With the rise of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, we’re continuously getting more and more people speaking out about some of the more disgusting practices that were going on behind the scenes on films. And while there’s been a lot of attention on those allegedly sexually assaulting people, there’s also a fair amount of just plain gross behavior going on during film productions that don’t necessarily mean criminal charges but are clear abuses of power.
And according to a new report by THR, the poster boy for the #MeToo movement, and probably all things disgusting in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein was at the center of some less-known, but horrible behavior, on projects he produced, including the Oscar-nominated Todd Haynes film “Carol.”
The report states that the folks working on “Carol” were concerned that Weinstein was keeping unused footage from nude scenes involving actresses Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara for his own personal collection.
THR says:
Sources involved with the 2015 Todd Haynes forbidden-love drama Carol, which included nude sex scenes between Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, say there are worries that Harvey Weinstein, who distributed the movie, kept unused footage for his own personal collection. “I don’t even think it’s possible to destroy anything in the digital age,” says one Carol insider. “The idea of anything being erased from existence is naive.”
This brings up the question of how actors involved in those scenes do their best to make sure footage like that doesn’t leave the set, or worse yet, leak online. THR spoke to an attorney that has worked with actresses like Juno Temple and Gillian Jacobs about how they can go about limiting access to those scenes and unused footage.
“We used to say, ‘You’ve got to destroy it,’ And they said, ‘We’ll keep it in a secure location.’ But things get hacked, things get stolen, so we definitely push for outtakes, trims, deleted scenes, alternative takes — all that stuff — to be destroyed and for the destruction to be confirmed to us in writing. And then we have remedies paragraphs — like if despite their best efforts, something leaks. Some intern puts it out. That’s up [online] forever. So we need to be able to force the studio to go take that down, or even threaten injunctive relief or liquidated damages,” says attorney Jamie Feldman.
Considering the number of films that Harvey Weinstein oversaw during his time as the head of studios, there’s no telling how many of these scenes he possibly kept. That is, if these reports are to be believed. But when you look at the bigger picture, what Weinstein was allegedly known for doing with unused footage just shows that there are a seemingly endless amount of ways that people in power in Hollywood were able to abuse the trust of actors and actresses.