Paul Webster, who worked for Harvey Weinstein at Miramax in the 1990s, had no proof that Weinstein was a sexual predator — but he was concerned enough that he wouldn’t let his own female assistant go to the mogul’s hotel suite.
Tom Prince, the former executive vice president of production at The Weinstein Company, said he took issue with Weinstein spending tens of thousands of dollars in company money to fly actresses around the world for small parts. (See video, above.)
Both men give their first televised interviews in “Weinstein,” a “Frontline” special that will air for the first time on PBS Friday. It examines Weinstein’s behavior since the 1970s, and why warning signs went ignored until dozens of women came forward to accuse Weinstein of rampant sexual misconduct last year. (TheWrap saw an advance, non-final version made available to the news media.)
“Looking back, I did know. I chose to suppress it, chose to hide from that fact. I think we were all enablers, we were all complicit,” Webster said.
Here are the three biggest bombshells in the special:
Deal with the Devil
Webster was a production head at Weinsteins’ game-changing indie studio Miramax. He said he took the gig despite knowing Weinstein was a “dangerous character” and a bully.
The producer also made this startling admission:
“It didn’t take too much brain power to put it together, [that he] would bring that abuse into the sexual arena. Looking back — I did know. I chose to suppress it, chose to hide from that fact. I think we were all enablers, we were all complicit.”
Webster did not verify any accusations of abuse, though he said he knew enough to prohibit his female assistant from going to Weinstein’s suite at London’s Savoy Hotel after he beckoned for her.
“I didn’t have the guts to do anything about it. The deal made with the devil was to my advantage,” Webster said.
Webster served from 1995 to 1997, when Weinstein became an unbeatable force in Hollywood and catapulted careers with films like “The English Patient” and “Good Will Hunting.”
Representatives for Harvey Weinstein did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment on Webster’s remarks. Weinstein has denied any nonconsensual sex.
Concerns over Spending
Prince was vice president of physical production at TWC from 2012 to 2017, where he noticed Weinstein’s suspicious allocation of funds for actresses with nominal roles.
“Pretty much on every production I would get a phone call or an email saying, ‘We have to fly an actress to the movie set.’ I would always come back and explain to them that this is a one- or two-day role, and we’re spending an awful lot of money flying someone from Paris to Philadelphia, or from New York to New Zealand, to fulfill a role that could be occupied by a local resident there,” Prince said.
“But this was a mandate from Harvey,” he said.
During Prince’s tenure, TWC released films like Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film “The Hateful Eight,” Cate Blanchett’s “Carol,” Bradley Cooper’s chef film “Burnt” and the indie musical “Sing Street.”
“It was the company that was completely and utterly ruled by Harvey — and Harvey was a dictator. I’d thought, clearly there was something more than the actresses’ acting abilities involved with us flying somebody and spending $20,000 on a role that cost $2,000,” Prince said.
“Frontline” said Weinstein disputed Prince’s accounts and said that Weinstein and Prince repeatedly clashed over budgets and other production issues.
Gwyneth Paltrow
Journalist Kim Masters tells “Frontline” that she investigated a rumor that Paltrow had been “assaulted” by Weinstein. The special does not specify when she attempted to confirm the information, but Masters does say a movie director tipped her off.
“We heard it from a director who was very upset about it, and wanted it to be out there,” Masters said. “There was no path forward at that point. If you call their publicist and say ‘I wanted to talk to Gwyneth Paltrow because I heard she was attacked by Harvey Weinstein,’ you can imagine how that phone call would go. It would be short.”
Paltrow said in October that Weinstein sexually harassed her when she was 22, in the 1990s, and that her then-boyfriend, Brad Pitt, confronted Weinstein about it. She told the New York Times that Weinstein warned her not to tell anyone else.
“Weinstein” airs on PBS Friday.