Harvey Weinstein’s Rape Trial Lawyer Derides Jennifer Siebel Newsom For “Theatrical, Overly Dramatized Performance” In Closing Argument; Case Goes To Jury Tomorrow

The L.A. jury that on Monday convicted Harvey Weinstein of three out of seven felony counts in his rape trial on Tuesday resumed deliberations on aggravating factors that could lengthen the disgraced mogul’s prison sentence.The jury is weighing whether Weinstein carried out the rape of Jane Doe 1 with planning, sophistication  or professionalism, and whether Jane Doe 1 was particularly vulnerable.

Harvey Weinstein is a “serial predator” and rapist said Jennifer Siebel Newsom today after a Los Angeles jury was unable to come to a unanimous verdict on the much-accused producer’s guilt in allegedly attacking her back in 2005.

(Updated with LA County DA statement) Harvey Weinstein has been found partially guilty of multiple sex crimes today by a Los Angeles jury.

Hollywood Commission chairperson Anita Hill responded today to the conviction of Harvey Weinstein on three sex crime charges by a Los Angeles jury that could mean a sentence of 18 to 24 years behind bars for the Oscar-winning producer. Many of Weinstein’s accusers have said they were lured to hotel-room meetings that they thought were business-related, but turned out to be predicates for assault.

Harvey Weinstein was found guilty on three charges of rape and assault after his second sexual assault trial, a jury determined on Monday, December 19.

David DePape, accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi at their San Francisco home in October, told police that he also planned to target a list of other public figures, including actor Tom Hanks, Hunter Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

In She Said, Maria Schrader’s telling of the Harvey Weinstein take-down by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, we see the birth of a historic moment: The turning of #MeToo from a movement into an unstoppable train of change. Based on Kantor and Twohey’s book, and from a screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, the reporters painstakingly gather evidence from silenced survivors, many of whom consulted on, and in some cases starred in, the film. For Zoe Kazan, alongside Carey Mulligan as Twohey, playing Kantor meant understanding her humanity, the practical nuts and bolts of reporting life, and the weight of what it is to bring others’ devastating personal truths to light. In conversation with Antonia Blyth, Kazan and Kantor discuss the portrayal of women at work to change the world.

Harvey Weinstein’s fate is now in the hands of the jury.

“In 2005, who would have thought that the most powerful man in Hollywood was a closet rapist?” LA County Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez asked jurors today in Harvey Weinstein’s West Coast rape trial. “Who could blame her for thinking that she could handle herself,” the prosecutor queried over now California First Partner and trial Jane Doe #4 Jennifer Siebel Newsom in her closing argument.

The jury in Danny Masterson’s rape trial has resumed deliberations with two new members after a pair of positive Covid tests among the panel this morning.

Tom McCarthy is a very clever writer who has succeeded in drawing audiences to a difficult genre: thrillers about newspapers. He won an Original Screenplay Oscar for Spotlight, made in 2015, was a riveting movie about how the Boston Globe exposed a cover-up involving a defrocked priest. His new ABC series Alaska Daily focuses on a hot New York journalist (Hilary Swank) who is exiled into covering crime in Anchorage.

Today’s launch of Harvey Weinstein exposé movie She Said has given a shot in the arm to a UK campaign to stop the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

Runaway film and TV productions that applied for California tax credits from 2020 to 2022 but were “ultimately denied due to lack of available funds” ended up spending nearly $1 billion in production costs outside the state. That’s according to the latest report from the California Film Commission, which makes a compelling case for greater funding of the state’s tax incentives program.

She Said tells the heroic story of the New York Times journalists that brought the #MeToo movement to the forefront by exposing Harvey Weinstein and the system that enabled him to thrive as a sexual predator. The film, which opened in theaters this weekend, stars Zoe Kazan as Jodi Kantor and Carey Mulligan as Megan Twohey, the Woodward and Bernstein of the 21st century.

Quentin Tarantino made nine films with Harvey Weinstein. Looking back, he claims he didn’t get the entire picture of his wrongdoings.

Danny Masterson will not discover his fate on three counts of forcible rape until after Thanksgiving.

EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight’s absurdist genre comedy The Menu got off to a promising start with $1M+ in Thursday night previews, we hear. That number is up there with recent comps such as Barbarian, which did $850K on its Thursday night before a $10.5M opening, and The Northman, another Anya Taylor-Joy movie, which posted $1.35M before a $12.2M start.