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Hollywood Ending: Harvey Weinstein and the Culture of Silence
Twenty years ago, Ken Auletta wrote one of the iconic New Yorker profiles for which he is famous, of the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was then at the height of his powers. The profile created waves for exposing how volatile, even violent, Weinstein was to his employees and collaborators. But there was a much darker story that was just out of reach: rumors had long swirled that Weinstein was a sexual predator, but no one was willing to go on the record, and in the end Auletta and the magazine concluded they couldn’t close the case. But the story always nagged at him, and many years later, he was able to share his reporting notes and all that he knew with Ronan Farrow, and to cheer him along with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey as all of them broke pioneering stories and wrote bestselling books.
But the story continued nagging him. Farrow, Twohey, and Kantor did a brilliant job of exposing the trail of assaults and their cover-up, but the larger questions remained: what was at the root of Weinstein’s monstrousness? How and why was it never checked? How does a man run the day-to-day operations of a company with hundreds of employees and revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars and at the same time live a shadow life of sexual predation without ever being caught, for years and years? How much is this a story about Harvey Weinstein, and how much is this a story about Hollywood and power?
Ken Auletta has spent the last three years in pursuit of the answers, uncovering the mysteries beneath a film career unparalleled in Hollywood history for its combination of extraordinary business and creative success and a personal brutality and viciousness that left a trail of ruined lives in its wake. Hollywood Ending is an unflinching examination of Weinstein’s life and career. Not simply a prosecutor’s litany of crimes, it embeds them in the context of his overall business, his failures but also his outsized successes. To understand how Weinstein could behave as he did, we have to understand the power he wielded. Iconic film stars, Miramax employees and board members, old friends and family, and even the person who knew him best—Harvey’s brother Bob—all talked to Auletta at length. The result is not simply the portrait of a predator, it is a portrait of the power that allowed Weinstein to operate with such impunity for so many years, the spider web in which his victims found themselves trapped. To face the truth of the Weinstein story is to understand how many other spider webs no doubt still remain.
But the story continued nagging him. Farrow, Twohey, and Kantor did a brilliant job of exposing the trail of assaults and their cover-up, but the larger questions remained: what was at the root of Weinstein’s monstrousness? How and why was it never checked? How does a man run the day-to-day operations of a company with hundreds of employees and revenues in the hundreds of millions of dollars and at the same time live a shadow life of sexual predation without ever being caught, for years and years? How much is this a story about Harvey Weinstein, and how much is this a story about Hollywood and power?
Ken Auletta has spent the last three years in pursuit of the answers, uncovering the mysteries beneath a film career unparalleled in Hollywood history for its combination of extraordinary business and creative success and a personal brutality and viciousness that left a trail of ruined lives in its wake. Hollywood Ending is an unflinching examination of Weinstein’s life and career. Not simply a prosecutor’s litany of crimes, it embeds them in the context of his overall business, his failures but also his outsized successes. To understand how Weinstein could behave as he did, we have to understand the power he wielded. Iconic film stars, Miramax employees and board members, old friends and family, and even the person who knew him best—Harvey’s brother Bob—all talked to Auletta at length. The result is not simply the portrait of a predator, it is a portrait of the power that allowed Weinstein to operate with such impunity for so many years, the spider web in which his victims found themselves trapped. To face the truth of the Weinstein story is to understand how many other spider webs no doubt still remain.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published July 12, 2022
About the author
Ken Auletta
24 books96 followersKen Auletta has written Annals of Communications columns and profiles for The New Yorker magazine since 1992. He is the author of eleven books, including five national bestsellers: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed And Glory On Wall Street: The Fall of The House of Lehman; The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Super Highway; World War 3.0: Microsoft and Its Enemies; and Googled, The End of the World As We Know It, which was published in November of 2009.
Auletta has won numerous journalism honors. He has been chosen a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, and one of the 20th Century's top 100 business journalists by a distinguished national panel of peers.
For two decades Auletta has been a national judge of the Livingston Awards for journalists under thirty-five. He has been a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival. He was a member of the Columbia Journalism School Task Force assembled by incoming college President Lee Bollinger to help reshape the curriculum. He has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror and a Trustee of the Nightingale-Bamford School. He was twice a Trustee of PEN, the international writers organization. He is a member of the New York Public Library's Emergency Committee for the Research Libraries, of the Author's Guild, PEN, and of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Auletta grew up on Coney Island in Brooklyn, where he attended public schools. He graduated with a B.S. from the State University College at Oswego, N.Y., and received an M.A. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Auletta has won numerous journalism honors. He has been chosen a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library, and one of the 20th Century's top 100 business journalists by a distinguished national panel of peers.
For two decades Auletta has been a national judge of the Livingston Awards for journalists under thirty-five. He has been a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of the Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival. He was a member of the Columbia Journalism School Task Force assembled by incoming college President Lee Bollinger to help reshape the curriculum. He has served as a Pulitzer Prize juror and a Trustee of the Nightingale-Bamford School. He was twice a Trustee of PEN, the international writers organization. He is a member of the New York Public Library's Emergency Committee for the Research Libraries, of the Author's Guild, PEN, and of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Auletta grew up on Coney Island in Brooklyn, where he attended public schools. He graduated with a B.S. from the State University College at Oswego, N.Y., and received an M.A. in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
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November 20, 2022
In 2002, Ken Auletta published a New Yorker profile of Harvey Weinstein, highlighting the movie mogul's frightening rages; verbal abuse of staff, colleagues and competitors; and exorbitant spending, eating, and smoking. Auletta 'heard' that Harvey sexually abused women, but was unable to get anyone on the record, and had to leave the allegations out of his article.
Skip ahead to 2017, and both the New Yorker and the New York Times expose Harvey as a sexual predator. Weinstein is arrested and eventually put on trial in 2020. In this book, Auletta provides an in depth sketch of the Hollywood tycoon, from his childhood to the court proceedings and beyond. Auletta describes the once powerful Weinstein shambling into his 2020 criminal trial with a walker, wearing "drab, boxy suits; white shirts with crumpled collars; and dull, slightly askew ties." Auletta goes on to say Harvey "had lost at least seventy-five pounds, his pallor was gray, and his scruffy stubble beard failed to camouflage the crevices and lines of his swollen face."
Harvey Weinstein going to court.
Weinstein's downfall came after a long career in the entertainment industry, which had fascinated him since childhood. Born to Miriam and Max Weinstein, Harvey and his younger brother Bob grew up in Queens, New York. Miriam was entranced by glamorous people in magazines, and Harvey followed her lead, becoming enamored with the "glamour and lifestyle that came along with being in the movie business." Meanwhile, Bob was good with numbers and - despite almost constant screaming matches - the brothers were business partners for most of their lives.
Miriam Weinstein.
Harvey (right) and Bob Weinstein.
Weinstein's show business career started in the 1970s, when he was in college. By his junior year Harvey quit school, and he and his friend Corky Burger formed a company called Harvey and Corky presents, which promoted concerts. Harvey's brother Bob came to work for the company, and the Weinstein siblings were soon showing films as well....and dreaming of entering the movie industry. Even this early, Harvey "was cunning, brash, loud, and volatile, often screaming at those who worked with him."
Corky Burger (left) and Harvey Weinstein.
It was also around this time that Weinstein's sexual obsession began. After Harvey was arrested in 2017, he implied that "he was caught up in the counterculture of the seventies, a time of more open sex [and] free love." Auletta suggests the hedonism Harvey referred to camouflaged aggressive sexual behavior.
Harvey and Bob went from showing movies to distributing movies to making films of their own. In 1979 they founded a company called Miramax, which - after a series of ups and downs - became very successful. Harvey used his show business clout to lure, harass, and assault women, especially those who wanted a career in the film industry.
Harvey and Bob Weinstein - founders of Miramax.
In fact, Weinstein admitted he was "a trader of favors." This is demonstrated by the movie mogul's interaction with the actress Gwyneth Paltrow. After Harvey gave Paltrow a leading role in the 1996 movie 'Emma', he lured her to his hotel room, grabbed her by the arms and squeezed, and tried to coax her into his bedroom for a massage. Luckily, the actress escaped. According to Paltrow, she continued working with Harvey because "he had so much power. He was making all these great movies. And I was about to be in those movies.....We all wanted to make excuses for a lot of his behavior because of the movies he was making."
Gwyneth Paltrow and Harvey Weinstein.
As Harvey's success increased, so did his aggression and sense of entitlement. Auletta observes, "As [Harvey] became more and more puffed up with his own importance, those working for Miramax thought his behavior became more extreme." Moreover, "Harvey had always escaped exposure, so often he was by [the 1990s] inured to the danger." This would change in 1998 when Weinstein was confronted by Miramax employees Zelda Perkins and Rowena Chiu.
Zelda Perkins.
Rowena Chiu.
Perkins was training Chiu to take over her position when Weinstein lured Chiu to his London hotel suite and tried to rape her. Perkins and Chiu threatened to file charges against Weinstein, which was a wake up call for the entrepreneur. Instead of mending his ways, though, Harvey - with an army of aggressive lawyers - 'persuaded' the two women to sign NDAs for compensation of about $210,000 each. This was the first of many many NDAs signed by women harassed/assaulted by Weinstein. According to Auletta, Weinstein's "secrets also stayed secret because in the movie business, abnormal male sexual aggression was thought to be common, fit for private whispers but not public shame. This was Hollywood's culture of silence."
