Michael Eisner opened up about the struggles he faced serving as the former CEO and chairman of Disney, saying one of his toughest challenges was working with Harvey Weinstein.
While he noted that much of his job was mentally taxing, nothing was more exhausting than having to collaborate with the former Miramax executive and now-convicted sex offender.
“I think the hardest moment was dealing with Harvey Weinstein, because he lied about everything. How do you deal with somebody who never tells the truth?” Eisner said in an excerpt of his interview with the “In Depth With Graham Bensinger” series, posted on Thursday.
Eisner added that Weinstein “was just a pig,” but also acknowledged the disgraced mogul’s great “taste” in films.
“He was rude, but he was a closet intellectual. He looked like a truck driver. He acted like a truck driver,” he explained. “He had great independent film taste and nobody at Disney would deal with him but me. He couldn’t tell the truth, he didn’t stick to the contracts, but he made ‘Shakespeare in Love’ and all these great movies.”
During his chat, Eisner also shared his thoughts on the use of artificial intelligence in Hollywood, saying he understands it as a useful tool but rejects it as a replacement for the “creative brain.”
“I understand it, in for instance, for our development from 2D animation to computer generation,” Eisner shared. “I understand it in the ways it’s been written about. I certainly understand it in healthcare, how it’s now being used. Do I think it’s ever going to write an Academy Award-winning movie? No. Because I think the movies and television shows that really succeed are where the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Something that’s totally original that hasn’t been done before. I just don’t know whether a computer can match the creative brain for the future.”
