James Cameron nearly knocked out Harvey Weinstein in honor of Guillermo Del Toro at the 1998 Oscars. Back to the facts.
The 70th Academy Awards took place on March 23, 1998 in Los Angeles and were seen on television by more than 57 million people. Remember, that was the night Titanic won 11 Oscars — including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. James Cameron, for his part, left with three statuettes just for him, having co-produced and co-edited the film in addition to having directed it.
Also in the audience was notorious Miramax founder and executive Harvey Weinstein, who was still far from being ousted for his many crimes. At that time, Weinstein, who is currently serving a 39-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assault, was a major force in Hollywood who brought many independent artists to shine in the limelight. As head of Miramax, he was then credited as executive producer on many of the studio’s films and was therefore at the Oscars to support Jackie Brown, Will Hunting and The Wings of the Dove.
The year before, Harvey Weinstein had also produced acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s first English-language feature, Mimic, a horror film starring Mira Sorvino about an evolved species of cockroaches living in New York’s subways that had reached the human size and attacked the inhabitants. However, during its production, the feature film encountered several problems that James Cameron learned about. Longtime friend of Guillermo del Toro, he had not appreciated that Harvey Weinstein, with whom he was not familiar, caused him so much concern. And as Slashfilm reports, when Weinstein tried to run for the Oscars, James Cameron was ready to punch him.
The crazy story that unites James Cameron and Guillermo del Toro
BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE OSCARS
Mimic was produced by Bob Weinstein, with Harvey serving as executive producer. This was Guillermo del Toro’s second feature film after 1993’s Cronos. The Weinstein brothers reportedly hated the film, thinking it wasn’t scary enough, and active attempts to have the director fired were reportedly made. It then took the influence of Mira Sorvino for it to be kept. But even when del Toro returned his film, Miramax took matters into their own hands, re-cutting the feature as they saw fit. Years later, Guillermo del Toro confided in this horrible experience.
Facing the Hollywood Reporter, James Cameron also recently remembered the tragedy. He had never met or worked with Harvey Weinstein then and did not even know what he looked like. The only thing he knew was that the latter had made life difficult for his friend Guillermo.
“I didn’t know Harvey [ni d’Ève ni] of Adam. I didn’t know anything about him except what I had learned from Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo and I had been close friends since 1991. He told me about the horrible sh*t Miramax got him into when he made his first American commercial, Mimic, and they fired him. The actors, led by Mira Sorvino, sort of revolted and didn’t want to work until they brought him back. Then, when the film was a success and well-regarded, Harvey was quick to receive the accolades for it.”
A NASTY LITTLE MOMENT
After these events, when Harvey Weinstein tries to approach James Cameron at the Oscars: nothing goes.
I’m walking back to my seat with my Oscar for best editing, and this guy jumps on me and introduces himself and says, ‘If you want to come and work in a place that’s a friend of the artist, a friend of the filmmaker’ – he reaches out, and I just left him hanging. It was just a naughty little moment. But, yeah, I stood up for Guillermo and pointed his sh*t at Harvey, and then he got very loud and verbally abusive and almost potentially physically abusive. And he was about to get hit with an Oscar – which would have been very appropriate, I think.
Blinded by his anger, James Cameron did not have time to think about the (almost symbolic) significance of his gesture and remembered being in a strange schoolyard atmosphere.
“I didn’t think of it in those terms, it was just the weapon at hand. The hysterical thing about the whole moment was people around us were like, ‘Not here! Not here !’ It was kind of like, ‘It’s okay if you fight in the alley, but don’t do it here at the Oscars!’”
James Cameron who stuns Harvey Weinstein in the alley behind the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles (where the Oscars ceremony was taking place): here is a film that would perhaps compete with Titanic, especially if it is directed by Guillermo del Toro, expert in the monster stories.
Mimicking is available for streaming on Canal+ or Paramount+. titanic is, meanwhile, to be reviewed on Disney +.