When Goldie Hawn played Harvey Weinstein at his own game: “Don’t fuck with me”
Harvey Weinstein ruled Hollywood with an iron fist. Before he was outed as one of the biggest sexual predators in the history of the industry, he was an accomplished tyrant.
Weinstein’s position as a founder of Miramax, perhaps one of the defining studio outfits of the 1990s, spearheading the indie revolution that took place through the work of Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith and many more. He was, by all accounts, a champion for the arts, which made the onslaught of horrific allegations all the more shocking.
Prior to his ‘#MeToo’ reckoning, Weinstein was far from squeaky clean. His controversial marketing tactics were responsible for one of the biggest upsets in Oscars history, when Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan for the ‘Best Picture’ prize. With almost unlimited influence over the movie business at his peak, he wielded his power like a dictator and there was very little anyone could do about it. Enter Goldie Hawn.
The star of Death Becomes Her was originally going to play Velma Kelly in a movie version of the musical Chicago back in the heady 1980s. Bob Fosse of All That Jazz fame was possibly going to direct, which would have been something. Hawn was set to co-produce the project with Miramax, which is how she encountered Weinstein’s ruthless streak firsthand. Without her knowledge, he changed the script and rewrote Kelly as a much younger woman. This essentially shut Hawn out of the role.
“Harvey basically undermined me and Madonna,” she revealed in an interview with Variety in 2023. But she wasn’t going to take this lying down. “I said, ‘Don’t fuck with me,’” she continued. “I know just what you’re doing. We’ve made a deal.”
Hawn refused to back down, which essentially shut down production on the movie for over two decades. She never expected to receive any sort of justice for this betrayal, but, to her great shock, Weinstein did eventually pay her the money they’d first agreed upon. “You stand up to a bully, and sometimes you win,” she rejoiced. “I said to him afterwards, ‘You know what the best part of you paying me is? Not the money. You restored my faith in dignity and ethics.’ Little did I know.”
Of course, Miramax did eventually make their Chicago movie. With Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones in the lead roles, the film was a roaring success. It cleaned up at the box office and took home five Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’. Zeta-Jones won ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her performance as Kelly, the role Hawn was initially earmarked for. Weinstein and his company profited massively off the movie, which just makes the whole situation even more icky.
Weinstein is now paying for his past transgressions. Most, however, would argue that he is still getting off lightly. What he did to Goldie Hawn and her version of Chicago is just a small example of his clear lack of morals and basic human compassion. As the actor put it herself, “He’s finally living his karma.”