In the the midst of all this sex and aggression hubbub, Harvey was married twice, to blueblood Eve Chilton - with whom he had three daughters, and to fashion designer Georgina Chapman - with whom he had a son and a daughter. Though Weinstein's serial infidelity was well known in the industry, it's unclear whether his wives were aware of Harvey's many peccadillos, especially the sexual assaults.
Harvey Weinstein and Eve Chilton.
Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman.
In 2005, Harvey and Bob founded a new independent studio called The Weinstein Company, for which investors provided initial financing of one billion dollars. Deplorably, by 2016, Harvey's extravagant spending had essentially bankrupted the company. This wasn't the worst of Harvey's troubles though. Auletta notes, "Whatever business anxiety he had was subsumed by a mounting terror of exposure. For four decades he had muzzled people outside the company and within it; they dared not discuss any sort of violence they'd experienced at his hands, whether it be verbal, psychological, physical, or sexual. The NDAs employees were required to sign as a matter of course ensured this." Moreover, it was well known that men in the media business were long allowed their sexual pleasures, consensual or forced.
Unfortunately for cocky celebrity bigwigs, they were no longer coated with teflon. Bill Cosby, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, Donald Trump, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, and others were exposed as sexual predators.....and suffered the consequences (Though not so much in Trump's case, no matter he was reviled by much of the public).
Bill Cosby.
Former Fox host Gretchen Carlson accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.
Mindy McGillivray (and others) accused Donald Trump of sexual assault.
Bill O'Reilly was accused of sexual harassment.
In early 2017, Harvey's biggest worry was actress Rose McGowan, "who started tweeting months before about an unnamed studio head who raped her" AND she was writing a memoir. Moreover, Harvey was told that New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor was writing a profile of him, "particularly as it relates to women."
Rose McGowan.
Auletta writes, "Harvey....had one mode of defense: attack." Weinstein hired a lawyer that aggressively sued journalists; retained attorneys that vehemently attacked his accusers; phoned the New York Times publisher and editor in an attempt to squelsh the Kantor story; contacted the publisher of McGowan's book and various book agents, to try to get a copy of her manuscript; and so on. All this was done on the quiet, in an effort to keep it from The Weinstein Company's board of directors and Bob Weinstein and almost all company executives.
In the end, Weinstein was pilloried anyway. Auletta writes, "The October 5, 2017 front-page headline of the New York Times story by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey blared: HARVEY WEINSTEIN PAID OFF SEXUAL HARASSMENT ACCUSERS FOR DECADES.....They got women on the record to share their horrific experiences with Harvey - Ashley Judd, Emily Nestor, Lauren O'Connor, Laura Madden, Zelda Perkins."
Journalists Jodi Kantor (left) and Megan Twohey
Ashley Judd.
Emily Nestor.
Lauren O'Connor.
Laura Madden
A week later, the first of several articles about Weinstein by journalist Ronan Farrow was published in the New Yorker, and more women came forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault. As a result, Harvey was fired from The Weinstein Company.....and later arrested and tried.
Auletta also writes about employees who enabled Harvey by bringing girls to his hotel room, and speculates about those who might have known (and closed their eyes) to Harvey's sexual assaults. Many people admit they knew Harvey was an unfaithful philanderer, but no one acknowledges they knew he was a rapist. Maybe time will tell.
Auletta includes a good bit of information about Weinstein's parents and schooling; concerts young Harvey promoted; films Harvey and Bob distributed or made (including My Left Foot, The Piano, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Shakespeare In Love, The King's Speech, and many others); Oscars the movies won; actors, actresses, and directors Harvey worked with; Weinstein's business collaborators; Harvey's polititian friends; and more - all of which helps round out the Weinstein story.
The book is well-written, interesting, and informative, and includes extensive notes documenting sources and a useful index.
For those interested, there's a 2022 film called 'She Said' based on Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey's 2019 book 'She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.' In an interview, the authors note that the movie "depicts so much of what we witnessed and experienced, including the takeout, the late-night cab ride, and a few personal truths we’ve never shared before. In fact certain details are shown precisely as they were, down to the font on an incriminating document one of the victims read to us. The actors Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan convey emotions and moments we never thought could be captured, and Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, and other actors embody our sources’ tenacity, deep reflection, and risk."
;Carey Mulligan (left) and Zoe Kazan portray Twohey and Kantor
Though much has been said and written about Harvey Weinstein, the full story - with HONEST input from the subject himself - still remains to be told. Maybe someday it will be.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
October 14, 2022
My apologies; finished this book months ago and forgot to upload my thoughts. Ken Auletta is a terrific journalist and does an excellent job with a horrifying, infuriating story. My lovely bride and I listened to the book on audio this summer while traveling together, and we were constantly looking at each in the car in disbelief. It wasn't merely the litany of Weinstein's crimes -- endless and terrible -- it was, as Auletta forecasts in his title, the culture that allowed him to prey on women for decades. He had enablers in his company and enablers in Hollywood and New York City and London, and the story is maddening, but unbelievably important. And as parents of a young female actor, my wife and I were especially aghast -- but grateful that this story is out there. We still have a long, long way to go in ending this culture of rape, assault, abuse, denigration, and exploitation. . .but books like Auletta's are an important step in opening people's eyes.
Want to read
July 14, 2022Don't know if I will be able to stomach this one. I can barely make it through articles about Weinstein without vomiting. Remember exactly where I was and who I was with when this story broke.
August 22, 2022
Harvey Weinstein was a Hollywood heavyweight. He made careers and he broke careers. Everyone in Hollywood bowed down to him. He was also considered a big deal in politics, while his personal politics were aligned with the Democrats, he gave money to Republicans as well. Harvey understood that money and power go hand and hand. He's the reason Hollywood started paying attention to independent and mid level films.
But thats not what he will be remembered for.
Harvey Weinstein is a serial rapist.
Harvey is trash. He's a violent monster but he's not the worst person in this book. The worst people in my opinion are all the enablers and the people who knew what he was doing for years and not only never said anything but they continued to work with him.
Brad Pitt knew....in the 1990's
Ben Affleck knew....in the 1990's
Quentin Tarantino knew.....in the 1990's
The New York Times knew...in the 1990's
NBC News knew..in the early 2000s
The New York District Attorneys Office knew. ..at least by 2010 if not earlier
And many many more. These people thought their careers and money were more important than the women Harvey was brutally taking advantage of. Harvey is a sexual predator and can't be fixed, the only thing that can done with those people is to lock them away. Had anyone actually stepped in and put a stop to Harvey's behavior there is no telling how many women would have been saved from rape.
I think we can all agree that the entertainment industry is trash. Its a hunting ground for predators. And the news business...well the less said the better. Harvey Weinstein couldn't have done the things he did with the silence of his peers and the press. The author of this book tried to expose Harvey back in 2002 but the magazine he worked for killed the story, so they could continue working with Harvey.
Hollywood Ending is a big book but it reads quick. Obviously the subject matter is dark, we are given full detailed descriptions of the heinous acts Harvey committed. But we also get a full history of the ways on which Harvey changed Hollywood...some good and some bad. Despite the subject being awful the author in my opinion covers in a even manner. He doesn't sensationalize it or make any grand statements. He just uses the facts he knows to tell a horrific story.
This book isn't for everyone but if you want to dig deeper into the dark side of Hollywood, Hollywood Ending may be for you.
But thats not what he will be remembered for.
Harvey Weinstein is a serial rapist.
Harvey is trash. He's a violent monster but he's not the worst person in this book. The worst people in my opinion are all the enablers and the people who knew what he was doing for years and not only never said anything but they continued to work with him.
Brad Pitt knew....in the 1990's
Ben Affleck knew....in the 1990's
Quentin Tarantino knew.....in the 1990's
The New York Times knew...in the 1990's
NBC News knew..in the early 2000s
The New York District Attorneys Office knew. ..at least by 2010 if not earlier
And many many more. These people thought their careers and money were more important than the women Harvey was brutally taking advantage of. Harvey is a sexual predator and can't be fixed, the only thing that can done with those people is to lock them away. Had anyone actually stepped in and put a stop to Harvey's behavior there is no telling how many women would have been saved from rape.
I think we can all agree that the entertainment industry is trash. Its a hunting ground for predators. And the news business...well the less said the better. Harvey Weinstein couldn't have done the things he did with the silence of his peers and the press. The author of this book tried to expose Harvey back in 2002 but the magazine he worked for killed the story, so they could continue working with Harvey.
Hollywood Ending is a big book but it reads quick. Obviously the subject matter is dark, we are given full detailed descriptions of the heinous acts Harvey committed. But we also get a full history of the ways on which Harvey changed Hollywood...some good and some bad. Despite the subject being awful the author in my opinion covers in a even manner. He doesn't sensationalize it or make any grand statements. He just uses the facts he knows to tell a horrific story.
This book isn't for everyone but if you want to dig deeper into the dark side of Hollywood, Hollywood Ending may be for you.
