Weinstein ‘Did Some Horrific Things’ but Led a ‘Brilliant’ Awards Campaign for ‘The Piano’: That ‘Was His Vision’
The New Zealander is at the Taormina Film Fest presiding over the jury, which also includes “The Piano” star Holly Hunter.
Weinstein was the head of Miramax, which acquired the rights for “The Piano” early in 1993. The exec had an aggressive awards campaign for the drama, which eventually won three Academy Awards, including best original screenplay for Campion.
About her work on the 4K restoration of The Piano, which is being released by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S. on July 24th and overseen by Campion and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh, the director said she is “really humbled to feel the film still has energy.”
How things may (or may not) have changed for women in the 3 decades since the film’s release. “I don’t know any more than you,” she said, “it feels there is a really big price to pay for the #MeToo movement.”
“Abortion being withdrawn in America,” she continued. “And the sense that the sort of patriarchy is really wanting to stretch back their ground, you know? That’s my sense. The positive, however, is that women now make money in a way that they didn’t use to. They have their profession, they have their money and they want films that talk to them, not just Marvel movies. They want their own cinema. You really see the change in TV, in online material. In this way, those women are very powerful and they change the conditions for us. It has given many more female directors opportunities, and that’s not going away, unless they say you have to stay home, look after the children or something. Vote? No. Let’s take that vote away.”
Campion also recalled the experience of working with Ciby 2000, a French film production and distribution company founded in 1990 by Francis Bouygues, which was behind Almodóvar’s “Live Flesh,” David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me” and ”Lost Highway” and Mike Leigh’s “Secrets & Lies.”
“These people were previously roadmakers; they made concrete,” Campion said of the investors. “The guy who was the head of it all suddenly went to see a Bertolucci film, I think it was ‘The Last Emperor,’ and he was stunned. He decided to devote some of his fortune to making similar films and giving filmmakers like myself freedom to do exactly what they want. I’ve had a long career and had several of those experiences, even Netflix had that moment when they were very generous with their money, or I wouldn’t have made ‘The Power of the Dog.’”
“Some very cool works” come out of partnerships, as she had with the French company, adding: “They were very generous with the profits, we were able to share 50/50. Unbelievable.”
The director said she is currently having great “fun” with her Wellington-based pop-up film school, A Wave in the Ocean, funded partially by Netflix. Campion also is currently working on a musical, but kept any details on the project under wraps.
