Harvey Weinstein is a leading figure in the world of cinema, whose influence far surpasses that of Charles Heung of Hong Kong. He's less a conman and more a somewhat shrewd businessman.
His company, Miramax, produced and distributed numerous classic films, including *The English Patient*, *Shakespeare in Love*, *The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King*, and *The King's Speech*. He also collaborated with Chinese cinema on several occasions, helping mainland films such as *Hero* and *Shaolin Soccer* gain international recognition. He acquired the rights to many films starring Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat, and Jackie Chan, and in 2005, he spent a significant sum to acquire the North American, British, and Australian rights to Chen Kaige's film *The Promise*.
Harvey Weinstein's works have garnered over 300 Academy Award nominations, meaning at least ten films were nominated for Oscars every year. Countless actors have won Best Actor and Best Actress awards under his guidance, bringing home over 70 Oscars in total. This earned him the reputation of "savior of modern cinema." In 2012, French President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded Harvey Weinstein the Legion of Honour.
To some extent, Harvey's emergence ushered in a new era for the Oscars. Before him, while the Oscars had their own "public relations logic," no one did it openly. After him, "vicious competition" in public relations tactics proliferated, with people fighting tooth and nail for the golden statuette.
Nobody cares who goes down in history; winning the Oscar is the only thing that matters right now. For the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, the public relations strategy is even more complex. Choosing the right distributor and conducting a large-scale publicity campaign are crucial to the film's ultimate success.
Behind several Chinese-language films that came closest to winning an Oscar—Hero, The Grandmaster, and Farewell My Concubine—there is a common name: Harvey Weinstein.
Among them, "Farewell My Concubine" is perhaps the closest and furthest from an Oscar. It's close because it was considered the "top seed" when it was leading the pack, but it's far from being a good fit for Harvey's aesthetic, and he didn't give it enough attention from the very beginning of the public relations campaign.
Harvey has never hesitated to express his love for Eastern culture, but he prefers martial arts films with a distinctly Eastern mysticism. The fact that *Farewell My Concubine* ultimately lost the Oscars was, to some extent, due to Miramax's failure to launch a sufficient public relations campaign.
"Hero" and "The Grandmaster" are the two Chinese-language films that Harvey Williams promoted most enthusiastically. The former was "introduced" by Quentin Tarantino, and the latter had Martin Scorsese's support. Not only did they receive promotion from renowned directors, but Harvey also participated in the North American editing of both films.
"Hero" was the first Chinese-language film to top the North American box office, grossing $53.71 million in the United States, far exceeding its box office in China. It is said that many American moviegoers went to see it because of Quentin Tarantino's name.
Harvey's "public relations game" in paving the way for "The Grandmaster" is the most classic and comprehensive, and it is also his usual method for paving the way for Oscar-winning films.
Harvey first helped generate buzz for "The Grandmaster" at the three major European film festivals, then arranged for Zhang Ziyi to be interviewed by the three major US television networks. Subsequently, Oprah Winfrey and Martin Scorsese also vigorously promoted the film. Once the film's popularity had increased, Harvey made significant changes to the posters and trailers. For example, he added "Bruce Lee" elements, shifting the selling point from Ip Man to the true story of Bruce Lee's master, a move that indeed garnered considerable attention in the United States.
After receiving high praise, Harvey increased the public relations budget, for example, by stating that competing for 14 awards, including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, Supporting Actress, and Cinematography, was a "small goal" to generate buzz. In addition, sending "PR materials" to Oscar voters and inviting European media to promote the film were also essential actions.
Thanks to the efforts of many parties, "The Grandmaster" entered the top nine for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and received two nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.
Besides helping numerous Chinese-language films lobby for the Oscars, Weinstein's love for Chinese culture was multifaceted and multi-dimensional. He invited Quentin Tarantino to film in China and also facilitated a connection with Yuen Woo-ping as the martial arts choreographer.
In Harvey's team for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny," after Ang Lee repeatedly declined, he appointed Yuen Woo-ping as director and invited Donnie Yen and Michelle Yeoh to star, forming a behind-the-scenes team of 700 people from 22 countries. As a result, the film's initial "Oscar budget" was five Oscar nominations.
In addition, Weinstein collaborated with Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures to remake Shaw Brothers martial arts classics *The Thirteen Cold-Blooded Eagles* and *Come Drink with Me*. Back in 2007, he announced the establishment of the Asian Film Fund, specifically to invest in Asian films. At that time, the fund's investment scale reached US$285 million (more than 2 billion RMB at the exchange rate at the time).
The first film invested in by the Asian Film Fund was *The Forbidden Kingdom*, starring Jackie Chan and Jet Li, two of the biggest kung fu stars in Chinese cinema. The initial filming plans also included a remake of Akira Kurosawa's *Seven Samurai*, starring Zhang Ziyi. However, due to various reasons, most of these projects ended up as mere presentations.
In recent years, Harvey Weinstein has also maintained close ties with Chinese cinema. In 2011, he acquired the North American rights to both *Guan Yun Chang* and *Wu Xia*. Especially after acquiring *Wu Xia*, Weinstein immediately declared, "I bought *Wu Xia* for the Oscars."
Beyond his long-held "wuxia dream," the overseas distribution rights for *Little Door Gods*, produced by Light Chaser Animation, were granted to The Weinstein Company. Subsequently, the international English version boasted a star-studded voice cast including Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Zendaya Coleman, and Mel Brooks. Many of these stars have long-standing close ties with Harvey Weinstein, demonstrating his immense influence in Hollywood and his significant contribution to the development of Chinese-language films.
In this context, it would be strange if you weren't fooled. Whether you call him a fraudster or not, although he was after money, he did indeed do a lot of practical work in promoting Chinese film culture.
Another model is the revenue-sharing model. In this model, you don't need to pay upfront. The company rates the film and determines the number of screenings accordingly, then takes an additional 1% to 3% of the profits. This is the same in China. This is not included in the 50% share that theaters are supposed to receive; it's an additional expense.
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