August 14, 2022
A fairly comprehensive account of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein, Ken Auletta’s Hollywood Ending will have you longing for a shower by the time you finish it. Auletta produces a convincing portrait of Weinstein as a narcissist, an abuser, and a sociopath—one who has no compunction about swearing on the lives of his children while lying through his teeth. But Auletta seems more interested in trying to figure out what makes Weinstein tick (an answer which seems both unknowable and pretty banal all at once) than he is in really digging into the systems which allow for the amassing of toxic and exploitative power in Hollywood and elsewhere. This sordid books provides a few hints that while Weinstein may have been cruder in his manipulations and cruelties than many, he was far from being an outlier.
July 19, 2022
An exhaustive...and, it must be said, exhausting...account of the scandal that brought down Harvey Weinstein. The tale is told meticulously from start to finish, but it is the horror of that story that drives the narrative, because the writing is just too dry and clinical. You are left with the courage of a few women who decided that they had enough of a serial abuser.
December 21, 2021
First off, let’s get clear on one thing: I feel like I need a shower, or something, after reading Ken Auletta’s book about Harvey Weinstein. Interestingly titled Hollywood Ending, I received a copy of it from Penguin Group/Penguin Press and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. Mr. Auletta wrote an article for New Yorker Magazine about twenty years ago, back when Harvey was pretty much at the top of his power. Back then, the big revelations were about hw angry and volatile, occasionally violent, Harvey was to many people, including voth his employees and people with whom he was collaborating on projects. Back then, when asked about the rumors/stories about him, Harvey denied everything. Since no one was willing to speak on the record about him, it wasn’t until much later when Mr. Auletta shared his notes with Ronan Farrow, that Farrow’s account (along with work by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor) broke the story wide open. Today, Harvey is in jail (finally))
For anyone who might think this is all rumor and innuendo, the last TWENTY percent is notes and documentation. TBH I was relieved, because after reading that far, I was sick of the whole sordid story. And it isn’t like these revelations really changed things. Auletta himself concludes that “Perhaps “believe women” faces a steep uphill climb.”
Some people think Harvey truly believed that he never raped or sexually abused the 100 or so women who spoke out to say he did just that. Some people think that he was “…a sociopath, unable to comprehend the suffering of others, or to distinguish right from wrong.” For those who think it’s all just gossip, evidence for this story being true is reinforced by one “… of Harvery’s closest childhood friends, Alan Brewer, believes Harvey’s “assaulting of women has less to do with sex than with control, dominance.” And for anyone who might think the activities between him and women were not solely his doing, her is how one of his attorneys describes him: “ “Harvey is a sociopath. He is not someone who thinks he did anything wrong and is burdened by a heavy conscience. He believes that if a woman wants something from him, even if he pins her down and rapes her, he thinks it is a consensual act.” He is making a trade: what he wants in return for what she wants.””
So. He is in jail. Some of us are relieved. Some think “It’s about f&%$ing time. And Ken Auletta is a good storyteller and writer. Four stars.
For anyone who might think this is all rumor and innuendo, the last TWENTY percent is notes and documentation. TBH I was relieved, because after reading that far, I was sick of the whole sordid story. And it isn’t like these revelations really changed things. Auletta himself concludes that “Perhaps “believe women” faces a steep uphill climb.”
Some people think Harvey truly believed that he never raped or sexually abused the 100 or so women who spoke out to say he did just that. Some people think that he was “…a sociopath, unable to comprehend the suffering of others, or to distinguish right from wrong.” For those who think it’s all just gossip, evidence for this story being true is reinforced by one “… of Harvery’s closest childhood friends, Alan Brewer, believes Harvey’s “assaulting of women has less to do with sex than with control, dominance.” And for anyone who might think the activities between him and women were not solely his doing, her is how one of his attorneys describes him: “ “Harvey is a sociopath. He is not someone who thinks he did anything wrong and is burdened by a heavy conscience. He believes that if a woman wants something from him, even if he pins her down and rapes her, he thinks it is a consensual act.” He is making a trade: what he wants in return for what she wants.””
So. He is in jail. Some of us are relieved. Some think “It’s about f&%$ing time. And Ken Auletta is a good storyteller and writer. Four stars.
February 25, 2023
Deeply researched and reported, “Hollywood Ending” tells the decades-long story of Harvey Weinstein’s rise to and fall from power and fame in Hollywood and how that power and fame enabled him to sexually assault and rape women in the industry. Auletta, who first tried to break the story of Harvey’s sexual predation in 2002 but came up short, is unsparing in his descriptions of Harvey’s lust for more—money, fame, and sex. And yet, Auletta’s reporting is more powerful, and in the end disturbing, for its fair-mindedness. As some of the women he interviewed make clear, Harvey produced some great films (e.g., Good Will Hunting, Inglorious Basterds) and his company, Miramax, changed the film industry, bringing independent films to mainstream audiences. That talent enabled him to be a predator to women, using his position as a Hollywood broker to entrap women and scare them into silence. In fact, many of his victims said they refused to come forward at the time because they feared what he could do to their careers.
Harvey lied to those around him and used intimidation and anger to maintain his position. One of the strengths of Auletta’s book is the way it explores how Hollywood’s acceptance of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse (which Harvey heaped on his staff, his competitors, and even his own brother) and trading sex for work by “brilliant” men allowed Harvey to tell himself and his victims that this is just the way things work in this industry and for his victims to believe him and fear career retaliation for speaking out. Take Quentin Tarantino, for example. After “Pulp Fiction,” Uma Thurman told him that Harvey assaulted her. Tarantino still went on to make many movies with Harvey, whose creativity and determination Tarantino admired. Harvey may be the most egregious and disturbing case, but what Auletta makes clear is he could not have done so without Hollywood’s willingness to look the other way when powerful men abuse their influence.
Harvey lied to those around him and used intimidation and anger to maintain his position. One of the strengths of Auletta’s book is the way it explores how Hollywood’s acceptance of verbal, emotional, and physical abuse (which Harvey heaped on his staff, his competitors, and even his own brother) and trading sex for work by “brilliant” men allowed Harvey to tell himself and his victims that this is just the way things work in this industry and for his victims to believe him and fear career retaliation for speaking out. Take Quentin Tarantino, for example. After “Pulp Fiction,” Uma Thurman told him that Harvey assaulted her. Tarantino still went on to make many movies with Harvey, whose creativity and determination Tarantino admired. Harvey may be the most egregious and disturbing case, but what Auletta makes clear is he could not have done so without Hollywood’s willingness to look the other way when powerful men abuse their influence.
August 30, 2022
Yucch! I'd read many of the "Me Too" articles chronicling the takedown of Miramax head Harvey Weinstein, but had been looking to Ken Auletta to provide more context about Weinstein, his role in the rise of independent studios, and the interplay with Disney, which had bought and been embarrassed by Miramax. Auletta, however, chooses to mostly focus on providing a lot of detail on dozens of Weinstein's rapes and harrassments. It is if he is trying to carve out a role for himself on top of Ronan Farrow's prior book, and the NYT writers. Why he'd choose to cap his illustrious career as a top media industry chronicler this way....it is a mystery. I found the book to be professional and thorough, but very depressing -- Weinstein is relentlessly disgusting -- and it didn't add very much to my overall knowledge.
January 6, 2023
Wow. 5++ stars hands down. An entirely captivating account of Harvey Weinstein’s life - from childhood through his glory days through his deep, dark fall from grace. Although some of the details are difficult to read, I learned quite a bit, not just about Weinstein (as I naturally expected), but also about the business and systemic machine that is Hollywood and show business. Not only that, but I found the chapters on the trial fascinating.
So good - and I’m so glad this journalist is getting his chance to share his original research (from when he was profiling Weinstein in New Yorker magazine in 2002) in his own words here. Not only that, but I respect his willing collaboration to share his research with Ronan Farrow, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor to support and strengthen their pivotal articles that changed the course of Hollywood (and beyond), Weinstein and the women he preyed upon.
So good - and I’m so glad this journalist is getting his chance to share his original research (from when he was profiling Weinstein in New Yorker magazine in 2002) in his own words here. Not only that, but I respect his willing collaboration to share his research with Ronan Farrow, Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor to support and strengthen their pivotal articles that changed the course of Hollywood (and beyond), Weinstein and the women he preyed upon.
August 7, 2022
Another great Ken Auletta book about ‘Greed and Glory’. Despite all the similar ‘Me Too’ stories of the last few years, Auletta’s well researched and well told history of the Weinsteins and Miramax still seems hard to believe. Amazing that Harvey Weinstein’s atrocious treatment of virtually every other human—personal and business—in his life was tolerated, excused, or enabled for decades to the point where he could commit numerous crimes that were only uncovered by a handful of journalists working for years. Without them, in all likelihood he’d be hurting people and committing more financial crimes even now.
July 21, 2022
The Devil in Hollywood
An amazing story about one man’s hubris and criminality that went on for years and how difficult it was to bring him to justice
Well written but the subject matter will make you cringe-still it should be read by everyone
An amazing story about one man’s hubris and criminality that went on for years and how difficult it was to bring him to justice
Well written but the subject matter will make you cringe-still it should be read by everyone
March 13, 2023
This book is not about the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein (HW); but rather the fall of HW. Auletta tries to provide some balance....looking for the good in HW. But whatever good he finds is overwhelmed by the bad. And yet, this book is not a hatchet job. Auletta's coverage of the trial, nearly 1/4 of the book, is a bit tedious. And yet, it is the trial coverage that shows the weakness in the criminal justice system and the uphill battle for the #MeToo Movement.
