Weinstein hits out at Salma’s sex scene claim
‘He does not recall pressuring her’
HARVEY Weinstein yesterday denied allegations that he pressured actress Salma Hayek to film a lesbian love scene for his gratification.
The disgraced film producer said Ms Hayek’s searing article for The New York Times, in which she made claims of abuse earlier this week, was ‘not accurate’.
The movie executive issued a statement arguing that others who witnessed events described by Ms Hayek ‘have a different account of what transpired’.
However, he did admit there was ‘creative friction’ while producing the film, titled Frida.
He said he ‘does not recall’ pressurising Ms Hayek to perform a lesbian love scene with co-star Ashley Judd for his gratification – and claimed it was ‘part of the story’ in the 2002 film about Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, who was bisexual.
Many of the accusations by dozens of women against Weinstein in recent weeks have gone without a direct response from the movie mogul. More than 100 women, including Oscar-winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct over 30 years. The allegations include three rapes – and he could face criminal charges amid police investigations in the US and Europe.
In an article, called ‘Harvey Weinstein is My Monster Too’, Ms Hayek claimed that Weinstein constantly propositioned her during the filming of Frida.
The actress, 51, claimed the film producer ‘hated the word no’. Ms Hayek’s article claimed that Weinstein was vengeful and made her jump through endless hoops to film Frida, a movie that Ms Hayek co-produced through his movie company Miramax.
The most shocking claim was that Weinstein said he would scrap the whole project unless she filmed the lesbian scene with Ms Judd – and demanded full frontal nudity. Ms Hayek said that during filming of the scene she had a nervous breakdown and had to take tranquilisers to get through it.
A spokesman for Weinstein said: ‘Mr Weinstein does not recall pressuring Salma to do a gratuitous sex scene with a female co-star and he was not there for the filming.
‘However, that was part of the story, as Frida Kahlo was bisexual and the more significant sex scene in the movie was choreographed by Ms Hayek with (actor) Geoffrey Rush.’
The statement said that Weinstein ‘regards Salma Hayek as a first-class actress’ and was ‘very proud’ that she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for Frida. Weinstein claimed that there was ‘creative friction on Frida, but said it served to drive the project to perfection’.
In her article, Ms Hayek claimed that Weinstein constantly made unwanted advances.
Weinstein said: ‘All of the sexual allegations… by Salma are not accurate and others who witnessed the events have a different account of what transpired.’