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1. Sonny BunchI want to brag on one of my colleagues today. Our culture editor Sonny Bunch, is—my opinion—one of the two or three best movie critics working anywhere today. But he’s not just a film critic. Sonny writes a weekly newsletter for The Bulwark about both Hollywood and the business of Hollywood. It’s free. If this stuff interests you at all, you should sign up for it. And in addition to that, Sonny does a weekly podcast that touches on every conceivable aspect of film with guests who are flat-out fascinating. Here’s just a smattering of my favorite recent shows:
I could go on, and on, and on. My point is that Sonny’s guests are top-tier and his conversations with them are flat-out great. This week, Sonny interviewed the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta about his new book on Harvey Weinstein and the two of them dug down into the culture that enabled the monster. Harvey Weinstein once said, by way of explaining his place in the firmament, “I’m the fucking sheriff of this fucking town.” He believed—sincerely—that he ruled the world. He was connected all over the place—famously to the Clintons, but also to Rudy Giuliani and George Pataki. Harvey’s true gift wasn’t as a cinematic taste-maker, it was his understanding of power and how to leverage it. Auletta explains to Sonny how Weinstein started Miramax Books largely as a vehicle for buying people, giving lavish advances to those whose loyalty he wanted to secure. (He similarly used Miramax Pictures as a way to buy off industry reporters and gossip columnists, but paying them for screenplays which would never be produced.) Anyway, the central question of Auletta’s book is this: How did Weinstein get away with it for so many decades? There are many reasons, of course. The biggest one is power. It is both a shield and a cudgel. Another reason is that his crimes were mostly against women. But a third is that we have in the world a general acceptance of an idea that roughly goes like this: “Geniuses are always difficult. The same qualities which make them monsters are required to make them great.” I disagree with this pretty strongly. It’s mixing correlation and causation. Certainly, many people at the top of their fields are bad human beings, or at least very difficult, people. There are outright predators and criminals, such as Harvey Weinstein. There are control freaks like Steve Jobs. There are tyrants like Anna Wintour. But is it really the personality defects which make these people successful? Or is it more the case that one of the privileges of success is that repercussions melt away and people are liberated to be their worst selves? I’m sure there are exceptions to the rule. I’m sure there are cases where the characterological limitations of an individual were a necessary precondition for them to succeed in their chosen field. But on the whole, I don’t see it that way. I suspect that if Harvey Weinstein had worked at a 7-11, he would have harassed and bullied and assaulted any female colleagues he had there, same as he did at Miramax. And by the same token, some people have accomplishments that dwarf Weinstein’s and aren’t predators. For instance, I don’t hear a lot of talk about how Kevin Feige has only been able to create the biggest winning streak in the history of cinema because he’s an asshat.¹ You can read Sonny’s newsletter about Weinstein here. And really, you ought to sign up for it. It’s great. 2. The AnklerMy second favorite place to read about the business of Hollywood is the Ankler, helmed by my buddy Richard Rushfield. This week, Richard noted that Marvel is, for the first time since Iron Man, looking like a normal movie studio:
You should read the whole thing. Watching Marvel over the last year I’ve been thinking about Pixar. Remember when Pixar had the longest streak of success Hollywood had ever seen? From 1995 to 2009, Pixar released ten films, all of which were commercial successes and most of which became instant classics. Pixar could not miss. Then things started to wobble. Cars 2 was kind of embarrassing. Brave was disappointing. Monsters University was an obvious cash grab. And before you could blink, Pixar had regressed to the mean. In its last eight movies, Pixar has produced one breakout hit (Incredibles 2) alongside a lot of disposable product and two genuine flops (Onward and Lightyear). It’s a studio that has lost its way. That happens. I hope you all enjoyed the Marvel golden age while we had it. Because even if it’s not over yet, some day it will be. 3. Molly Jong FastHere I am recommending another friend. Sorry. It just sort of happened that way. Molly Jong Fast writes a newsletter for the Atlantic and it’s great. Last week she did a piece (not really for the newsletter, but for the Atlantic; so close enough) about what Donald Trump learned from his first divorce. It’s pretty canny:
If you find this newsletter valuable, please hit the like button and share it with a friend. And if you want to get the Newsletter of Newsletters every week, sign up below. It’s free. But if you’d like to get everything from Bulwark+ and be part of the conversation, too, you can do the paid version. 1 I don’t know Feige personally, but he has the opposite reputation: That he’s a normal and professional guy who is respected and liked by colleagues and employees.
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