Back around 2000, Auletta was writing a piece on HW, who was a rising star in the movie industry. Miramax was something like a startup giving voice to indy films and making money doing it. Even then, there was widespread animosity towards HW for the way he treated his employees and contractors. There were whispers of sex crimes; but Auletta could not substantiate them, so that was left out of his piece. But Auletta clearly spent a lot of time trying to obtain that corroborating evidence. And ever since that piece came out ca. 2002, he has been looking for that evidence.
A lot of the book is based on his original article (2002) in the New Yorker. The background on Harvey and the rise of Miramax is sort of there. I say sort of because I still do not know what Miramax was. Did they make movies? Were they just distributors? What is a producer? From the book, it appears that HW started in the music business as a college dropout who suddenly became the most active promoter / producer of music in Buffalo, NY. It seems his greatest ability was to recognize talent. Then he found a way to profit from that talent. A lot of the book talks about many films in the Miramax Library, or the Weinstein Library, without explaining how they were made or how they were profitable. It is the basis of HW's status as a mogul.
The book overwhelmingly focuses on every allegation of sex abuse against Weinstein ca. 1970-2017. Auletta going so far as to suggest who might have been his first victim. Yes, there is a bias to the book, and it seems to be deserved. These long sections on abuse are interspersed with sections on business, HW's personality, HW's spending, HW's charity activitiy, and HW's connections. But the focus never leaves the dual thrust that HW is a bad person and a sexual predator. Auletta also goes to lengths to identify HW's enablers - the Ghislane Maxwells - who helped him with his predatory behavior. Auletta clearly feels that these people should receive some comeuppance. And yet, the trial directly questions that story.
When the New York Times and the New Yorker publicly named HW a sexual predator in 2017, they relied upon testimony from 3 well-known actresses: Mira Sorvino, Asia Argento, and Rosanna Arquette. A model, who actually filed charges against HW, also came forward to support them. And yet, none of these women testified against him in the big New York trial. For one thing, there was a statute of limitations limiting it for 5 years. Those restrictions were loosened (ambiguously) without consideration as to why there are limitations in the first place. Instead of celebrity testimony, the prosecution's case rested on 3 non-celebrity women, the most important of whom (and the center of 3/5 counts against HW) admitted to a consensual relationship with HW for nearly 10 years. The judge allowed for Molineaux witnesses - testifying to crimes outside of the statute of limitations to determine a pattern. None of the Molineax witnesses were celebrities. And then, the prosecution somehow added Annabella Sciorra, a celebrity who claimed HW raped her in her home in the 1990s. A cynical observer would point out that nearly half of the women who testified against HW in New York were represented by the same lawyer pining to bring a civil suit against HW....
HW was convicted of 2/5 counts, arguably the weakest of the counts against him. The jury seemingly disregarded Sciorra's testimony entirely. The foreman would go on talk shows to say the jury was almost evenly divided between guilty and not guilty. It is clear that many of the jurors did not appreciate that the chorus of horrible stories on HW centered on one woman who had a long-standing relationship with HW as a booty-call. But they convicted, unanimously, based on the testimony of one of HW's male witnesses, and the lack of HW testifying on his own behalf. As Auletta concluded, jurors did not embrace the #BelieveWomen. Or maybe they had doubts about the naivety of women who willingly went to a man's hotel room at night to discuss business.
Auletta must have been leaving out crucial material. In addition to the logistics of the movie business and an explanation of what value Miramax added to movies, there are dots missing in the trial coverage. His description of the trial clearly shows a biased judge. Conviction for the lesser charges hardly justified the maximum sentence for a first offender. HW's defense had a solid basis for appeal. Yes, the appeal ruling happened after the book went to print, but in the face of seeming obvious objections, it is unclear how it was not successful.
Overall, this is a loooong story of one journalist's pursuit of HW. Every sin, every weakness, every rumor is presented here. Some good actions are covered. Auletta quotes former employees who said they learned far more from working with HW than through any other experience. Other former employees recalled their boss' loyalty and generosity. HW was a complex and difficult man to like, whether it was because of an abusive mother or lack of restraint by society towards the rich and powerful. The wall of silence that protected HW for so long came crashing down through stories that face difficulty in criminal court even with a seemingly biased judge. The question is not just whether the accusers are telling the truth without any corroborating evidence, but why is it so difficult to prosecute and convict based on such evidence with limitations for prosecution. Or, maybe a better question would be 'How does reading this book make me defend Harvey-fucking-Weinstein?"
Back around 2000, Auletta was writing a piece on HW, who was a rising star in the movie industry. Miramax was something like a startup giving voice to indy films and making money doing it. Even then, there was widespread animosity towards HW for the way he treated his employees and contractors. There were whispers of sex crimes; but Auletta could not substantiate them, so that was left out of his piece. But Auletta clearly spent a lot of time trying to obtain that corroborating evidence. And ever since that piece came out ca. 2002, he has been looking for that evidence.
A lot of the book is based on his original article (2002) in the New Yorker. The background on Harvey and the rise of Miramax is sort of there. I say sort of because I still do not know what Miramax was. Did they make movies? Were they just distributors? What is a producer? From the book, it appears that HW started in the music business as a college dropout who suddenly became the most active promoter / producer of music in Buffalo, NY. It seems his greatest ability was to recognize talent. Then he found a way to profit from that talent. A lot of the book talks about many films in the Miramax Library, or the Weinstein Library, without explaining how they were made or how they were profitable. It is the basis of HW's status as a mogul.
The book overwhelmingly focuses on every allegation of sex abuse against Weinstein ca. 1970-2017. Auletta going so far as to suggest who might have been his first victim. Yes, there is a bias to the book, and it seems to be deserved. These long sections on abuse are interspersed with sections on business, HW's personality, HW's spending, HW's charity activitiy, and HW's connections. But the focus never leaves the dual thrust that HW is a bad person and a sexual predator. Auletta also goes to lengths to identify HW's enablers - the Ghislane Maxwells - who helped him with his predatory behavior. Auletta clearly feels that these people should receive some comeuppance. And yet, the trial directly questions that story.
When the New York Times and the New Yorker publicly named HW a sexual predator in 2017, they relied upon testimony from 3 well-known actresses: Mira Sorvino, Asia Argento, and Rosanna Arquette. A model, who actually filed charges against HW, also came forward to support them. And yet, none of these women testified against him in the big New York trial. For one thing, there was a statute of limitations limiting it for 5 years. Those restrictions were loosened (ambiguously) without consideration as to why there are limitations in the first place. Instead of celebrity testimony, the prosecution's case rested on 3 non-celebrity women, the most important of whom (and the center of 3/5 counts against HW) admitted to a consensual relationship with HW for nearly 10 years. The judge allowed for Molineaux witnesses - testifying to crimes outside of the statute of limitations to determine a pattern. None of the Molineax witnesses were celebrities. And then, the prosecution somehow added Annabella Sciorra, a celebrity who claimed HW raped her in her home in the 1990s. A cynical observer would point out that nearly half of the women who testified against HW in New York were represented by the same lawyer pining to bring a civil suit against HW....
HW was convicted of 2/5 counts, arguably the weakest of the counts against him. The jury seemingly disregarded Sciorra's testimony entirely. The foreman would go on talk shows to say the jury was almost evenly divided between guilty and not guilty. It is clear that many of the jurors did not appreciate that the chorus of horrible stories on HW centered on one woman who had a long-standing relationship with HW as a booty-call. But they convicted, unanimously, based on the testimony of one of HW's male witnesses, and the lack of HW testifying on his own behalf. As Auletta concluded, jurors did not embrace the #BelieveWomen. Or maybe they had doubts about the naivety of women who willingly went to a man's hotel room at night to discuss business.
Auletta must have been leaving out crucial material. In addition to the logistics of the movie business and an explanation of what value Miramax added to movies, there are dots missing in the trial coverage. His description of the trial clearly shows a biased judge. Conviction for the lesser charges hardly justified the maximum sentence for a first offender. HW's defense had a solid basis for appeal. Yes, the appeal ruling happened after the book went to print, but in the face of seeming obvious objections, it is unclear how it was not successful.
Overall, this is a loooong story of one journalist's pursuit of HW. Every sin, every weakness, every rumor is presented here. Some good actions are covered. Auletta quotes former employees who said they learned far more from working with HW than through any other experience. Other former employees recalled their boss' loyalty and generosity. HW was a complex and difficult man to like, whether it was because of an abusive mother or lack of restraint by society towards the rich and powerful. The wall of silence that protected HW for so long came crashing down through stories that face difficulty in criminal court even with a seemingly biased judge. The question is not just whether the accusers are telling the truth without any corroborating evidence, but why is it so difficult to prosecute and convict based on such evidence with limitations for prosecution. Or, maybe a better question would be 'How does reading this book make me defend Harvey-fucking-Weinstein?"
