For the first time in 30 years Miramax Films will not be part of the Academy Awards. The only saving grace, The Weinstein Company started by Miramax brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, will thanks to “Inglorious Bastards” and “Nine.” Is it true some things are too great to last?
Most people I know who worked in the film industry have great, never to be told outside the walls of a studio lot stories, but I think Miramax Films really set the bar - heck they built the bar in which the greatest stories were imagined and realized. When I worked there “lunch hour” was something people did in the Midwest in 9-5 office jobs, “bathroom breaks” were running or walking quickly to and from the bathroom with some odd assortment of papers tucked under an arm and a phone squished into one’s ear. Work began with one’s bedside alarm clock and ended late at night over cocktails with co-workers at New York City’s newest hotspot. No, I take that back, work ended late not always at a bar and sometimes not until the wee hours of the morning when you poured talent into cars before collecting your items from under the table at the Four Seasons, which had most recently become your “office.” Yes, there was screaming and even some throwing (though I only clearly remember having to duck once). There were also the coolest people on the planet in cubicles surrounding (trenches alongside) yours, crazy talented authors and talent wandering the hallways and huge acts of generosity. Miramax was a place you worked if you had no other life and wanted to give yours fully to the company. It demanded everything of you and pushed and pushed until you thought there might be nothing more to offer. It was also the single most amazing work experience I have ever had, and believe me I have had some good ones. What made it great was when you were on, had the answers, things were running in the right direction (I would not say smoothly, that is not a word I would often associate with the film industry), but when they were going well man did you feel great. The world was your oyster and this gal in her early 20s was taking it on. When I was there, at least in the beginning, there were not the layers of bureaucracy so talking to Bob and Harvey Weinstein was not abnormal. I admired Harvey then and I do now. I think he is one of the greatest film men, most passionate people I could ever have hoped to work for and his bother Bob is actually a heck of a nice guy (especially these days it seems from a recent encounter). I am grateful to have left the film business before it became vacant of such such heart and soul.
A few never to be forgotten Miramax favorites: “The Piano,” “Clerks,” “The Crow,” “Pulp Fiction,” “Blue in the Face,” “Il Postino,” “Kids,” “Mighty Aphrodite,” “Muriel’s Wedding,” “The Crossing Guard,” “Beautiful Girls,” “Trainspotting,” “Swingers,” “Cop Land,” “Mimic,” “Life is Beautiful,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” “Bridget Jones Diary,” “Chocolat,” “Amelie,” “The Hours,” “Chicago,” “Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, “Gone Baby Gone,” “Good Will Hunting,” “No Country for Old Men,” and “There Will Be Blood.”
Photo Bloomberg.
