The fall of the once all-powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein, 71, seems to have no end. This Wednesday it was announced that British actress Julia Ormond, 58, filed a lawsuit against him in New York today. Ormond is accused of several sex crimes that occurred in 1995. The man behind some of the most important American films of the last half century is sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York, to be added to an additional 16 years in California.
Ormond accuses Weinstein of sexually abusing her after a business dinner in 1995. At that time, the 30-year-old Brit had become a star herself. Within a few months, between 1994 and 1995, she released three films that made her a star: Legends of Passion, The First Knight and Sabrina (and Her Loves). The actress and the producer met at the same time at a business meeting in London in 1994, which was arranged by the actress’s British agent. They then discussed future projects and, according to the lawsuit, “Weinstein behaved and agreed to stay in touch.” He sent her some scripts, they spoke on the phone, she gave him detailed notes on those scripts, and gradually they developed a professional relationship. She began working for Miramax, Weinstein’s film production company, in their New York offices and lived in an apartment paid for by the company.
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According to the lawsuit – published by American media outlets including Variety and Page Six – Weinstein told her after that dinner in December 1995 that he wanted to talk to her about a possible project, but would only do so “at the apartment, which Miramax had provided to him.” Provided to Ormond as part of an initial agreement.” She agreed to let him go to her home, and there, according to the documents, he forced her to give her a massage, “stripped her and forced her her, “performing oral sex on him” and also masturbating.
According to the lawsuit, whenever the events occurred, Ormond reported to his agents Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd (ex-partner of actress Carrie Fisher and father of her daughter, actress Billie Lourd). However, according to the actress’ version, they warned her that it was a bad idea to speak out against Weinstein and then did not provide her with protection. According to the complaint, Huvane and Lourd were “aware of Weinstein’s propensity for sexual assault and his explosive nature, particularly with young actresses he met for business purposes” and had “information about the confidential arrangements” under which Weinstein put them in contact “He kept his behavior secret from the public, but they never notified Ormond.” So, in addition to Weinstein, Ormond is also suing his representative agency at the time, the Creative Artists Agency or CAA, which he accuses of “negligence and breach of fiduciary duty,” i.e. injury the duty of care. Ormond is his client.
Harvey Weinstein, during his trial in Los Angeles, California, on October 4, 2022.ETIENNE LAURENT (AP)
CAA is one of the most important representation agencies in Hollywood, managing the careers of talent such as Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Sandra Bullock, Jane Fonda, Eddie Redmayne, Viola Davis and Barbra Streisand, among others. many other. Back in 2017, the New York Times declared that they were “part of the Weinstein accomplice machine,” and then released a statement apologizing “if they, as a company and as individuals, had failed to live up to high expectations.”
In addition, Ormond is also suing Miramax, the production company that Harvey Weinstein founded with his brother Bob, and the Walt Disney Company, which owned the company in the 1990s, each for “negligent oversight and restraint.” Huvane and Lourd, now co-presidents of the CAA, do not appear as defendants but are named in the legal documents and state that “the men who represented Ormond knew about Weinstein, as did employees at Miramax and Disney.” “Obviously none of these powerful companies warned Ormond that Weinstein had a history of attacking women because he was too big, too powerful, and made them too much money.” Former Miramax and Disney executives from that time are also named, including the former President Jeffrey Katzenberg and CEO Michael Eisner, but not as defendants.
Of course, no project materialized between Ormond and Weinstein. It wasn’t until many years later that their careers crossed again: in “My Week with Marilyn,” which The Weinstein Company produced in 2011 and in which Ormond played a supporting role. In 1997, after the attack, he wanted to visit her on a shoot in Copenhagen, which she refused, rejected him and shortly afterwards ended her contract with Miramax. “Ormond quickly sensed Weinstein’s wrath,” the lawsuit says. His career was never the same: back then he earned $3.5 million per title, which would be more than double today with inflation. “The damage to Ormond’s career from Weinstein’s attack and the events thereafter was catastrophic on a personal and professional level,” the lawsuit says, explaining that the interpreter “virtually disappeared from the scene.” Her friends called her because they suspected something had happened.
Although Weinstein has been accused and convicted of various sex crimes by a hundred women over the past decade, it has not been common to see other companies, his or partners, in these lawsuits and accuse them of connivance or complicity in covering up the violations. From his New York cell, the tycoon “categorically denied” Ormond’s allegations in a statement issued by his lawyer and reiterated that “he is prepared to defend himself vigorously.” “This is just another example of a complaint against Weinstein decades later, and he is confident the evidence will not support Ormond’s claims,” his lawyer says.
Ormond released a statement along with the lawsuit saying that he has lived “with these painful memories” caused by Weinstein for “decades.” “I would personally like to bring the matter to a close by holding them accountable, recognizing their part and the severity of the harm caused, and I hope that our growing understanding will lead to greater protection in the workplace,” says the interpreter. In addition, he assured Variety that he decided to publish his story now because he believes that “systemic change is necessary and to get there we must hold accountable the one who made things easy” and that telling his story was a way to achieve this. “Obviously Harvey Weinstein is in prison and he’s going to be there for a long time. Personally, I don’t think he could have done it all without those who made it easy for him. And that, to me, is the level we need to reach, right down to the root.”