His Name From ‘The Reader’

10:50AM STV | We don’t always know what to believe anymore when it comes to The Reader, but after a turbulent period of fighting, making up, gossip-page ensnarement and a charity payout, no one watching the tormented relationship between Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein could have realistically expected it to survive another two months leading up the release of their troubled Kate Winslet drama. And right on cue, that eerie silence of the last week is ended this afternoon when Rudin reportedly stripped his name from the Oscar hopeful, citing irreconcilable differences — among other things.

Bet-Losing Harvey Weinstein Spends First $1 Million on ‘Reader’ Oscar Campaign

1:05AM STV | No distance seems far enough, no HazMat suit thick enough to defend against the radioactivity let off by Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin’s toxic Reader mess. This morning we’re getting an idea of the clean-up cost for both parties — none more prohibitive than Harvey’s, who today pledged $1 million to charity if Nikki Finke could turn up Rudin’s alleged e-mail accusing him of “harrassing” ailing Reader co-producer Sydney Pollack for a 2008 release date. Even Rudin told Page Six: “That is not my e-mail. The contents of it are categorically untrue.” Those gambits could have gone a lot better, as both men were soon to discover.

Peace at Last! Scott Rudin and Harvey Weinstein Slate ‘Reader’ For ‘08

10:00PM STV | After a brief but concentrated period of friction over the release date for their Oscar-bait drama The Reader, Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin issued a joint statement late Sunday confirming the film would arrive in theatres Dec. 12, 2008. Thus anticlimactically ended Rudin/Weinstein Death Match II, their first since The Hours, another Stephen Daldry film that endured a litany of tweaks and torment coming down to the awards-season wire in 2002. While Defamer scorekeepers last week favoured Rudin in the tilt, a late flurry of Weinstein jabs sent the superproducer reeling to the canvas — or maybe not quite the canvas, but at least a sort of easy détente few saw coming when Harvey insisted on receiving Daldry’s first edit a week from today. Let alone Rudin’s congested awards roster also including Doubt and Revolutionary Road, the latter of which positions Reader star Kate Winslet in a potential race against herself for Best Actress.

Harvey’s Peril Worsens as MGM Drops ‘Zack and Miri’ and Rest of Weinstein Slate

8:55AM STV | The three-year distribution match made in heaven the mildly optimistic spirit of convenience between MGM and the Weinstein Company was set to expire at the end of this year, but the Lion isn’t waiting around to box up the furniture. A day after Kevin Smith’s associates blogged that MGM had yanked its logo from the marketing materials for Zack and Miri Make a Porno — one of the few remaining titles it planned to distribute for the Weinsteins — new reports have surfaced saying that MGM has dumped everything but the Sam Jackson/Bernie Mac effort Soul Men back on Harvey’s lap. And yes, that includes The Reader, which Harvey wants for Dec. 12 despite his mortal mogul Scott Rudin’s insistence otherwise. Gasp! What now?