Harvey Weinstein Fails to Nab ‘Mr. Skin’ Top 10 Berth For Nude Kate Winslet [The Reader]
Poor Harvey Weinstein just can’t catch a break for The Reader! So far, his pushy campaign to ready the film for awards glory has resulted in the loss of both Scott Rudin and a million-dollar bet, and now his efforts have resulted in further ignominy: Kate Winslet’s very naked performance was denied a spot on Mr. Skin’s Top Celebrity Nude Scenes of 2008. Could this be an Oscar precursor? Let’s hope not, considering who came in first: 1. Mischa Barton Title: Closing the Ring Release

Harvey Weinstein Fails to Nab ‘Mr. Skin’ Top 10 Berth For Nude Kate Winslet [Th
Poor Harvey Weinstein just can't catch a break for The Reader! So far, his pushy campaign to ready the film for awards glory has resulted in the loss of both Scott Rudin and a million-dollar bet, and now his efforts have resulted in further ignominy: Kate Winslet's very naked performance was denied a spot on Mr. Skin's Top Celebrity Nude Scenes of 2008. Could this be an Oscar precursor? Let's hope not, considering who came in first: 1. Mischa Barton Title: Closing the Ring Release Date: August 1, 2008 M

EXCLUSIVE: Director Stephen Daldry on Sex, Moguls and Surviving 'The Reader' [Five Questions]
The culmination of our dedicated coverage of The Reader— from Rudin/Weinstein blow-ups to Oscar prognoses to its sexual audacity— arrived this weekend when director Stephen Daldry phoned Defamer HQ. "Sorry, I overslept," he said in his dignified brogue — a forgivable lapse under the circumstances, with his Kate Winslet film following his Billy Elliot stage adaptation by mere weeks on his late-'08 calendar. Nevertheless, we got him properly caffeinated and settled in for a rousing installme

Scott Rudin takes his name off ‘The Reader,’ walks away
UPDATE (9:58 p.m.): Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out that “The Reader” has been removed from The Weinstein Company’s official site.  Could it mean that Weinstein will fold after all?  Could the pain of getting a publicity team in place, dealing with Rudin’s all-in public play and general bad buzz make TWC see the light and move the film to 2009?  We’ll see… EARLIER: I love Scott Rudin.  All along, throughout this whole nasty affair, I have hoped he would

Morning Memo: Larry Flynt "Interprets" Sarah Palin; Details of Nikki Blonsky's Airport Brawl; Harvey Weinstein "Not a Nice Man"
Page Six claims that Bill and Hillary Clinton's tepid support of Barack Obama is due to the Democratic nominee's refusal to promise Mrs. Clinton a spot on the Supreme Court if Mr. Obama gets elected. Clinton reps responded, "Absurd. Nonsense. Rubbish. Hogwash. Malarkey." [P6]   Miramax has reached a $9 million settlement with producer Marty Richards, who accused the company of using "deceptive accounting practices" to cheat him out of money earned by Chicago. Of Miramax founder Harvey

Weinstein Co. Is Now 25% Off [Deathwatch]
Harvey Weinstein made his name trading the most emphemeral commodities of all — Oscar buzz — but it will be the harsh realities of cold, hard cash that threaten to bring him down.The lukewarm reaction to The Reader is not the only barometer of the perilous state where the Weinstein Co., which he and brother Bob launched in 2005, finds itself. A much less subjective measure is a report from Bloomberg News that one of their early backers, Fidelity Investments, has marked down the shares it owns by

Klum Expects ‘Runway’ to Return in January
Heidi Klum has professed ignorance to Harvey Weinstein's behind-the-scenes business dealings involving Project Runway. But last night at the opening party for Victoria's Secret on Lexington, she said she expected new episodes to start airing in January, despite the tangle of lawsuits surrounding the show. "At the end of the day, we're really lucky that people were fighting over the show because it's a great show," Klum told us. "I know they'll figure it out somehow and we'll be at Fashion Week in February n

Scott Rudin leaves ‘Reader’
After a long and bruising battle with Harvey Weinstein over Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader,” producer Scott Rudin is leaving the project and taking his name off the film. 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