December 3, 2022
I don’t even know what to say about this book. Ken Auletta rendered me speechless so many times over the course of 20 hours/~500 pages. I still seem to be in that liminal space a full day after finishing it.
If you’ve been paying any attention to #MeToo or specifically the Harvey Weinstein situation – the rumours that followed him for decades, the eventual reckoning and now the ongoing trials and ultimate convictions – HOLLYWOOD ENDING can answer whatever questions you may have. It is a staggering feat, this book. For starters, the research is impeccable. Auletta goes all the way back to Weinstein’s childhood to give context to everything that would come later, and he somehow does so without it ever feeling bogged down in minutiae or boring in the least. He then moves at a great pace through the creation of the Weinsteins’ production company, Miramax, and how this taste of power led the man to become a monster. Or at least to outwardly act on his monstrous urges. It’s hard to say exactly when and where that all began, but Auletta puts forth some pretty solid theories, again backed up with research.
The book brings us all the way up to late 2021, which in itself is amazing. I have no idea how Auletta managed to have this behemoth active right up to when he would be submitting it for publication. It takes us right inside the courtroom and gives us a glimpse of what Weinstein’s life looks like now, a stark contrast to how it looked in the many chapters leading up to its conclusion. Auletta had access to countless interview subjects – some of them were the women Weinstein assaulted, some were people who worked for Miramax or TWC over the years, and some were in Weinstein’s innermost circle, perhaps most notably his own brother, Bob. It was remarkable to hear insights about this horrible creature from his family; that’s not something I was expecting.
There are obvious comparisons here to Ronan Farrow’s CATCH AND KILL, a book I read a couple of years ago and was similarly bowled over by. HOLLYWOOD ENDING touches on some of Farrow’s work and experiences, so there is a (very small) bit of overlap. I think the two books should actually be read together, if you can handle that degree of filth and horror at once, because while they focus on the same man, they cover different parts of the very broad circle around Harvey Weinstein and the machine that allowed him to continue harassing and assaulting women for decades. There are things in each book that, if you’re anything like me, will somehow still surprise you, no matter what you thought you were ready to learn. Your disenchantment with Hollywood and your favourite directors or celebrity crushes will hit you like a truck.
(An aside, specifically about the audiobook: The narration is a bit odd, in that the narrator’s cadence isn’t entirely smooth/natural. I’ve had this experience with nonfiction books before. I ended up listening to it at 2x speed, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before, and I had no problem absorbing every word. Just thought that might be a helpful note.)
It goes without saying that there are massive content warnings with this one. I got pretty emotional a couple of times, especially during later moments of victims’ testimony. I felt their words – I was embarrassed, maybe I encouraged this, I just wanted to pretend it never happened – like a knife in my gut. If you’re a sexual assault survivor be mindful of how some of this is going to make you feel. Hell, if you’re anyone who is sensitive to this kind of organized, assembly line assault-and-rape system, just know it’s not an easy read. But it is a worthwhile one. That’s an understatement.
P.S. There's a movie coming out in the next few days called SHE SAID. It's a dramatized version of Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey, the women who broke a lot of what started the Weinstein snowball at the New York Times, and the book they wrote of the same name in 2019. I can't wait to see it, because these journalists deserve to be recognized (and Auletta shouts them out many times), but it bothers me that it's being produced or distributed by Plan B Entertainment, otherwise known as Brad Pitt's company. Whatever your opinion of Pitt before reading HOLLYWOOD ENDING, I assure you it's going to be worse afterwards.
Other media that might interest you:
-- trailer: THE ASSISTANT, a 2020 film starring Julia Garner and based around the life of a young woman employed as an unnamed Hollywood mogul's right hand person
-- trailer: UNTOUCHABLE: THE RISE AND FALL OF HARVEY WEINSTEIN, a 2019 BBC documentary featuring interviews with many of the women Weinstein victimized
-- trailer: CATCH AND KILL: THE PODCAST TAPES, a 2021 HBO docuseries delving further into Ronan Farrow's interviews with Weinstein's victims
-- full doc: WEINSTEIN, the 2018 PBS documentary featuring Ronan Farrow and many other insider interviews
-- full stream: Ken Auletta on what enabled Harvey Weinstein to become a sexual predator, an hour long interview with the author of HOLLYWOOD ENDING by the Washington Post (July 2022)
If you’ve been paying any attention to #MeToo or specifically the Harvey Weinstein situation – the rumours that followed him for decades, the eventual reckoning and now the ongoing trials and ultimate convictions – HOLLYWOOD ENDING can answer whatever questions you may have. It is a staggering feat, this book. For starters, the research is impeccable. Auletta goes all the way back to Weinstein’s childhood to give context to everything that would come later, and he somehow does so without it ever feeling bogged down in minutiae or boring in the least. He then moves at a great pace through the creation of the Weinsteins’ production company, Miramax, and how this taste of power led the man to become a monster. Or at least to outwardly act on his monstrous urges. It’s hard to say exactly when and where that all began, but Auletta puts forth some pretty solid theories, again backed up with research.
The book brings us all the way up to late 2021, which in itself is amazing. I have no idea how Auletta managed to have this behemoth active right up to when he would be submitting it for publication. It takes us right inside the courtroom and gives us a glimpse of what Weinstein’s life looks like now, a stark contrast to how it looked in the many chapters leading up to its conclusion. Auletta had access to countless interview subjects – some of them were the women Weinstein assaulted, some were people who worked for Miramax or TWC over the years, and some were in Weinstein’s innermost circle, perhaps most notably his own brother, Bob. It was remarkable to hear insights about this horrible creature from his family; that’s not something I was expecting.
There are obvious comparisons here to Ronan Farrow’s CATCH AND KILL, a book I read a couple of years ago and was similarly bowled over by. HOLLYWOOD ENDING touches on some of Farrow’s work and experiences, so there is a (very small) bit of overlap. I think the two books should actually be read together, if you can handle that degree of filth and horror at once, because while they focus on the same man, they cover different parts of the very broad circle around Harvey Weinstein and the machine that allowed him to continue harassing and assaulting women for decades. There are things in each book that, if you’re anything like me, will somehow still surprise you, no matter what you thought you were ready to learn. Your disenchantment with Hollywood and your favourite directors or celebrity crushes will hit you like a truck.
(An aside, specifically about the audiobook: The narration is a bit odd, in that the narrator’s cadence isn’t entirely smooth/natural. I’ve had this experience with nonfiction books before. I ended up listening to it at 2x speed, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before, and I had no problem absorbing every word. Just thought that might be a helpful note.)
It goes without saying that there are massive content warnings with this one. I got pretty emotional a couple of times, especially during later moments of victims’ testimony. I felt their words – I was embarrassed, maybe I encouraged this, I just wanted to pretend it never happened – like a knife in my gut. If you’re a sexual assault survivor be mindful of how some of this is going to make you feel. Hell, if you’re anyone who is sensitive to this kind of organized, assembly line assault-and-rape system, just know it’s not an easy read. But it is a worthwhile one. That’s an understatement.
P.S. There's a movie coming out in the next few days called SHE SAID. It's a dramatized version of Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey, the women who broke a lot of what started the Weinstein snowball at the New York Times, and the book they wrote of the same name in 2019. I can't wait to see it, because these journalists deserve to be recognized (and Auletta shouts them out many times), but it bothers me that it's being produced or distributed by Plan B Entertainment, otherwise known as Brad Pitt's company. Whatever your opinion of Pitt before reading HOLLYWOOD ENDING, I assure you it's going to be worse afterwards.
Other media that might interest you:
-- trailer: THE ASSISTANT, a 2020 film starring Julia Garner and based around the life of a young woman employed as an unnamed Hollywood mogul's right hand person
-- trailer: UNTOUCHABLE: THE RISE AND FALL OF HARVEY WEINSTEIN, a 2019 BBC documentary featuring interviews with many of the women Weinstein victimized
-- trailer: CATCH AND KILL: THE PODCAST TAPES, a 2021 HBO docuseries delving further into Ronan Farrow's interviews with Weinstein's victims
-- full doc: WEINSTEIN, the 2018 PBS documentary featuring Ronan Farrow and many other insider interviews
-- full stream: Ken Auletta on what enabled Harvey Weinstein to become a sexual predator, an hour long interview with the author of HOLLYWOOD ENDING by the Washington Post (July 2022)
September 8, 2022
Hollywood ending. Harvey Weinstein was a good book. I probably wasn’t in the mood to read a book like this. Once I got into it. It was a subject I knew about already.
August 4, 2022
Conscientious journalism. I follow TV history closely, less so film. While I've seen a few movies produced by the Weinsteins, this book did fill in many blanks for me about their pivotal role in the rise and fall of the independent film. But that's beside the point.
This book is primarily a grueling documentary history of Weinstein's serial abuse of women and the legal consequences which followed, focusing his trial in New York. It's a sad, depressing story of a depraved and disgusting human being. The book dutifully reports the Weinstein Company slowly and with considerable reluctance coming to the truth about its founder. Finally comes the big trial, and there is certainly enough material for one of those eight part TV docudramas. Problem is, you'd be spending your time with creepy Harvey. I love a good courtroom drama as much as anyone, but at least in a fictional story you can give a guy like this a good taser shot where he least wants it.
