Tomorrow will finally see the release of “Tulip Fever,” The Weinstein Company‘s long delayed movie that’s about boobs or something. The movie has become something of a punching bag, acting a prime example of what happens when Harvey Weinstein has no idea what to do with a film. Well, the super producer must’ve felt the sting from the comments flying around the internet, because he’s penned an op-ed for Deadline defending the film.
READ MORE: ‘Tulip Fever’ NSFW Clips: The Weinstein Company Sell Long Delayed Movie With Nudity
While he doesn’t address why his classy movie featuring no shortage of marquee names — Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Christoph Waltz, Holliday Grainger, Jack O’Connell, Zach Galifianakis, Dame Judi Dench, Matthew Morrison, Tom Hollander, Cara Delevingne — needed a pretty grotesque, last minute, nudity filled marketing campaign, he does say that all of his famous author friends liked the movie. And Alicia Vikander’s Mom’s friend. So there. Here’s an excerpt from his column:
It’s easy for some writers to focus on a delay and be snarky, and that’s fine because snarky can be entertaining. But as a result, we decided to do something different — we decided to test the film with novelists who didn’t know about the post-production story of Tulip Fever, and we were more than vindicated with their positive reactions. Philippa Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl) said it was “beautifully filmed with a stellar cast that takes you to the atmospheric streets of Amsterdam at the height of the madness of ‘tulip fever’ when a single bulb could cost a fortune and a flower was worth more than a woman’s happiness.” Sally Bedell Smith (Diana In Search of Herself: Portrait Of A Troubled Princess) said it was “thoroughly suspenseful, stunningly filmed and beautifully acted.” Daniel James Brown (The Boys In The Boat) said he “was fully engaged right from the get-go, and [his] interest never flagged.” Anthony Doerr, Dan Jones, Jodi Picoult, Emma Donoghue and ML Stedman all had just as wonderful things to say about the film.
Last night I attended a screening of the film hosted by Tina Brown, Arianna Huffington, Martha Stewart and Robbie Myers. We had the likes of Julie Taymor, Daniel Silva (author of the Gabriel Allon series), Nelson DeMille (author of too many bestsellers to mention), Nanette Lepore, Cynthia Rowley, Trudie Styler, and Jennifer Morrison there. I spoke to the audience before the film — I was honest and let them know about the history of the movie but I asked them to have an open mind. Right after it finished, people were coming over to tell me how much they enjoyed the film. I know they meant it because believe me, I pressed them. No, they weren’t telling me that it’s Citizen Kane or Shakespeare In Love, but they loved the performances, the cinematography, the costumes, the twists and turns, and enjoyed it for the film it is. I’m sure that the critics will have their fun with it, but I’m proud of this movie, as is the rest of the team behind it. Tom Hollander wrote me an email immediately after he saw the final cut saying, “It’s great. Terrific cast, beautifully shot and great nuanced story. I realise you must have been round the houses with it all this time. But what you have now is really great. I am proud to be in it.” Alicia Vikander also reached out to tell me that her mom’s friend gave her a rare call just to tell her how much she enjoyed it.
It would be cool if Weinstein had some actual critical notices to back him too, but he doesn’t because all the reviews are embargoed until tomorrow afternoon — that’s right, the day “Tulip Fever” opens.
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Considering that the following quotes have been attributed to Tom Hollander, I would be hesitant in putting much stock in what he has to say.
“I was half-pretty and boyish, and a lot of gay people seemed to have influential positions in the theatre. So I went along with it, up to a point. I wasn’t trying to suggest that I slept my way to the lower-middle, no. Young people are variously desired by older people, whether they’re trying to have sex with them or not. And actors are in the market for selling their appearance. So, you’re very aware if somebody fancies you so you play up to it so that they have a nice time and you get the job. Nothing more than that.”
“Funnily enough I never thought of myself as being short. Being an actor has made me much more conscious of it than I would have been otherwise. They haven’t said it, but let’s be clear I would never have been on the list for James Bond, so I’m not labouring under that misapprehension.”
“With Valkyrie, I was excited at meeting this short superstar and was horribly disappointed to discover he was perfectly average.”
“I loved playing it because I have not been asked to just be straight like that. Corcoran in The Night Manager is more familiar … a quirky character part. Rev is the lead but he’s not a straight lead because it’s a comedy, so for me Thorne was as exciting as other actors would feel about being cast as Mad Max.”