The Golden Globe Awards: Killers Of Dreams [Beautiful Awards]
Oh happy day, awards season has really started! The Golden Globe awards nominations have been announced, sending some hopes soaring and others to dash themselves on the rocks and die a quick death. Australia, W., and Josh Brolin were all met this morning with unfortunate news, their big dreams for the Oscar prom are now, if not completely gone, badly hobbled. After the jump we'll take a look, major category by major category, at what damage this 83-member little foreigners club has done to dear, sweet Holly

Cindy Adams' Hilarious Gambling Problem [Issues]
Cindy Adams, Page Six's also-ran aging gossipeuse, got scooped about ten years ago by the internet, but hasn't let it stop her or slow her. No, she's pressing on, writing columns about topics like the weather today and her insidious celebrity gambling problem. It's true! She has so many famous friends and so many dark impulses to throw her money down a well of anxiety and despair. And she's not betting on ponies. No, she's wagering on strange, ineffable things. Like home repair and Broadway musicals. Anothe

Live Blogging Project Runway: Week 12 [Adventures In Live Blogging]
Hello troops! I'm sorry I missed you last week (and also that I drank so much at the commenter meet-up), but like General MacArthur, I have returned. It will be good to live-blog with you all again tonight. And as we do, allow me to offer this advice: Type, drink and be merry, because tomorrow … who knows what will happen? Certainly not Harvey Weinstein, who was just hit with a court injunction blocking his plan to move Project Runway to Lifetime. Now, I know the show isn't as good as it used to be, but i

The Reader Director Stephen Daldry on Sex Scenes, Rudin vs. Weinstein, and Kavalier & Clay
Stephen Daldry has made only two feature films, but he's overseen four Oscar-nominated performances and netted himself two Academy Award nominations for Best Director to boot. His third movie, The Reader, seems to stand a solid chance of continuing those trends. Based on Bernhard Schlink's acclaimed novel, the film centers on a 15-year-old, Michael Berg (David Kross), who in post–World War II Germany enters into a sexual relationship with a woman twice his age, Hanna Schmitz, played by the smokin' Kat

Morning Memo: Harvey Weinstein Vindicated?; Bill Clinton Redirects His Energy; Janet Jackson Hospitalized
Scott Rudin has admitted that he lied to Page Six about an email that Harvey Weinstein supposedly sent to producer Sydney Pollack on his deathbed, along with the widow of another producer, Anthony Minghella, over issues related to the upcoming release of The Reader. [Gawker] During a talk about the joys of philanthropy featuring Bill Clinton, The Economist's Matthew Bishop noted, "Neuroscientists have monitored the part of the brain where you get the reward for giving, and it's the same place for sex

Harvey Weinstein - Weinstein Holds Out Olive Branch To Rudin
Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein wants to make peace with producer pal Scott Rudin, after their bitter argument over two new movies starring Kate Winslet. The ...

Jokes and Glory: The Golden Globe Noms
Stephen Daldry's The Reader, a well-made, high-toned Holocaust drama that many critics and smartypants-types have dismissed due to its cool tone and lack of an emotionally cathartic finale, has been included among the five nominees for Best Drama for the Golden Globe awards, which were announced early this morning. What's this about? Is this a result of Harvey Weinstein having worked the room, leaned on Hollywood Foreign Press voters, etc.? What's the back-story?

Grateful Harvey Weinstein Cultivates Fragile Mogul Peace With Scott Rudin [Fence Mending]
When we awoke this morning to discover California hadn't yet crashed into the sea, we had little choice but to acknowledge that the culturally cataclysmic worst was behind us. Another profound symbol of recovery arrived shortly thereafter, when we heard that Harvey Weinstein actually paid tribute to exiled Reader producer Scott Rudin at the film's premiere Wednesday night. Not that Harvey isn't a stand-up kind of guy. He'll be paying off his $1 million Reader bet any day now, and he did race to cloak

iW ROUND UP | Tuesday, September 30th
indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Tuesday. 'Radical Chic'Uli Edel's "The Baader-Meinhof Complex," the German Oscar submission that debuted on Friday in LA, is the latest film, "interested in the historical reenactment of protest and revolutionary action." [Big Picture] Screener SeasonYou know it's award season when the first screener hits voters. This year the honor goes to Sony Pictures Classics' "Frozen River." [VAR] DOX OFFICE | High "Combination" At IFC CenterMatt Wolf's "

