This Sunday the 90th Academy Awards will take place. For the first time in may years one power-figure will not be welcome. More than 100 women have now come forward with stories of sexual harassment, assault and rape going back decades. Panorama: Weinstein: The Inside Story, BBC 2018
This is the inside story of how one of Hollywood’s most powerful men suppressed allegations of sexual abuse for decades. ibid.
‘Will you at least lift up your shirt and show me your tits … You know in that moment you may not make it.’ ibid. Katherine Kendall, victim
In 1980 he made his first film. ibid.
Harvey Weinstein has admitted that over the last 30 years he has settled up to nine claims of harassment against him. ibid.
The New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein; more serious allegations would follow in The New Yorker magazine. ibid.
I feel like a survivor from an age that people no longer understand. I want to try to explain what the 1930s – the golden age of Hollywood – was truly like. People forget that America was such a different place then, not yet the dominant force in the world. Olivia de Havilland
Hollywood in the 1930s is an incredible period of history. There are so many amazing stories about the stars and the studios at that time that you can’t fit into one film. Lily Collins
Over the past few years black film-makers and actors have featured heavily in the annual awards ceremonies. Breaking box office records along the way. Black Hollywood: They’ve Got to Have Us I , BBC 2018
These are artists revolutionizing cinema in ways that really matter to us all. ibid.
Black film-makers finally won themselves the space to speak. ibid.
Gone With the Wind: Many actors were straitjacketed by the writing of the time. But Hattie McDaniel stood out. ibid.
‘My name is Harry Belafonte and I’ve been around a long time.’ ibid.
The ‘Hays Code’ explicitly forbade the depiction of sexual relationships between ‘the white and black races’. ibid.
‘My name is Earl Cameron and I’ve been an actor from the age of … it’s a long time ago.’ ibid.
Carmen Jones: Budget: $750,000; Box Office $9.8 million; Equivalent Today: $87.5 million. ibid.
Five decades ago, at the height of the civil rights movement, America’s most beloved actor was a black man. His name is Sidney Poitier … To Sir With Love (1967). ibid.
Spike Lee: nothing has ever been the same since. ibid.
Black Panther [2010] has shown that a film can be both all-black and all-successful. Black Hollywood: They’ve Got to Have Us II: Black Film is Not a Genre
Do the Right Thing (1989): hip-hop score was itself a revolution but the movie was much more than a soundtrack. ibid.
Stereotypical Casting: ‘I was auditioning, auditioning, auditioning, and now suddenly it’s like Thug #1.’ ibid. Laurence Fishburne
Pam Grier: Foxy Brown (1974) … ‘And I got my black belt in bar stool.’ ibid.
Even white directors came up against age-old obstacles when attempting to tell the black story. ibid.
Ray: Budget $40 million; Box Office $124.7 million. ibid.
Most black actors found themselves as the only non-white person on set playing a very minor roll. ibid.
The game changer: True star power is found in Denzel Washington. ibid.
Black Panther (2018): The biggest entertainment franchise of recent times. ibid.
The next generation of black British actors bagged leading roles in a succession of Hollywood blockbusters. Black Hollywood: They’ve Got to Have Us III: Have Us
The exodus of black British talent to the US began in the ’90s. ibid.
It wouldn’t be until 1989 that a black women would direct a Hollywood movie. ibid.
Get Out raked in over $250 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest selling horror movies of all time. ibid.
Harvey Weinstein was the king of Hollywood, a mogul with 81 Oscars to his name. But we’ll show what actually happened behind his locked office door. Weinstein: Hollywood’s Reckoning, Sky Atlantic 2019
He ruined lives; he crushed dreams.’ ibid.
It was an open secret in Hollywood. ibid.
Every woman we talked to described the same feeling of being caught in Weinstein’s web. ibid.
A small group of women published their stories. ibid.
Film-makers love awards … Over the course of nine decades patterns have emerged in Oscar’s tastes. Mark Kermode’s Oscar Winners: A Secrets of Cinema Special, BBC 2019
All awards are essentially foolish … Consider this: In 1942 Citizen Kane didn’t win the Oscar for best picture, but in 1990 Driving Miss Daisy did. ibid.
Award winners have to deliver more than men-on-a-mission thrills; they have to say something about the human condition. ibid.
All singing, all dancing … Stars playing other stars … [Stars playing …] … Ordinary people … Actors behind the camera … The Champ [Rocky cf. Million Dollar Baby] … Body & Soul [Rain Man cf. Forrest Gump] … Extraordinary People [King’s Speech cf. The Queen cf. The Favourite] … And the winner is = [spectacular epics]. ibid.
He was able to use his power to exploit women’s dreams, and that’s a powerful thing. Untouchable: The Rise and Fall of Harvey Weinstein, critic, BBC 2019
He’s just such a caricature of a Hollywood mogul that hasn’t been around for decades. ibid. critic #2
I quit and your brother is a fucking pig. ibid. victim at Miramax to Harvey’s brother
I’m glad I’m the fucking sheriff of this shit ass fucking town. ibid. Harvey
Any girl can look glamorous. All she has to do is stand still and look stupid. Hollywood’s Brightest Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story, Hedy, BBC 2019
She becomes the model for Snow White. And she inspired Catwoman. ibid. fan
She lived this life of great accomplishments. ibid.
One of the most recognisable faces of her time. ibid.
There were different chapters of scandal … The multiple marriages and divorces. Then the arrests … ibid.
She seduced men and women … ‘including Kennedy.’ ibid.
Samson and Delilah was a huge hit. ibid. fan
I think the drugs were very responsible. The slightest thing could set her off. ibid.
This is a man who climbed the Hollywood ladder one rung at a time until he reached the top and became the most popular American actor of the time. This is the story of a star who embodied his country and who little by little became consumed with patriotic fervour. This is the story of an actor seemingly one and the same with his on-screen persona, the heroic, confident cowboy, a pillar of strength and virility. John Wayne: America at all Costs, Sky Arts 2019
He was 22, handsome, and Fox Studios put their bets on him as if he were a young racehorse. ibid.
With the exception of a trip to the Pacific to entertain the troops, John Wayne spent the entirety of the war years in Hollywood. ibid.
His golden age had begun. In a few short years he made one big picture after another. ibid.
He topped the box office and remained there for the next 25 years. ibid.
He embodied America. And yet Duke Morrison, his alter ego in real life, was a tormented man ever since the end of the Second World War. ibid.
In the post-war years while he was performing his greatest roles, John Wayne began to over-compensate and to devote himself to the cause of the American military. ibid.
John Wayne’s political convictions began to determine the roles he chose. ibid.
By the end of the 1960s, John Wayne appeared to be completely out of luck with the new generation. ibid.
Today we are checking in to a Hollywood legend with a past as star-studded as the silver screen to discover the secrets, reveal and highs, and the lows, of one of the world’s greatest hotels. Inside the World’s Greatest Hotels s1e4: Beverly Hills Hotel
Rising above Sunset Boulevard, this celebrity playground is a byword for luxury and glamour. ibid.
The five-star hotel sits in 12 acres of tropical gardens. ibid.
The hotel is immersed in popular American culture. ibid.