There is so much detail about the various contacts and accusations that there's not enough time left for Ken Auletta's interpretation of the events in the larger context of Hollywood's culture. Weinstein was a known bully and jerk in the non-sexual context also, and that type of behavior is far more widespread. Tolerance of day-to-day outrageous behavior in Hollywood is one of the reasons why that particular business became such a fertile ground for growing monsters like Harvey.
Too often journalists stray into opinion instead of just giving us facts. Here it's carefully factual, and you're left wanting more Ken Auletta, an unusually insightful analyst of the media business big picture. There are good details, though. I'd never heard that David Boies has a photographic memory. And Auletta's side mention of stratechery.com opened up more expert analysis of the media industry than even I have time for. I've added a star to the review for that one alone.
Auletta does a good job showing how the needs, ambitions and fears of actresses and female executives made it more difficult for them to bluntly and forcefully reject and/or prosecute this bum outright, at first. He takes pains to document and credit many women who did fight back and eventually win. I just wish he had the time to expand the canvas more and go into more of the dynamics of a business culture which allows this type of person to flourish for so many years.
The Weinstein crimes/scandal was made public by journalists, and Auletta gives plenty of credit to the other journalists besides himself who led the pack. He also asks some powerful questions about just how and who at NBC News and its parent company might have let others scoop them on the story. Some of the names he mentions in speculation were likely not complicit, and unfortunately he can't pin down with certainty exactly how high the putative cover-up went. The social circle in which Weinstein lived gave him access to many potential top-level enablers in business, politics, etc. Awesome legal team, too.
The energy of the actor narrating the audiobook sounded wrong to me. Ken Auletta has a gentle, rich voice and friendly tone, and I wish he'd had the time or inclination to read the book himself. That's one of the reasons for the imperfect rating. The other is this is Harvey Weinstein's world, a pretty toxic place for the reader to visit no matter how good the writer.
This book is primarily a grueling documentary history of Weinstein's serial abuse of women and the legal consequences which followed, focusing his trial in New York. It's a sad, depressing story of a depraved and disgusting human being. The book dutifully reports the Weinstein Company slowly and with considerable reluctance coming to the truth about its founder. Finally comes the big trial, and there is certainly enough material for one of those eight part TV docudramas. Problem is, you'd be spending your time with creepy Harvey. I love a good courtroom drama as much as anyone, but at least in a fictional story you can give a guy like this a good taser shot where he least wants it.
There is so much detail about the various contacts and accusations that there's not enough time left for Ken Auletta's interpretation of the events in the larger context of Hollywood's culture. Weinstein was a known bully and jerk in the non-sexual context also, and that type of behavior is far more widespread. Tolerance of day-to-day outrageous behavior in Hollywood is one of the reasons why that particular business became such a fertile ground for growing monsters like Harvey.
Too often journalists stray into opinion instead of just giving us facts. Here it's carefully factual, and you're left wanting more Ken Auletta, an unusually insightful analyst of the media business big picture. There are good details, though. I'd never heard that David Boies has a photographic memory. And Auletta's side mention of stratechery.com opened up more expert analysis of the media industry than even I have time for. I've added a star to the review for that one alone.
Auletta does a good job showing how the needs, ambitions and fears of actresses and female executives made it more difficult for them to bluntly and forcefully reject and/or prosecute this bum outright, at first. He takes pains to document and credit many women who did fight back and eventually win. I just wish he had the time to expand the canvas more and go into more of the dynamics of a business culture which allows this type of person to flourish for so many years.
The Weinstein crimes/scandal was made public by journalists, and Auletta gives plenty of credit to the other journalists besides himself who led the pack. He also asks some powerful questions about just how and who at NBC News and its parent company might have let others scoop them on the story. Some of the names he mentions in speculation were likely not complicit, and unfortunately he can't pin down with certainty exactly how high the putative cover-up went. The social circle in which Weinstein lived gave him access to many potential top-level enablers in business, politics, etc. Awesome legal team, too.
The energy of the actor narrating the audiobook sounded wrong to me. Ken Auletta has a gentle, rich voice and friendly tone, and I wish he'd had the time or inclination to read the book himself. That's one of the reasons for the imperfect rating. The other is this is Harvey Weinstein's world, a pretty toxic place for the reader to visit no matter how good the writer.
October 12, 2022
(Audiobook) I feel for Auletta because I know he has been chasing the Weinstein story for about 20 years at this point and it meant a lot to him to finally be able to report on it. Unfortunately I think it falls into the traps that a lot of passion projects that take years to finish fall into. Every detail becomes essential so as not to undermine the project's initial vision and integrity and it becomes this sprawling mess that's tedious for the audience to sort through.
There's so much here that the book's point of view gets muddied and by the end you just sort of want it to be over. He also gets a little caught up in wondering why Weinstein behaved this way which is so unknowable that Auletta has to admit that speculating gets you nowhere. It's a lot of good reporting but it's exhausting. It lacks the unique point of view of Ronan Farrow's book and the emotional engagement with the victims in the NY Times reporter's book.
Also the audiobook was awful honestly. Every sentence is read like an individual statement instead of part of a larger paragraph so it comes out halting and unnatural. I try not to listen any faster than ~1.25x speed to not lose too much of what the actor is going for but this was so achingly slow.
Recommend to a friend: Not really. If you were interested, I would seek out a paper copy instead of the audiobook.
There's so much here that the book's point of view gets muddied and by the end you just sort of want it to be over. He also gets a little caught up in wondering why Weinstein behaved this way which is so unknowable that Auletta has to admit that speculating gets you nowhere. It's a lot of good reporting but it's exhausting. It lacks the unique point of view of Ronan Farrow's book and the emotional engagement with the victims in the NY Times reporter's book.
Also the audiobook was awful honestly. Every sentence is read like an individual statement instead of part of a larger paragraph so it comes out halting and unnatural. I try not to listen any faster than ~1.25x speed to not lose too much of what the actor is going for but this was so achingly slow.
Recommend to a friend: Not really. If you were interested, I would seek out a paper copy instead of the audiobook.
August 10, 2022
A relentless and exhaustive accounting of abuse against women (and men). A true story as old as time of power being used as a tool to exert control without remorse. Sociopathic behavior or a underbelly thread of allowance in our culture? A fascinating and provocative read that makes you wonder if things have really changed since he was exposed. As much as #metoo catapulted women to start the conversation, we have current events that have backslid women's rights. It leaves me with the feeling that the fight for women's rights will never end.
September 14, 2022
Yuck!!! I don't know that I could recommend anyone spend time reading how disgusting Harvey Weinstein is. It's beyond horrific what he (and others) get away with in Hollywood's culture of enabling really bad behavior.
I worked for Miramax publicity office briefly at the Sundance Film Festival and afterward interviewed to work in their L.A. office (in early 2000's). Never have I been more grateful that I did NOT get the job!!
I worked for Miramax publicity office briefly at the Sundance Film Festival and afterward interviewed to work in their L.A. office (in early 2000's). Never have I been more grateful that I did NOT get the job!!
July 21, 2022
Well written and comprehensive. Learned a lot of interesting things about the movie industry. It is a sad story in the sense that Harvey Weinstein was a predator who got away with his crimes for decades.
August 17, 2022
A good overview of Harvey Weinstein, a sociopath, and over 100 sexual assaults, with the enablement of his company and people in Hollywood. Chapter 18 begins an excellent trial narrative.
November 29, 2022
I can't say I enjoyed reading this book because it was actually rather shattering for me. I didn't know that Harvey was so close to my own age. I'd see his pictures and read the articles and think 'oh, that nasty old man'. But in fact he is only 1 year older than I am. We grew up in similar places and our paths even - not crossed, but brushed in the sense that I attended the George Harrison concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, and that event was his first job as a (very junior) promoter. The zeitgeist of the times is precisely rendered, with its prevalent assumption that if a man wants you as a woman, if he grabs and gropes, or catcalls and whistles from a street corner, if he 'chases you around the desk' at the office, you as a woman should be flattered. You should be complimented. I never understood why I wasn't and assumed something was fundamentally wrong with me. Even women celebrities said things like "Oh, the time to worry is when they stop whistling." It never flattered me, it always made me feel intimidated and sick and angry and humiliated. Humiliated that these strange men were catcalling after me right out in public, smacking their lips and saying dirty things, and humiliated on top of that because why wasn't I flattered? Why didn't I enjoy it? What was wrong with me? When I moved to Greenwich Village at 18 one of my inner visions of joy was that I would be able to sit on a park bench in Washington Square Park, or at a table on the street eating lunch, reading my book and people watching. No. No, I couldn't. Men wouldn't leave me alone. They sat beside me and asked about my book. They draped an arm over my shoulders to pretend to read with me. They talked to me at the table and even sat right down with me and restaurant staff never objected because why else was I alone with my book except to meet men? It never once occurred to me that I had the right to object. I was afraid of making them mad, afraid that an already embarrassing scene would turn ugly. So I stopped sitting out in public alone with my book. I kept moving, walking and people watching and saving my book for when I was safely alone in my apartment. And let me add that while I was a pretty enough girl in a fairly typical way, I was not in any way a seductress. I dressed in jeans and t shirts. I wore no make-up and my hair hung long and straight around my face. And to this day I make these mental excuses to myself. Not my fault! Look how I dresssed! You can see that I can't really write about this book without my own experiences rising up. The assumption that coming to Harvey's hotel room was consent to sex resonated so strongly with me that I could barely stand it. Going to any man's apartment was consent. (and it still is, I warn my granddaughter. 'If you go to his room he thinks you are agreeing to sex. No matter what he says.') "Why did you come up here then?" they'd ask, bewildered and already getting angry. Even if a female Miramax staffer escorted the woman to his room, pretending it was a business meeting, (and oh, shame on you women.