No Oscar glory for 'The Reader'?
When the always indomitable Scott Rudin abruptly took his name off Stephen Daldry's "The Reader" in early October after roughly 15 rounds of heavyweight tussling with Harvey Weinstein (who is releasing the movie next week), everyone assumed the worst. If Rudin were willing to abandon ship--and leave Daldry, one of his favorite filmmakers, behind, even after Weinstein had agreed to give Daldry more money so he could edit the film around the clock as he hurried it to the finish line--then the film m

Oscar Watch: Weakly 'Reader'
Having now seen all four of next month's Holocaust movies, I wonder if audiences who see them will be crying "Never again!'' Or at least I suspect critics will be calling for a moratorium on this dicey genre (which Tony Scott stopped just short of doing so Sunday in The Times). Steven Daldry's "The Reader'' is a stilted, distasteful, self-consciously literary and very depressing cross between "The Door in the Floor'' and "The Night Porter'' that hardly seems worth the agita that Harvey Weinstein created by

'Project Runway': Heidi says the show will go on
Despite all the Harvey Weinstein-related drama indicating otherwise, "Project Runway" host and co-creator Heidi Klum declares that, no matter what, the show will return in January. "I know they'll figure it out somehow, and we'll be at Fashion Week in February no matter what," she told New York magazine. Is she speaking the truth or "blissfully unaware"?  Wouldn't YOU believe someone who looked like this?  Bookmark it: 

Harvey's Back! Weinstein Company Gets 8 Golden Globe Nominations
When Harvey Weinstein landed scattered awards nominations during the past few years, some -- especially Weinstein himself -- touted a comeback.This time, it's more real.With eight Globes noms between "The Reader" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," Harvey and Bob Weinstein scored their best post-Disney performance and bested all specialty units and mini-majors. (Miramax and Fox Searchlight had seven noms apiece.)Now what?Weinstein typically would capitalize on a slew of Globes nominations with aggressive campai

Rudin retreats from Daldry's 'Reader'
Weekly Smoke and Mirrors: Producer clashes with Harvey Weinstein -- After a long and bruising battle with Harvey Weinstein over Stephen Daldry's "The Reader," producer Scott Rudin left the arena, exiting the pic last week and taking his name off the film.

Les Moonves Has Got David Caruso’s Back
CBS CEO Les Moonves (a.k.a. Moonvest) heard the Jay Leno news and, quite frankly, wasn't the least bit fazed by it. "I would bet anyone who would like to bet that CSI: Miami will beat Jay by a lot," Moonves said today. "Remember: by a lot." We just hope that news of this double-dog dare evades unlucky mogul/frequent gambler Harvey Weinstein, whose pocketbook is hurting after recently losing big bets to both Nikki Finke and Cindy Adams. [Live Feed/HR] By: Mark

Oscar Watch: Why Herr Winslet's Latest Vehicle In Sinking
Stephen Daldry's "The Reader'' isn't on the list of viable Best Picture contenders -- just seven -- I enumerate in today's Post. I originally was going to repeat my thoughts about why "The Reader'' wasn't going to make the cut, but that seemed redundant after I took another whack at this stilted saga about a Nazi pedophile (Kate Winslet) in my year-end piece on Sunday and the devastating reviews -- including Kyle Smith's pan in The Post -- came out yesterday. The reviews from major critics charted on Rott

Weinstein Email Claims 'Untrue'
A series of emails accusing movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of using heavy-handed tactics to win film release dates have been exposed as fakes. The film magnate recently found himself at the centre of claims that he pestered Sydney Pollack, one of the producers of new movie The Reader, about a release date for the film - shortly before he died of cancer in May (08). The emails - purportedly from The Reader co-producer Scott Rudin - also accused Weinstein of harassing the widow of Anthony Minghella, another o