Tarantino Finally Comments on His Friend of 25 Years, Harvey Weinstein

Many people have spoken out about producer Harvey Weinstein and condemned him after allegations and revelations — mainly via reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker — about his abuse and harassment of women over a period of decades.

Some people have bravely come forward to share their own unpleasant encounters with the man, while others have expressed shock and sworn off working with him.

One of the last holdouts was Quentin Tarantino, the highly praised Hollywood filmmaker and a longtime colleague of Weinstein.

[lz_ndn video=33113441]

Harvey Weinstein has produced every single one of Tarantino’s movies, from 1992’s “Reservoir Dogs” all the way through to 2015’s “The Hateful Eight.”

When Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, broke away from their Miramax studio in 2005 to start another company, The Weinstein Company, Tarantino was one of the filmmakers to publicly go with them, as a sign of support.

The director finally released a statement regarding his longtime producer, and it was through the Twitter account of actress and friend Amber Tamblyn. The pair reportedly had a “long” dinner; Tamblyn then released the statement at the request of Tarantino.

“For the last week I’ve been stunned and heartbroken about the revelations that have come to light about my friend for 25 years, Harvey Weinstein. I need a few more days to process my pain, emotions, anger and memory and then I will speak publicly about it,” said Tarantino.

[lz_third_party align=center width=630 includes=https://twitter.com/ambertamblyn/status/918702597409718272]

One Twitter user responded by saying he would wait on “passing judgment” on Tarantino. Tamblyn replied by saying, “That is a very good plan.”

It is very likely Tarantino knew nothing of his producer’s activities, or at least not the full extent of them, and that he’s now processing his own obliviousness over the decades.

Tarantino has maintained positive and long-lasting professional relationships with actresses who starred in his movies, including Uma Thurman and Pam Grier.

Tarantino was never a higher-up at The Weinstein Company or Miramax. He was only ever an employee of Weinstein, the man who produced his first feature and turned him from a video store clerk into a full-fledged filmmaker.

One hopes that Tarantino, as he works through his emotions and his understanding about what transpired, will realize how vital he can be in changing Hollywood for the better. He could help change the power structure of the industry — which is clearly very much needed after this week’s events.

(photo credit, homepage image: Quentin Tarantino, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore; photo credit, article image: Quentin Tarantino, CC BY-SA 2.0, by Gage Skidmore)