News
Weinstein nipping at 'Slumdog's' heels?
By Robert Marich
Feb. 9, 2009 – This season, Oscar campaigning is subdued, but Entertainment Weekly feels it has a story in colorful Academy Awards impresario Harvey Weinstein’s WWII holocaust drama The Reader making a serious run to push aside front-runner Slumdog Millionaire.
The EW article acknowledges Weinstein’s promotion for the coveted statue is low budget. “Weinstein's first salvo was to home in on the Academy's aging Jewish population. Although he's been trying to get all voters to see the movie, it’s no coincidence that he has screened The Reader at such Jewish cultural hot spots as the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, places where one is likely to find older voters with a deep connection to films about the Holocaust,” notes the article by Nicole Sperling and Christine Spines.
The article also includes this blind quote from an unnamed member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science: “‘When I went to a screening, I was one of about four people who didn't have blue hair. And I was the only WASP.’ Weinstein also invited Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel to The Reader's New York premiere, and courted an endorsement from the Anti-Defamation League, a group whose mission is to call attention to anti-Semitism.”
Marketing to Moviegoers notes that Oscar campaigns typically cost tens of thousands of dollars to single digit millions per film, and begin by courting other awards leading up to the Oscars. All told across Hollywood, awards marketing is probably $50-75 million season expenditure. The ultimate aim is to get the 5,800 academy voters to nominate client films and also secure Oscar wins.
The EW article notes that when Slumdog Millionaire suddenly emerged as the favorite it was dogged by Western media reports of abuse of its Indian actors, which were debunked. Rumor planting is allegedly a Weinstein touch, going back to when his rival A Beautiful Mind got caught up in reports of anti-Semitism (the movie won anyway beating Weinstein’s In the Bedroom). Weinstein denies being the source of rumors about rivals and he’s never been linked to any.
Prior to creating his eponymously-named company, Weinstein and his brother Bob ran Miramax in its glory days rolling up 249 Oscar nominations and 60 wins, including Best Picture trophies for The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, and Chicago.
The EW article also suggests Weinstein Co. is on its last legs, which is a rumor making the rounds. Though not a resounding success, the startup Weinstein Co. appears to be doing well enough to stay in business.
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