Page Six reports that no less than Harvey Weinstein, producer of “The Hateful Eight,” has joined much of the rest of the world in expressing his anger at director Quentin Tarantino’s anti-cop hate rhetoric. According to the report, Weinstein, who probably has close to $80 million invested in the three-hour Western, is “desperate” for “Tarantino to apologize, or at least walk back his comments.”
Apparently, Weinstein is said to be considering “conciliatory moves, such as special screenings of “The Hateful Eight” for police officers and their families.”
But it is hard to imagine Tarantino being okay with that.
Why would the director want “murderers” and their families to enjoy a free screening of one of his movies?
Last weekend, at an anti-cop hate rally in New York, that’s what Tarantino repeatedly called police officers: “murderers.” And now the roof is caving in as one powerful, big city police union after another joins a boycott against “The Hateful Eight,” which hits theaters this Christmas.
It is no secret that Weinstein has had one of his worst years ever at the box office. After publicity costs, “Paddington” probably didn’t break even. Same with “Woman In Gold.” The Weinstein Company desperately needs “Hateful Eight” to not just refill the company coffers but to be in Oscar contention.
Weinstein is no stranger to controversy. Like his director, Weinstein has been afflicted with the bubble-dumbness that comes with years of living in the provincial world of left-wing Hollywood. In 2009, Weinstein led the charge in one of Hollywood’s worst public relations debacles ever — in defense of Roman Polanski, a man who fled justice and has never paid a price for drugging, raping, and sodomizing a 13 year-old girl.
As the American population has increased over the last 15 years, ticket sales have flat-lined. Hollywood is the only business in the world that regularly insults half its customers and then deludes themselves into believing it doesn’t matter.
It does. And in the age of New Media, where the corrupt legacy media can no longer bottleneck or manipulate information inconvenient to Hollywood’s bottom line, the problem is only going to get worse.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC