#Michael ryan mousterpiece death movie#

Even nightmarish individuals have to use the facilities from time to time. If anything, running into Weinstein on the way to the bathroom kinda humanized him. Basically, they're all awful, and seemingly nothing we could ever learn about their deplorable behavior would be surprising. I had heard stories about what a monster Weinstein was - terrible on employees, bullying to his directors, and pretty sketchy when trying to seduce actresses into sleeping with him - but it always felt par-for-the-course for a Hollywood big shot. All I recall thinking is, 'It's incredibly weird to be going into a small office bathroom with Harvey freaking Weinstein.' And then I went into a stall and waited until he left to exit the bathroom.įor a month or so afterward, I would occasionally tell people this deeply benign anecdote. I can't remember if I opened the door for him or vice versa. Before I could do anything, however, he said in a rather friendly manner, 'Oh, let me get that for you,' punching in the code.

#Michael ryan mousterpiece death movie#

But when one of them is a major movie mogul and the other is some guy who's just there to review one of his movies, the awkwardness is more pronounced. Ordinarily, when two people are both reaching for the same bathroom door handle, it can be a little awkward. And then the second thing I realized was that a burly man had just come out of a side office at that exact same moment and was moving to the bathroom door just as I was. As I walked to the door of the men's room, though, I realized it had a code-lock on it. When I got there, I decided I should probably use the restroom before the movie started. ('They can't even afford to promote their movies,' someone told me, which perhaps explained why they'd been dumping their recent films without much publicity.) So when I went to the Weinstein offices, I wasn't expecting much. For months, rumors had circulated that the company was on its last legs.

Plus, there was the fact that Tulip Fever's distributor, the Weinstein Company, was beset with financial issues. The movie had been long delayed, and the assumption was that, despite its Oscar-winning cast, the film was a dog. This wasn't a particularly momentous occurrence.

On August 8, I went to a screening of Tulip Fever.