Brian De Palma Is Writing a Horror Film Based on Harvey Weinstein’s Sexual Abuse
Harvey Weinstein may be gone from Hollywood for good, but Hollywood hasn’t lost interest in him. The disgraced former studio mogul has already inspired one upcoming movie about the journalists who first broke the sexual assault allegations, but now Weinstein’s sexual abuse has inspired Brian De Palma to return to the horror genre.
The Carrie and Scarface filmmaker has revealed he’s working on a new movie about the Weinstein sexual assault and harassment allegations. In a recent interview with French outlet Le Parisien (h/t The Playlist), De Palma revealed he’s currently at work writing the script and fashioning the Weinstein story – though he won’t use his actual name – as a horror movie:
I am writing a film about this scandal, which I am currently discussing with a French producer. My character will not be called Harvey Weinstein. But it will be a horror movie, with a sexual aggressor, and it will happen in the film industry.
It’s one thing to make a film about the reporters who broke the initial Weinstein allegations, as Annapurna and Plan B are currently developing. Or if, in some time, we get a movie or miniseries about the Weinstein sex crime trial (which is surely inevitable), and the general impact of Time’s Up on Hollywood. But a movie, and especially a horror movie, about a powerful figure who’s been charged with rape and accused of years of sexual harassment? Merely months after the allegations were uncovered? And written by a man? That doesn’t sound exploitative or ill-advised at all!
Last week, Weinstein was arrested in New York City and earlier this week a jury indicted the former studio head on multiple rape charges and one sex crime charge. He’s expected to appear in court again on July 30.
In the mean time, De Palma has completed work on his next film, Domino, a thriller starring Christina Hendricks and Game of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as two cops tracking down a killer. No word yet on when that will hit theaters.