Is Harvey Weinstein’s downfall a watershed moment?
Harvey Weinstein is gone. But the problem of systemic sexism in Hollywood will be much tougher to erase.
Welcome to the Gold Standard, the newsletter from the Los Angeles Times that helps guide you through the ins and outs of the awards season leading up to the Oscars.
I’m Glenn Whipp, The Times’ awards columnist and your newsletter host.
Has anyone fallen faster than Harvey Weinstein?
That’s the question my colleagues, film writers Josh Rottenberg and Amy Kaufman, ask here.
Weinstein was fired from the company he co-founded after allegations, published in the New York Times and the New Yorker, detailed specific claims of rape and behavior patterns of Weinstein using his position as a heavyweight producer to make sexual advances to multiple women while Weinstein Co. executives looked the other way.
I wrote about my dealings with Weinstein and the larger issue of the cancerous misogyny inside the entertainment industry — and society — here. The list of Weinstein’s accusers grows longer each day. It’s sobering. But I’m proud and thankful for the courageous women who have come forward with their stories. These conversations are painful but necessary. I’m hopeful it’s the beginning of putting a full stop to this ugliness.
To follow The Times’ full coverage of the Weinstein scandal, you can go here.
How do you stop abusive men in power? Judd Apatow has a few ideas.
Judd Apatow was one of the first — and, at the time, few — voices to speak out against Bill Cosby and his apologists when a long line of women came forward accusing the comedy legend of sexual assault.
“I found it shocking how few people in show business spoke out against Cosby,” Apatow says. “And to this day, there’s an enormous part of our industry that still hasn’t. And that does not speak well of our community.”
“Because when people don’t speak out at a moment like this, where it’s really not a question of whether it happened or not,” Apatow adds, “it creates a world where people feel like stepping forward won’t do anything but re-injure them.”
In the wake of the multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment against producer Harvey Weinstein, I spoke to Apatow, a prolific producer, director and writer, about the entertainment industry’s treatment of women and what can be done to combat men who abuse their power. You can read the interview here.
Willem Dafoe finds the warmth of ‘The Florida Project’
Last week, you might remember I called “The Florida Project” probably the best movie you’ll see this year. Good news: It’s opening today in even more cities — Boston, Austin, Chicago, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco and Washington. (And if you don’t live in one of these places, don’t worry. It’ll get to you soon enough.)
My colleague Mark Olsen, proprietor of the excellent Indie Focus newsletter, interviewed Willem Dafoe, who anchors the movie playing a motel manager trying to balance business and compassion in his dealings with the poverty-stricken people living in his establishment. It’s a beautiful, big-hearted turn, one of my favorite things Dafoe has ever done. You can read Mark’s story here.
Feedback?
I’d love to hear from you. Email me at glenn.whipp@latimes.com.
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Twitter: @glennwhipp
Twitter: @glennwhipp
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