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Film

Harvey Weinstein investigation to become a film

April 26, 2018

The reporting that exposed producer Harvey Weinstein's pattern of sexual misconduct is to be adapted into a film produced by Brad Pitt. The New York Times story sparked the #MeToo movement and won a Pulitzer Prize.

https://p.dw.com/p/2wiG1
USA Journalistinnen Jodi Kantor und Megan Twohey in New York
Image: Getty Images for Hearst Magazines/T. Wargo

New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey played a major role in taking down movie producer Harvery Weinstein by investigating alleged repeated sexual assault cases. Their work is set to be portrayed in an upcoming movie, its producers said on Wednesday.

Plan B, Brad Pitt's production company, and Annapurna acquired the film rights to the story, Annapurna spokeswoman Ashley Momtaheni told Reuters. Plan B was behind films such as "12 Years a Slave" and Oscar winner "Moonlight."

The movie will not focus on the now disgraced Hollywood mogul, but rather on the journalists' research, in a similar way to the 2015 Oscar-winning film "Spotlight," about the Boston Globe's reporting on systemic child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, or "All the President's Men," about the Washington Post reporters whose investigation led to the Watergate Scandal. 

Read more: Spielberg's 'The Post': How 1970s politics resonate with today's era of 'fake news'

Along with Ronan Farrow who reported on Weinstein for the New Yorker magazine, Kantor and Twohey recently won the Pulitzer Prize for their article, "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades," published on October 5 last year.

Read more:  Marking history: the Pulitzer Prize

The revelations had a massive social impact. Altogether, 70 women accused Weinstein, then one of
Hollywood's most powerful figures, of sexual misconduct or rape. Their testimonies emboldened many other victims to reveal their cases, sparking the #MeToo movement exposing workplace harassment.

 

Portrait of a young woman with red hair and glasses
Elizabeth Grenier Editor and reporter for DW Culture