Hollywood legend Brian De Palma to tackle Weinstein story

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(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 25, 2018 Harvey Weinstein leaves the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, fighting rape and sex crime charges in New York, will not testify before a Manhattan grand jury, his lawyer confirmed May 30, 2018, accusing prosecutors of acting under political pressure."Mr Weinstein intends to follow the advice of his attorneys and not testify before the grand jury," his defense team said in a statement. / AFP PHOTO / KENA BETANCUR

PARIS, June 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – “Scarface” director Brian De Palma is to
tackle the story of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood
legend told AFP.

The maker of “Carrie” and “The Untouchables” said he was toying with the
idea of dealing with Weinstein and the #MeToo movement the Hollywood producer
unleashed after claims that he had raped and abused a string of actresses
over the years.

“I have been following it very closely because I know a lot of the people
involved,” De Palma told AFP in Paris, where he has just published his first
novel in French.

“This has inspired an idea for another book,” he added.

“As a director you have to get actors’ confidence and their love in order
to be able to use their instrument in your movie. And to violate it on any
level is just to me the worst thing you can do, just because of your gluttony
or your lust,” the 77-year-old said.

“I’ve heard stories over the years” about abuse and casting couches, the
veteran filmmaker added. “I always reacted very strongly to anybody that was
doing such things. And of course, you would hear stories about the most
notorious people.”

De Palma said later that he was writing a script based on the scandal,
“although my character will not be called Harvey Weinstein.”

“But it is a horror film, with a sexual aggressor, and the story will take
place within the film industry,” he told the French daily, the Parisien.

De Palma defended his treatment of women characters in his films, arguing
that the violence they faced was necessary for the stories to work.

– Is the male gaze over? –

“I would get that question year after year, and I would always give the
same answer,” he told AFP. “But fortunately Quentin Tarantino took over that
problem. They started asking him that question and they forgot about me,
thank God.

“I was accused of putting women in jeopardy and I said this is a suspense
movie. A woman presents a more vulnerable creature. To me it was just part of
the genre, and I never thought it was anything sexist,” said the maker of the
first “Mission: Impossible” film.

“I like women characters,” said the director, whose has co-written his
first novel with his wife, journalist Susan Lehman.

The Hitchcockian thriller “Les serpents sont-ils necessaires?” (Are Snakes
Necessary?) has been published in French before it comes out in English.

De Palma said Hitchcock’s film “Vertigo” was central to making him a film
director. “I saw it in 1958 and it haunted me for the rest of my career,” he
told AFP.

Lehman, a former New York Times reporter, said the book brings the
Hitchcockian chiller into the post-#MeToo age.

“Brian has a particular sort of macho sensibility, and I thought it would
be interesting to see what happens if a sort of a feminine streak got
injected into that,” she said.

“What happens here is women take things into their own hands. And the men
who are creepy and crude at best get what they deserve.”

De Palma said the #MeToo movement was not just changing the pay and working
conditions of women in Hollywood, but it could also fundamentally change what
movies are about.

“It will be interesting to see when women start controlling the aesthetic
what is going to happen.

It would be interesting to see if their gaze is so much different than ours.
Because a lot of movies are about the male gaze, what the male sees.”

De Palma said he has just finished his latest film “Domino”, a thriller set
in Denmark with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Carice van Houten of “Game of
Thrones” fame, and is planning his next — another murder story — “Sweet
Vengeance”, which will be shot in Uruguay.