Harvey Weinstein, TWC Hit With $10 Million Lawsuit From Former ‘Marco Polo’ Associate Producer
Alexandra Canosa says the disgraced filmmaker sexually harassed, intimidated and assaulted her over a number of years
Debbie Emery | December 20, 2017 @ 8:03 PM
Last Updated: December 20, 2017 @ 9:34 PM
Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company are facing another sexual harassment lawsuit, this time from Alexandra Canosa, a former associate producer on the Netflix series “Marco Polo.”
In the $10 million suit filed in New York Supreme Court, Canosa said Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed, intimidated and assaulted her over a number of years.
“Harvey Weinstein threatened plaintiff and made it clear that if she did not succumb to his demands or if she exposed his unwanted conduct there would be retaliation, including humiliation, the loss of her job and any ability to work in the entertainment business,” the papers obtained by TheWrap state.
The suit also names The Weinstein Company and its board of directors as defendants (as the embattled indie studio is on the block for sale), saying they “knew or should have known about Harvey Weinstein’s conduct, and did not act to correct or curtail such activity.”
“The foregoing events and actions of Harvey Weinstein took place in conjunction with Plaintiff’s employment, in various capacities, for Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company,” the suit said.
Canosa is represented by Charles Stewart of Stewart Occhipinti and Darryl Horowitt and Judy Sasaki of Coleman & Horowitt.
“Marco Polo,” which was created by John Fusco and inspired by Marco Polo’s early years in the court of Kublai Khan, was canceled by Netflix in December 2016 after two seasons. It starred Lorenzo Richelmy (above) in the title role with Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan.
This marks the seventh lawsuit against Weinstein, with six other women filing against him and his former company earlier this month.
A representative for Harvey Weinstein declined to comment on the latest lawsuit but reiterated their prior response stating: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these relationships were consensual.”
Reps for TWC did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
A Short History of Harvey Weinstein's Oscar Campaigns (Photos)
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
Harvey Weinstein first got into the Oscar race in a big way in 1990 with a "guerilla" campaign for the art-house drama "My Left Foot" by setting up meet-and-greets between Academy members and film talent. The result? Oscar wins for stars Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker.
In 1995, Weinstein mounted a surprisingly aggressive campaign for upstart director Quentin Tarantino's ultraviolent "Pulp Fiction" -- helping to redefine what sorts of movies could appeal to the Academy. Tarantino shared a screenplay Oscar with Roger Avary.
Miramax snagged its first Best Picture victory for 1996's "The English Patient" -- which earned a total of nine awards, including for director Anthony Minghella and lead actress Juliette Binoche.
Weinstein built an awareness campaign for the then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton for 1996's "Sling Blade" -- which yielded an Oscar for his adapted screenplay and a nomination for Best Actor.
Miramax pulled off a double coup with 1997's "Good Will Hunting," delivering Robin Williams his long-awaited first Oscar and a rare screenplay prize for two twentysomething newbies, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
One year later, Miramax pulled out all the stops after landing two Best Picture nominations, including for the Italian-language drama "Life Is Beautiful." According to Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures," star-auteur Roberto Begnini "moved into L.A. for a month during the peak of the voting period." The film came away with three Oscars, including Best Actor.
That year, Miramax pulled off a bigger upset when "Shakespeare in Love" seized Best Picture over Steven Spielberg's heavily favored "Saving Private Ryan." "Shakespeare" won a total of seven Academy Awards, including for actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench.
Miramax surprised many by landing yet another Best Picture nomination for the 2000 Juliette Binoche-Johnny Depp bonbon "Chocolat."
In 2003, the Weinsteins had a hand in four of the five Best Picture nominees: "Chicago," "The Hours," "Gangs of New York" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (on which they had producer credits). "Chicago" won the top prize -- as well as five others.
In 2004, Miramax took advantage of a careful reading of Academy rules and scored four nominations for the Brazilian inner-city drama "City of God" -- even though the film had failed to land a Best Foreign Language film nomination the previous year.
The Weinsteins exited Disney-owned Miramax and founded their own company in 2005 -- and got right back in the Oscar race with two nominations for one of their first releases, the Felicity Huffman vehicle "Transamerica."
By 2009, The Weinstein Company landed its first Best Picture contender with "The Reader" -- and also snagged Kate Winslet her first Oscar as Best Actress in a role that many thought was more of a supporting part.
Two years later, TWC scored its first Best Picture win for "The King's Speech" -- as well as three other awards, including Best Actor for Colin Firth.
The following year, Weinstein pulled off another coup: landing five Oscars, including Best Picture for the mostly silent, black-and-white ode to Old Hollywood, "The Artist."
In 2013, TWC again had two horses in the Best Picture race: Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" and "Silver Linings Playbook" -- which landed Jennifer Lawrence the prize for Best Actress.
Last year, Weinstein successfully landed six nominations -- including Best Picture -- for Garth Davis' tear-jerker "Lion." But just as Open Road won the top prize in 2016 for "Spotlight," another upstart, A24, used a lot of Harvey touches to score the indie "Moonlight" a Best Picture win.
1 of 17
This is the first Oscar season in decades without the disgraced mogul who challenged the major studios and changed the game at the Academy
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
