Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 446 The Cost of Mistakes

Link rarely paid attention to what was happening outside while filming, until his agent, Sam Haskell, visited him on set on Thursday and brought up the scandal involving Harvey's alleged sexual harassment of his former assistant, Churowina, and actress Roxanne Arquette.

Last week, after Chloe Vonna exposed Harvey's scandal, actress Roxanne Arquette also came forward to claim that she had been sexually harassed by Harvey.

Rosanna is considered a second-tier actress in the industry. She is also Jewish and played a 'robber couple' with Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction. She has also appeared in films such as The Big Blue, Nowhere to Run, and Top Gun.

Her sister Patricia Arquette is Nicolas Cage's wife, and her brother David Arquette is also a film actor, playing a significant supporting role in Scream.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Rosanna Arquette stated that she was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein during her audition for the film Romeo in 1993.

Harvey invited her to the Four Seasons Hotel to discuss the script, and upon meeting her, he began to make advances towards her, demanding that she sleep with him in exchange for the role.

Rosanna Arquette declined the offer and subsequently lost the opportunity to play the lead role.

Rosanna claims the incident disgusted her and that she was troubled by it for a long time.

After seeing the report about Qiu Luoweina last week, she decided to stand up and expose the matter to warn women in the entertainment industry to be wary of Harvey Weinstein and to call the police immediately if they encounter such a thing again, so as to protect their rights through legal means.

We also hope that the police will pay attention to this matter and punish the perpetrators.

Because of her considerable fame within the industry, more media outlets began reporting on the news after she spoke out.

Many actresses have spoken out in support of Rosanna and demanded that the police thoroughly investigate the matter.

Harvey's side panicked and tried to put out the fire everywhere, but Miramax's performance had deteriorated in recent years, its influence in Hollywood had also declined significantly, and it had little connection with the legal community.

It won't be easy for him to suppress these negative news reports.

Harvey worked for several days but failed to stop the public outcry, and the situation worsened. The police questioned Harvey and are preparing to open an investigation.

At Bob's suggestion, Harvey contacted Link and begged for forgiveness, but Link was too busy filming to pay attention to the matter.

Harvey then called Sam Haskell, hoping to get in touch with Link through him to see if there was any way to resolve the conflict.

"Link, did you start the Harvey scandal?"

"Sam Haskell asked."

“Last month, when ‘The Rock’ was released, Harvey’s team contacted the media to hype up my scandal. In response, the public relations department also found some materials about Harvey. The public relations department handled everything after that, and I rarely asked about it.”

After filming began for "American Beauty," Link was busy directing, filming, and editing every day, and had no time for anything else. These tasks were handled by Sean Don and Jon Gordon, and he didn't get involved.

Sam Haskell didn't press the matter further, and laughed, "Harvey suspects you did it. He came to our company asking for my help, but I told him I've been busy making movies and haven't seen him in a long time, so I can't speak up for him."

Link shook his head. Harvey has many rivals in the industry, but he was able to quickly realize that it was Harvey's doing after this incident, probably because he felt guilty.

After Sam left, Link called Sean Don to ask him about the progress and whether there was any chance of getting Harvey into jail.

Sean Tang said the chances were slim because they hadn't found many victims yet. Some had received compensation after being subjected to sexual harassment, while others were semi-coerced or semi-voluntary. In addition, they didn't have any evidence to prove Harvey's crimes, making it difficult to imprison him.

However, given what's going on now, it wouldn't be difficult to ruin Harvey's reputation.

Link thought for a moment and had Sean Tang contact Harvey through an intermediary, asking him to donate $500 million to a designated charity, pay $300 million in compensation to the victims, and issue a public apology, in exchange for waiving all further charges against him.

Sean Tang said he could make the arrangements.

Two days later, Sean Tang replied that Harvey did not agree to a public apology, but expressed his willingness to apologize privately to the victims and make compensation, and only agreed to donate $50.

Link urged Sean to continue negotiations and to sensationalize Harvey's scandal.

Newspapers and television were filled with reports of Harvey's sex scandal. Celebrities such as Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Ben Affleck, Renée Zellweger, and Demi Moore expressed their disgust in interviews, believing that the police should have intervened sooner to investigate and give the victim an explanation.

By the following Monday, Harvey's side had relented, agreeing to donate $100 million, compensate several victims with $50, and issue a private apology.