On turning down Littlefinger: “We were doing Rev at the time and I didn’t want to. But had I been told that Game of Thrones would become the biggest show in the world … funnily enough, somebody did say ‘you should think seriously about that’ and I was ‘No, no, no’. I wasn’t particularly drawn to the wolf pelt thing. I was thinking ‘six years of wolf pelt in Belfast?’.”
“There’s a scene in Gosford Park where I eat some jam. That was a good scene.”
“They do very lovely, bright yellow scrambled eggs here.”
“Comedians are much butcher than me.”
“I had blonde hair when I was 16. I dyed it with Sun-In; I thought I looked prettier with blonde hair and eyeliner.”
“Two weeks ago I went to see the film Senna. And I was the annoying person talking to the person I was with. And somebody in front turned round and threw something at me. A scrunched up crisp packet. And I got very angry. And I threw it really hard right back at them and it hit them in the face, then he stood up and went, ‘Tom, it’s me’, and it was an old friend of mine called Chris.”
“Poor Eddie Redmayne. Just because he looks quite like a girl, he finds himself a spokesperson for the burgeoning trans movement.”
“Eddie has made a seamless transition from actor who looks like a woman to being cast as the transgender Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, to becoming spokes-woman on behalf of all trans people (may their tribe increase). Like Brigitte Bardot: adored sex bomb, to formerly adored sex bomb, to saviour of a formerly adored pets … normally, there’s a few years of career-fade before the previously beautiful become politically active, but Eddie has magnificently leapfrogged that process.”
“Actors, who have no real sense of who they are or what they want, have long known that not just their gender but every aspect of their identity is on a spectrum. They can be anything they are asked to be. They aspire to a protean state, shape-shifting like high summer clouds. In reality, they sell their bodies and emotional lives for money. They don’t need to use phone booths; they get their pictures in magazines. And they learn early that in order to make their way in the world, it’s best to leave questions of identity to others. If that’s what you think I am, then I’m happy to oblige. (Would you like me in the doublet and hose or the french maid’s outfit?) I like to consider myself a blank cheque on which people are free to ascribe whatever value they feel appropriate.”
“For years, I was similarly accommodating when it came to my sexuality. I didn’t feel particularly gay, but I was half-pretty and boyish, and a lot of gay people seemed to have very influential positions in the theatre. So I went along with it, up to a point. And I liked the attention. Any port in a storm, as they say. Quite soon this affected the parts I got. I graduated from restoration fops to actual gay people. To date, I have pretended to be about 11 different gay men and one gay woman, essentially for financial gain. Some of the men were really straight, but I played them gay, because eventually I couldn’t help it. I could probably have paid for half of a quite modest central London one-bedroom flat on the proceeds of my work as a homosexual impersonator. Well, good for me. It’s been marvellous.”
“On the flight I sat next to a retired Hollywood producer from Santa Barbara. She would have been travelling upper class but today, owing to some kind of tier point issue, she had been downgraded to premium economy. Like your entire country, I joked. She talked about the end of the American empire and the inexorable rise of the east. Welcome, I said. Let me embrace you and gather you into the club lounge of second-rate nations.”
“I don’t have any children. And I’ve often found other people’s a bit annoying.”
Wait, I take that back. Hollander rules.
“alicia vikander’s mom’s friend liked it”. this needs to be on the movie poster/the cover of the retail disc.it should be used in any and and *all* award season ads. if this gets a push.
the blu ray should have a bonus feature speaking to the friend and she could give her thoughts on the film/knowing alicia’s mom…maybe they could have tom hollander interview her.
even better now that she’s famous maybe the friend could start a movie blog… 😉
between the mom’s friend and the nsfw trailer. i’m pretty sure, we have a film. we can already pencil into our top 10 for the year type things…
please don’t let alicia’s mom/ let alone the friend/ or heaven forbid alicia know. i may re-watch the trailer for all the wrong reasons. 😉
but i suspect harvey understands… 😉
that trailer has put the film on the map.
and what other film could inspire such articles on theplaylist ????? 😉
this award season seems to have a different vibe than recent ones/the usual ones.
the chaos surrounding films like ‘tulip fever’ is an excellent example. bring’em on.