You'd see the girl stumble out of his room weeping and sometimes screaming and still you did it. For a paycheck. For ambition. For shame) somehow the woman had consented to sex by believing it. Just like even if the guy told me we were just watching a movie in his apartment, nothing else, somehow it was consent to sex anyway. I am glad Harvey is in prison. I am thankful for the #MeToo movement. I am now fully aware that there was nothing wrong with me because I was not flattered, much less aroused, by the lewdness of strangers. This book was so triggering for me that I had to keep putting it down to cry. I couldn't read it out in public (much like the old days, ha ha although now, at 68, I can read in public pretty much undisturbed) because I never knew when something would just rip me open. So while I recommend it very highly, if you are raw, wounded, carrying terrible dark memories, maybe skip it. Or at least read it in private. And don't go to a man's apartment or hotel room no matter what pretty fable he spins you. Oh, and a bit of career advice. If part of your job as someone's assistant involves wiping your boss's semen off the couch after one of his little sessions, there cannot possibly be enough money in that paycheck to make it worth it. It's not like we are living in "Les Miserables" here and this is the only way you can support your children because you already sold your hair and all of your teeth. It didn't work out well for the enabling staff, male or female, anyway. They all have years and in some cases decades of hard earned experience in their field, and none of them want to put Miramax or Harvey on their resumees. They might as well have kept their self respect and quit the first time they were asked to clean up his body fluids.
You'd see the girl stumble out of his room weeping and sometimes screaming and still you did it. For a paycheck. For ambition. For shame) somehow the woman had consented to sex by believing it. Just like even if the guy told me we were just watching a movie in his apartment, nothing else, somehow it was consent to sex anyway. I am glad Harvey is in prison. I am thankful for the #MeToo movement. I am now fully aware that there was nothing wrong with me because I was not flattered, much less aroused, by the lewdness of strangers. This book was so triggering for me that I had to keep putting it down to cry. I couldn't read it out in public (much like the old days, ha ha although now, at 68, I can read in public pretty much undisturbed) because I never knew when something would just rip me open. So while I recommend it very highly, if you are raw, wounded, carrying terrible dark memories, maybe skip it. Or at least read it in private. And don't go to a man's apartment or hotel room no matter what pretty fable he spins you. Oh, and a bit of career advice. If part of your job as someone's assistant involves wiping your boss's semen off the couch after one of his little sessions, there cannot possibly be enough money in that paycheck to make it worth it. It's not like we are living in "Les Miserables" here and this is the only way you can support your children because you already sold your hair and all of your teeth. It didn't work out well for the enabling staff, male or female, anyway. They all have years and in some cases decades of hard earned experience in their field, and none of them want to put Miramax or Harvey on their resumees. They might as well have kept their self respect and quit the first time they were asked to clean up his body fluids.
December 24, 2022
Some quotes that jumped out at me...
"...Harvey's infidelities were not shocking in a film community where pressuring women for sex was not unusual. And if members of the community heard that Harvey sexually harassed or chased women - though almost uniformly they would later deny that they had - was silence so very out of the orinary in Hollywood? Rape was out of the ordinary." (P. 91)
"'There are not that many industries where there is direct contact between older, powerful men and significantly less powerful, attractive women,' observed Susan Lyne, who was one president of ABC entertainment... 'In corporate life there are layers of people between senior powerful men and most females. Hollywood is a male-dominated business. Its culture has been built up over the years. That culture exploits women and makes men who have power over women believe they have rights.'" (P. 117)
"'Suppose there are five meaningful acting jobs per movie; that means there are only about 500 meaningful acting jobs a year,' Ben Thompson wrote. 'Weinstein was a gatekeeper, presented with virtually unlimited supply while controlling limited distribution.' If you were an actor, director, or screenwriter with Oscar dreams, Harvey was an especially important gatekeeper. His secrets also stayed secret because in the movie business, abnormal male sexual aggression was thought to be common, fit for private whispers but not public shame. This was Hollywood's culture of silence." (P. 255)
"(Jessica Mann at the end of her testimony) she began by candidly acknowledging she was not a perfect victim, having made questionable, even humiliating decisions. Then, her eyes dripping with tears and fixed on jurors, she said slowly, forcefully, 'I know the history of my relationship with him. I know it is complicated and different. But-' and here the volume of her voice rose- 'it does not change the fact that he raped me.'" (P. 368)
" (Zelda Perkins, one of the accusers in the late 90s): 'I don't think he's a sex addicted. He's a power addict... he put an enormous amount of energy into humiliating men and an enormous amount of energy into getting women to submit.'"
This was.... a Lot of a book. And so engrossing I couldn't put it down for the second half (200 pages in like 2 days). And it should be a lot - this is an account about the man and the monster, the mogul and the sociopath, the "genius" and the rapist. One can maybe, probably, say the flaw of the book is less to do with the writing as Auletta is a compelling and gifted writer who can weave different stories involving the Behind Closed Doors Harvey and the one that was more public. And he was already a monster in my mind years before everything came to light in 2017 - read Down and Dirty Pictures and he comes off awfully then as just a belligerent and volcanic boss, "Harvey Scissorhands" - but rather it's because Weinstein's own actions were so repetitive and (being arguably/definitely) Sociopathic he never changes.
That is tough to make it a book where a person at the center has any kind of Arc, and clearly this man did not. As soon as he became his own boss, which as a side note that happened so quickly (from Intern to owner of his own sort of thriving company in Buffalo) it couldn't not have gone to his head, he was sexually assaulting/molesting/raping women. And the Disney deal made it worse.
But what gives the book its dramatic tensions and arcs and what keeps one reading, at least for a layman who knows some of the more famous stories of the victims like Sciorra or Gwyneth Paltrow but not, so crucially, Jessica Mann or Zelda Perkins or the 2015 arrest, is everything that Weinstein created around him, not least of which the NDA's, to shield himself... and the people and culture around him who made it so he was shielded and still powerful. The Culture of Silence as it were, which could also be called a Culture of Complicity.
Another thing that makes this book so intriguing to me is everything with Bob Weinstein. By the end I'm left both understanding him better, that he too was an addict (alcohol) but more introspective and still with the same toxic Miriam Weinstein Animal personality while able to change (a bit), while still saying to myself "what was his fucking deal?" He has or tries to have that seemingly plausible deniability, for example, with being the one who paid the NDA in 1998/99, as he said he thought it was for HW and an extorting woman. The author even as far as the final chapter tries to get Bob to say what he knew but he says he truly didn't.
Did he, though? He can make the distance by this point because he wasn't like in the same room as his brother did (shudder can't even type it), but he was also the closest to him in life, even despite literally getting the shit beat out of him (that fight description is wtf). But it's not just what Bob says he didn't know or thinks about it all - Sex Addict vs Sociopath vs Rapist vs All of the Above - it's that Bob Weinstein was also in the culture. He knew about the Casting Couch and all of that. And he stuck by him thick and thin.
One gets the sense that perhaps this is what Bob Weinstein wants to share with this author. There's still some things one could read into between the lines there, as far as what he knew or didn't know or should've known or kept blinders too. At the same time, it can't help at least to me, as a concurrent story to just everything else, the horrors and the highlights, how this book is a story of these two brothers and how this bond broke down because.... Harvey Weinstein is a megalomaniac freak of nature (even in prison the "What is it Bob wants?" is... wow).
It's a staggering, harrowing, dark saga, with a lot of moments involving the companies itself at Miramax and TWC that were almost inspiring - and then also the wicked and shitty moves like the 98/99 Oscar's that show why they changed the industry in interesting and bad ways. It ends with (some) justice, but also the feeling like things are still unresolved (ie that HW only got 2 counts guilty out of 5 in NY, albeit LA is still to come).
(PS: Near the end of this book... what the hell was that email from Harvey to Bob about the rights to Kevin Smith's Dogma? Is that why it's still not on blu ray? Because of one doesn't want to sell to the other? Oy vey)
"...Harvey's infidelities were not shocking in a film community where pressuring women for sex was not unusual. And if members of the community heard that Harvey sexually harassed or chased women - though almost uniformly they would later deny that they had - was silence so very out of the orinary in Hollywood? Rape was out of the ordinary." (P. 91)
"'There are not that many industries where there is direct contact between older, powerful men and significantly less powerful, attractive women,' observed Susan Lyne, who was one president of ABC entertainment... 'In corporate life there are layers of people between senior powerful men and most females. Hollywood is a male-dominated business. Its culture has been built up over the years. That culture exploits women and makes men who have power over women believe they have rights.'" (P. 117)
"'Suppose there are five meaningful acting jobs per movie; that means there are only about 500 meaningful acting jobs a year,' Ben Thompson wrote. 'Weinstein was a gatekeeper, presented with virtually unlimited supply while controlling limited distribution.' If you were an actor, director, or screenwriter with Oscar dreams, Harvey was an especially important gatekeeper. His secrets also stayed secret because in the movie business, abnormal male sexual aggression was thought to be common, fit for private whispers but not public shame. This was Hollywood's culture of silence." (P. 255)
"(Jessica Mann at the end of her testimony) she began by candidly acknowledging she was not a perfect victim, having made questionable, even humiliating decisions. Then, her eyes dripping with tears and fixed on jurors, she said slowly, forcefully, 'I know the history of my relationship with him. I know it is complicated and different. But-' and here the volume of her voice rose- 'it does not change the fact that he raped me.'" (P. 368)
" (Zelda Perkins, one of the accusers in the late 90s): 'I don't think he's a sex addicted. He's a power addict... he put an enormous amount of energy into humiliating men and an enormous amount of energy into getting women to submit.'"
