Bob Weinstein, the younger of the two Weinstein brothers, has written an ode to his older brother Harvey in The Hollywood Reporter.
The two founders of Miramax, which they sold for a pile of money to Disney, now run The Weinstein Company. Movies that they have produced have won a slew of Oscar awards.
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Apparently Miramax was not just born out of the mutual love for two movies held by two brothers and their drive to succeed, but also an equal partnership and understanding of one another which came from sharing a bedroom for 18 years.
But one thing that Bob said of Harvey may have been more of a slam on his brother than a compliment.
The younger Weinstein wrote, “I’m 60 years old, Harvey is 62, and I could describe our relationship as one long, unending conversation between two brothers. Some people would say I deserve a lifetime achievement award just for talking to Harvey for that amount of time. Knowing Harvey, of course, he would probably find some way to accept the award on my behalf.”
Bob Weinstein went on to describe the two brothers childhood and how their father was instrumental in creating their relationship. The two talk about everything from their families to sports.
“I have to say that over the last five years the conversations at times have waned and, sadder to report, at times they’ve even come to a complete halt. Perhaps with age and success, the feeling that we both need them is not as strong as it once was, ” he added.
Some of their favorite Westerns include “Rio Bravo, ” “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, ” “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and “Cat Ballou.”
In 1988 he was barely making $35, 000 a year after ten years in movie production. That was when Bob considered leaving Miramax to take a job with another company, but was talked into staying by Harvey. The following year marked the big breakthrough for Miramax when the brothers chose to buy the American rights to “Cinema Paradiso” at the Cannes Film Festival. That was followed by the cult hit from Steven Soderbergh “Sex Lies and Video Tape.”
Later came Quentin Tarantino’s first film “Reservoir Dogs” which was followed by hit after hit and Oscar after Oscar.
