Tara Wood, the director of a new Quentin Tarantino documentary, is moving to cut The Weinstein Co. from her project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wood is one of the latest to distance herself from the production studio over the sexual misconduct scandal surrounding the company’s co-founder Harvey Weinstein. The Weinstein Co. bought distribution rights last year to “21 Years: Quentin Tarantino,” a documentary about the rise of the famed director, and was looking to release the film in 2018.
“As a woman, creator and protector of 21 Years: Quentin Tarantino, TWC should respectfully release us from our deal, to allow the project to be handled with the care and consideration it, Mr. Tarantino, and all the participants deserve,” Wood said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “This project has always been in honor of Mr. Tarantino’s career, and I don’t want to see it caught up in this controversy.”
Tarantino has been friends with Weinstein for decades and had worked with the producer on one of his biggest hits, “Pulp Fiction.” Actress Amber Tamblyn released a statement from Tarantino on Twitter addressing the allegations against Weinstein. Tamblyn, a longtime friend of Tarantino, said he asked her to share his statement.
“For the last week, I’ve been stunned and heartbroken about the revelations that have come to light about my friend for 25 years, Harvey Weinstein,” Tarantino’s statement reads. “I need a few more days to process my pain, emotions, anger and memory and then I will speak publicly about it.”
The Weinstein Co. has been in upheaval since The New York Times published a story outlining decades of sexual harassment accusations against its co-founder. A third of the company’s board has resigned, and the remaining members have scrambled to distance themselves from Weinstein, claiming they had no idea of the misconduct allegations.
Playwrights Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes went to social media Thursday to ask that The Weinstein Co. release them from a contract to produce a film version of their Tony-winning show, “In the Heights.”
“As a woman, I can no longer do business with The Weinstein Company. To those women who suffered directly at Harvey’s hands, I extend my sincerest compassion and support,” Hudes wrote on Twitter. “Harvey Weinstein’s sexual predation is despicable enough, but combined with his staggering power, it’s insidious, even devilish. Decades. He thrived on this. He built an empire on this. It’s been hard for me to sleep at night. My stomach is in knots.”
Apple also dropped The Weinstein Co. from a 10-part biopic on Elvis Presley on Monday and indicated it may drop other projects that were part of a larger contract with the production studio. Amazon has also decided to kill an untitled drama series, Vulture reports, that would have starred Julianne Moore and Robert De Niro.
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