Link refused, offering a minimum offer: a donation of $300 million and compensation of $100 million to several victims. This was the final offer and the last conversation.

Under pressure from public opinion, Harvey had no choice but to agree. Afterwards, he donated $300 million to UN Women, the International Red Cross, and organizations that combat sexual harassment. He also made secondary compensation to several victims and apologized to them face-to-face, arranged by his lawyer.

After Harvey made the donation, public opinion in the media gradually shifted.

Many media outlets reported on Harvey's donation to women's foundations, claiming that he was demonstrating his feminism and would never do anything to infringe on women's rights. There were also rumors that Harvey was pressured by a powerful figure and forced to donate to women's protection organizations, or he would be disgraced if he didn't.

"Damn Link! I swear, I will never let you get away with this."

Harvey was yelling and shouting angrily in his office.

Although he is worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, $400 million in cash is not a small amount for him. With that money, he could invest in another movie, or buy a mansion, a luxury yacht, collect several luxury sports cars, or keep several mistresses.

But now it's gone, like something thrown into the sea, leaving no ripples.

Harvey was furious at the thought of it, and he swung his golf club, smashing the office to pieces.

Bob Weinstein stood outside the office door for a while, and only went in after the room quieted down.

After venting his anger, Harvey sat on the ground, panting heavily, his white shirt stained yellowish-brown with oil and sweat.

“Harvey, renovating the office will cost money, you should be careful.”

Bob reminded him.

"Shut up!"

Harvey glared at him angrily. "You're my brother. You should be just as angry as I am to see me being blackmailed, not here laughing at me."

“Harvey, I warned you a long time ago to be careful when it comes to women. Even if you're involved in shady dealings, don't go too far. Be careful to handle things properly from beginning to end, but you never listen to my advice,” Bob said, shrugging his thick shoulders.

"Hmph! What's wrong with me playing around with women? I've been in the entertainment industry for over twenty years and I've only slept with a dozen or so women. But that bastard Link, he's been in the industry for less than six years and he's had relationships with over a hundred women and gotten them pregnant. He's shameless and despicable. Compared to that kind of sex fiend, I'm more innocent than a virgin."

But that bastard forced me to donate money and apologize to those bitches. Pah! Actually, the one who should apologize the most, no, the one who should be thrown in jail and sentenced, is him, that damned bastard Link.

Harvey roared angrily.

Bob picked at his ear with his finger, sighed, and said, "Harvey, what's done is done, there's no point in talking about it now. Let's learn from this experience, make good movies in the future, and try to earn more money."

“This matter will never be left like this. That bastard Link caused me to lose $400 million. I will remember this money forever and will get it back a thousand times over in the future.”

Harvey shouted, his face contorted with rage.

Bob was helpless. Harvey had suffered a great loss this time, and it would be very difficult to get him to let it go and stop pursuing the matter. He could only try to persuade Harvey to stop offending Link.

Jingle Bell!
The phone on the table rang, and Bob answered it in Harvey's place. The caller was Michael Ovitz, who was relaying a message on behalf of the Disney board of directors.

Given the recent negative impact of Harvey's scandal on Miramax Films, the board of directors has decided to suspend Harvey's work and have Bob replace him to take over Miramax Films for the company's benefit.

"No! I don't agree!"

Harvey reacted vehemently, shouting, "This is all in the past, there won't be any more reports, so why suspend my work?"

“Harvey! Besides the scandal, it’s also related to your performance over the past two years. Under your management, Miramax’s performance has gotten worse year by year, and the financial deficit has increased year by year. If this continues, Miramax will go bankrupt sooner or later.”

“Michael, Miramax isn’t the only company whose performance has declined in recent years; Disney has too. We all know it’s because of the rise of Guess Guess Studios. Guess Guess Studios has stolen our box office revenue. It’s not my fault. You can’t blame me.”

Harvey retorted.

“Harvey, this is the board’s decision. If you disagree, you can attend the next board meeting. If you can persuade the board members to support you, you will have a chance to return to your original position. Until then, put aside your work at Miramax and deal with the scandal.”

Michael Ovitz hung up the phone after he finished speaking.

Harvey gritted his teeth and swung his baseball bat again, smashing the ball violently.

“Harvey, this is my office, go easy on me.”

Bob hesitated before speaking.

"What did you say?!"

Harvey turned around angrily, raised his stick to hit Bob, who was so frightened that he ran away with his head in his hands.

(End of this chapter)