HARVEY HEAVE COSTS MOORE
RIPPLE EFFECT: The Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment and abuse scandal has cost BU alum Julianne Moore and Robert De Niro roles on an untitled Amazon drama series from David O. Russell. According to Variety, the project was a co-production with The Weinstein Co. (insert ominous chord of music here). But when TWC was engulfed by its cofounder’s sex abuse scandal, Amazon said it was going to review the status of the series, the equivalent of “we need to talk.” The doughre-mi from TWC didn’t materialize, and rather than coughing up the cash on its own, Amazon decided to scuttle Russell’s series.
The whole shebang is now kaput, but Moore, De Niro and Russell are pretty cool about it, considering. Their reps issued a joint statement: “We support Amazon’s decision as in light of recent news and out of respect for all those affected we have decided together that it is best to not move forward with this show.”
OUSTED: Speaking of Harvey Weinstein, and we were, the disgraced former studio mogul got another heave-ho, this time from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The industry folks who vote on who wins what at the Oscars cast their ballots to expel Weinstein in a special emergency meeting of its board of governors yesterday, according to Deadline. As part of its don’t-letthe-door-hit-you-Harvey statement, the Academy wrote: “We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues, but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.”