This was.... a Lot of a book. And so engrossing I couldn't put it down for the second half (200 pages in like 2 days). And it should be a lot - this is an account about the man and the monster, the mogul and the sociopath, the "genius" and the rapist. One can maybe, probably, say the flaw of the book is less to do with the writing as Auletta is a compelling and gifted writer who can weave different stories involving the Behind Closed Doors Harvey and the one that was more public. And he was already a monster in my mind years before everything came to light in 2017 - read Down and Dirty Pictures and he comes off awfully then as just a belligerent and volcanic boss, "Harvey Scissorhands" - but rather it's because Weinstein's own actions were so repetitive and (being arguably/definitely) Sociopathic he never changes.
That is tough to make it a book where a person at the center has any kind of Arc, and clearly this man did not. As soon as he became his own boss, which as a side note that happened so quickly (from Intern to owner of his own sort of thriving company in Buffalo) it couldn't not have gone to his head, he was sexually assaulting/molesting/raping women. And the Disney deal made it worse.
But what gives the book its dramatic tensions and arcs and what keeps one reading, at least for a layman who knows some of the more famous stories of the victims like Sciorra or Gwyneth Paltrow but not, so crucially, Jessica Mann or Zelda Perkins or the 2015 arrest, is everything that Weinstein created around him, not least of which the NDA's, to shield himself... and the people and culture around him who made it so he was shielded and still powerful. The Culture of Silence as it were, which could also be called a Culture of Complicity.
Another thing that makes this book so intriguing to me is everything with Bob Weinstein. By the end I'm left both understanding him better, that he too was an addict (alcohol) but more introspective and still with the same toxic Miriam Weinstein Animal personality while able to change (a bit), while still saying to myself "what was his fucking deal?" He has or tries to have that seemingly plausible deniability, for example, with being the one who paid the NDA in 1998/99, as he said he thought it was for HW and an extorting woman. The author even as far as the final chapter tries to get Bob to say what he knew but he says he truly didn't.
Did he, though? He can make the distance by this point because he wasn't like in the same room as his brother did (shudder can't even type it), but he was also the closest to him in life, even despite literally getting the shit beat out of him (that fight description is wtf). But it's not just what Bob says he didn't know or thinks about it all - Sex Addict vs Sociopath vs Rapist vs All of the Above - it's that Bob Weinstein was also in the culture. He knew about the Casting Couch and all of that. And he stuck by him thick and thin.
One gets the sense that perhaps this is what Bob Weinstein wants to share with this author. There's still some things one could read into between the lines there, as far as what he knew or didn't know or should've known or kept blinders too. At the same time, it can't help at least to me, as a concurrent story to just everything else, the horrors and the highlights, how this book is a story of these two brothers and how this bond broke down because.... Harvey Weinstein is a megalomaniac freak of nature (even in prison the "What is it Bob wants?" is... wow).
It's a staggering, harrowing, dark saga, with a lot of moments involving the companies itself at Miramax and TWC that were almost inspiring - and then also the wicked and shitty moves like the 98/99 Oscar's that show why they changed the industry in interesting and bad ways. It ends with (some) justice, but also the feeling like things are still unresolved (ie that HW only got 2 counts guilty out of 5 in NY, albeit LA is still to come).
(PS: Near the end of this book... what the hell was that email from Harvey to Bob about the rights to Kevin Smith's Dogma? Is that why it's still not on blu ray? Because of one doesn't want to sell to the other? Oy vey)
November 29, 2023
Ken Auletta -- a rock solid, nuts-and-bolts reporter -- ALMOST got Harvey Weinstein in 2002. But he couldn't get this monster's victims on record. And he couldn't get him on the financials. The coup de grace came from the stunning work of Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey, and Ronan Farrow, for whom Auletta is genuinely grateful and generous to. So this book serves as a veteran journalist's reckoning. It's a spellbinding read. Auletta uses all of his notes and not only lets us in on the internal process at THE NEW YORKER, but he unveils a few new details about just who Weinstein was as a person: a man who became accustomed to ripping open his cigarettes because he couldn't contend with either the cellophane or the cardboard, a highly adept and charismatic manipulator, and, of course, a vile abuser and victimizer of women. While the book suffers somewhat from some overlap covered in SHE SAID, Auletta has dutifully covered Weinstein's New York trial and, above all, done everything in his power to be fair. This is not the definitive Weinstein volume, but it is a very good one with moments of greatness.
November 11, 2022
There's nothing inherently wrong with the writing, but Ronan Farrow's book is far better. This purports to be more of the rise and fall of Harvey Weinstein, from his youth to Me Too/criminal indictment, vs. solely focused on cracking the case against Harvey, but unless you want to read a LOT of gross stories about an EXTREMELY unlikeable, gross, dirty (literally - unwashed, smelly, overweight, acne-covered, etc.) Harvey REPEATEDLY assaulting women in hotel rooms, I don't really know why you'd read this book.
It does a poor job of diving into the rise of the independent film industry and Miramax because it's so focused on Harvey's repeated assaults and dirty dealings. Peter Biskind's book is a better resource on that topic.
There are some quotes from interviews or emails with his brother Bob, but nothing from his adult daughters or two ex-wives and those are perspectives that I think are sorely missing in all of this if it is supposed to be more of a personal story vs. just an expose of how he got found out for being a serial rapist. Not that I blame Ken Auletta for not being able to get those folks to talk, but it just feels like a gaping hole in a biography.
Ronan Farrow's book does a better job of telling the compelling story of how he got brought down. I found the portion at the end about the trial in New York most interesting. I wouldn't tell people NOT to read this, but I can't imagine there's a wide audience interested in reading all the disgusting details when they have other Harvey Weinstein options.
It does a poor job of diving into the rise of the independent film industry and Miramax because it's so focused on Harvey's repeated assaults and dirty dealings. Peter Biskind's book is a better resource on that topic.
There are some quotes from interviews or emails with his brother Bob, but nothing from his adult daughters or two ex-wives and those are perspectives that I think are sorely missing in all of this if it is supposed to be more of a personal story vs. just an expose of how he got found out for being a serial rapist. Not that I blame Ken Auletta for not being able to get those folks to talk, but it just feels like a gaping hole in a biography.
Ronan Farrow's book does a better job of telling the compelling story of how he got brought down. I found the portion at the end about the trial in New York most interesting. I wouldn't tell people NOT to read this, but I can't imagine there's a wide audience interested in reading all the disgusting details when they have other Harvey Weinstein options.
October 9, 2022
Hollywood Ending is a lot like an episode of Law and Order: Auletta spends the first two thirds tracking Weinstein’s criminal and chronic sexual abuse amidst his rise to showbiz power, then dons his court reporter hat for the disgraced producer’s 2020 trial. What hits even harder than Weinstein’s reprehensible behavior is how the few of his many victims who came forward have coped with their post-abuse experience.
August 27, 2022
3.75 rating. I already knew most of the vile things that Weinstein had done and this book gave it even more detail. The way the women describe the interactions with this horrible man was horrifying and I was grossed out listening to it.
December 24, 2022
Even after reading this book Harvey Weinstein remains somewhat of an enigma. He has never shown any remorse for his sexual crimes against women. He seems to have no empathy for anyone other than himself. There is no simple event in his background that could obviously be blamed for having produced such a sociopath. He was power hungry and treated all of his employees abominably. For a while he made great movies such as Lion, Carol, The King's Speech, Shall We Dance, The Reader, Cold Mountain, The Shipping News, Good Will Hunting, and hundreds of others. He was a true cineaste. He didn't peddle shlock like major studios did. He boosted quality art house movies. Still, none of those great films and none of the Oscars he won even begins to ameliorate the humiliation and psychic pain that he caused his victims. Ken Auletta does a fine job of objectively and thoroughly telling the story of this unseemly chapter in motion picture history. I hope that the legendary casting couch is truly a thing of the past, but I'm not sure that it is.
Read
January 16, 2023The long and involved story of how Harvey Weinstein bullied and blustered his way to the top of the film industry with his company Miramax and became one of those prolific sex abusers in history. If I never read another word about him, life will be good.
February 5, 2023
Sweeping in its detail of the Harvey Weinstein saga. But this is more than an accounting of Weinstein’s life story. This exquisitely-written book also tries to uncover what factors and forces led him to become a sexual predator.
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