In recent years, ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has become synonymous with the #MeToo movement following the numerous sexual assault allegations made against him and his subsequent jailing. But before all of this, he used to make headlines for his conflicts with collaborators. Weinstein worked with numerous filmmakers including Kevin Smith, who ran into a financial issue with Weinstein and Miramax over one of his films years ago:
This much I know. They bought “Clerks” for $227,000. And the movie went out and made $3 million at the box office and stuff. And it took seven years for us to see any profit from that movie. For seven years, they were like: “Nope, the movie is still not in profit.” And we were like “How?” And then there were things.
Kevin Smith went on to tell Variety that he still hasn’t received all of the money he was owed by Harvey Weinstein and Miramax for Clerks. Yet the fan-favorite comic book pundit stressed that the money wasn’t a major problem for him, saying that cash has never been his motivator.
Kevin Smith is the subject of an upcoming documentary entitled Clerk, which chronicles the biggest moments of his career. The film will also feature a previously unused segment about his work with Harvey Weinstein, which Smith felt needed to be added to the finished film.
As Kevin Smith mentioned during the interview, Weinstein is reportedly very shrewd when it comes to money. This is a dynamic that has been seen on various occasions, such as when he and his brother and business partner Bob Weinstein confronted Warner Bros. about their paydays for The Hobbit. Before his scandal broke, Weinstein also attempted to sell a portion of his film catalog to Netflix for $25 million.
In addition to financial quarrels, Harvey Weinstein has also had battles with directors and producers on certain projects. During the development of The Lord of the Rings films, Weinstein apparently threatened to remove Peter Jackson as director and replace him with another filmmaker.
Grace of Monaco director Olivier Dahan came to blows with the producer of the final edit of the movie. Producer Megan Ellison, who worked with Weinstein on films like Killing Them Softly and Lawless, became entangled in a feud with Weinstein over the marketing strategy for The Master.
Newly revealed details also seem to indicate that Weinstein also had issues with actresses such as Kate Beckinsale and Jennifer Aniston.
Although Kevin Smith appears to be unphased by the concept of missing money, it’s somewhat comforting to hear that he and his Clerks collaborators received some form of compensation. And one can assume that the situation served as a learning experience for a young Smith, who had just entered Hollywood at the time.
Clerk was expected to premiere at SXSW but, following the festival’s cancelation, a new premiere date has yet to be announced.
