Last night N.Y. Post/”Page Six” columnist Richard Johnson posted a piece about Harvey Weinstein allegedly being “furious” at Quentin Tarantino for calling cops “murderers” at a Manhattan rally last weekend (10.24). With New York, Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles police unions (not to mention the National Organization of Police Associations) calling for a boycott of Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, Johnson is reporting that Weinstein “wants Tarantino to apologize, or at least walk back his comments.” He quotes an “insider” view that “the last thing Harvey needs is a boycott that will scare off Oscar voters and hurt the box office.”
First, tempestuous Harvey is a ’90s thing for the most part. Second, I know him well enough to know he isn’t “furious” at Quentin. Maybe regretful on some level but hardly foaming at the mouth. He and Tarantino have known each other for nearly a quarter-century, and by now are fully acquainted with each other’s personalities. Third, police organizations aren’t going to affect The Hateful Eight‘s box-office one tiny bit. And fourth, the Academy, SAG and the Golden Globe members respect cops as far as it goes, but they also aren’t likely to be swayed by this. If anything these groups are probably more on Quentin’s side of the argument.
Which doesn’t mean Weinstein execs won’t be trying to cool things down. A source close to the Weinstein Co. told me today that “[we’re] all working to be helpful in bridging this gap and doing everything [we] can to reach a mutual understanding.”