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John Malkovich to play disgraced movie mogul in new Mamet play

January 30, 2019
John Malkovich
John Malkovich

LONDON — Actor John Malkovich will take the starring role in a new play by Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet about a disgraced Hollywood studio head, a story he said was written partly in reaction to the scandal engulfing film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Speaking to BBC Radio on Tuesday, Malkovich described "Bitter Wheat", which opens in London in the summer, as "a black farce about a very badly behaved movie mogul", who he said was "not particularly" Weinstein. The producer will go on trial in New York in May on charges of sexually assaulting two women.

"It's a great deal about that business and a great deal about how people in that business, in positions say as studio heads have behaved really for more or less a century now. So many of them were so notoriously badly behaved," he said.

"The idea...maybe started as reaction to all the news that came out last year, in particular about Harvey Weinstein but actually about many many people, some of whom were also higher ups in various studios. I think David kind of took the idea from there and went with it."

More than 70 women, mainly young actresses and others working in film, have accused Weinstein, 66, of sexual misconduct, including assault, dating back decades.

Weinstein, who pleaded not guilty after his arrest last May, has denied all the accusations.

The scandal helped kick off the #MeToo movement, in which dozens of powerful men in Hollywood and beyond have been accused of sexual misconduct.

"Of course it might upset people who've experienced the kind of treatment that the play contains and shows and describes and that we watch but what can I do about that?" Malkovich said. — Reuters


January 30, 2019
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