Last October, once scandal shook Hollywood, actually, it shook the entire world and no one saw what would be the result of this one scandal in the coming months. The New York Times reported about Harvey Weinstein and various sexual harassment allegations against him out in the public. A huge score of women accused Weinstein of rape and sexual harassment and these allegations inspired many more women and even men to come forward and speak up about their experiences of sexual misconduct.
Soon, Hollywood’s biggest actresses like Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow came forward with their allegations against Weinstein and how he harassed them while they’re working with him. He was later fired from the company that he himself built, The Weinstein Company.
Within days of all this, various other bigwigs of Hollywood came under the spotlight, when allegations against them too came out in the public. Actors like Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, George Takei, Ben Affleck were accused of instances of the similar nature and soon Hollywood saw the biggest scandal that has ever happened, anywhere around the world.
Harvey Weinstein allegations pointed towards a systemic problem in Hollywood and in the world at large. The survivors launched movements of solidarity like Me Too and its more militant form Time’s Up which emboldened many women in other parts of the world to come forward and speak against sexual harassment at their workplace and everyday sexism.
Now the news of a feature film on this entire Harvey Weinstein scandal has come out and people can’t stop talking about it. According to The Guardian, the film, that has no actors and director attached yet, will focus on Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. This, along with New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow led to the exposure of men in prominent positions of indulging in sexual harassment at workplace in Hollywood.
This is a big thing for everyone, not just the survivors of these scandals of the reporters who brought the stories out, but for each and every member of the Me Too and Time’s Up movements. The film will focus on the reporters’ journey towards publishing those articles against Harvey Weinstein and other accused. Many are calling it out to be somewhat similar to the 2015 Oscar-winning Spotlight.
Nothing else about the film is out yet, except that it would be produced by Brad Pitt’s company Plan B and Annapurna Pictures.
Jyotsna Amla