October
9
Rudin Abandons The Reader
After a long and bruising battle with Harvey Weinstein over Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, producer Scott Rudin is walking off the picture and taking his name off of it. As reported by Patrick Goldstein on his blog, my sources confirm, Rudin finally couldn't take it anymore.
While Daldry isn't happy and feels terribly that he committed to deliver the movie to Weinstein if it tested well in previews, the production will proceed more smoothly with Rudin gone. As an example, one recent tussle involved Weinstein showing the movie to press agent Ken Sunshine, who handles Revolutionary Road star Leonardo DiCaprio, after telling Rudin that he wouldn't.
Weinstein and Rudin have never gotten along. They clashed over Daldry’s 2002 The Hours, also written by David Hare, and again over the post-production schedule of The Reader. Rudin, the winner of the best picture Oscar for last year’s No Country for Old Men, had first tried to push the World War II romance starring Kate Winslet back to 2009, because he didn’t want to campaign for an Oscar along with Doubt and Revolutionary Road, which also stars Winslet.
Rudin fought hard to get more post-production time and support for his director, who is prepping the November 13 opening of the musical Billy Elliot on Broadway. When Weinstein insisted on holding Daldry to his promise, Rudin and Daldry finally agreed to deliver the film for a December 12 release. Daldry cares deeply about the film's German subject matter, and to that end, will honor that.
The battle over getting Daldry more weeks of editing time and moving scoring sessions to New York grew so intense that both sides hired top-notch legal counsel, who sent a series of high-pitched letters that were leaked to the press, along with Daldry’s heartfelt pleas to Weinstein for more editing time. Both sides invoked the post-mortem support of late producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella.
It’s unclear what impact Rudin’s withdrawal will have on the film’s completion and marketing, as Rudin tends to be a micromanager. After Cannes this May, Weinstein added Shakespeare in Love producer Donna Gigliotti to the mix. She has also been working with Daldry, who with editor Claire Simpson is 20 weeks into editing and finishing the movie. "Let's get on with it," Gigliotti says. "It's a piece of cake. I've been in tougher straits than this."
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