To Weinstein, the good old days are back

PATRICK GOLDSTEIN says he misses “the Harvey Weinstein [he] used to know” -- claiming that “the Oscar impresario who ... was truly, madly, deeply in love with movies” has been replaced by a “slimmed-down mogul ... who has lost his way” [“Please Come Home,” April 17].

That’s sweet of Patrick (especially the part about my being “slimmed-down”), but it’s also a bit disingenuous. I never fell out of love with movies. I did have to spend time building the infrastructure of our new company, but we still produced films I’m extremely proud of, like Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s daring “Grindhouse,” Anthony Minghella’s beautiful “Breaking and Entering” and the politically charged “Bobby.”

Moreover, Patrick knows full well (because I told him) that I decided to rededicate myself to cutting-edge movies six months ago. That’s why I went to Sundance in January and bought “La Misma Luna,” “Grace Is Gone,” “Dedication” and “Teeth.” He also knows (because I told him) that as a result of my rededication, the Weinstein Co. will have three movies in the official selection at Cannes next month -- Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” Quentin Tarantino’s new version of “Death Proof,” and Wong Kar Wai’s “My Blueberry Nights,” which is being featured as the opening-night movie.

In addition, we are co-financing the Portuguese-language “Elite Squad” (the same way we did “City of God”); Wayne Kramer’s “Crossing Over,” starring Sean Penn and Harrison Ford; Denzel Washington’s “The Great Debaters”; Richard Shepard’s “Spring Break in Bosnia”; and Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader,” written by David Hare.

As I told Patrick, it was six months ago that my brother Bob told me, “It’s time for you to get back to making and acquiring movies -- to the kind of movies you were once known for.” Since then, I’ve been doing just that -- and it’s just like the good old days.

HARVEY WEINSTEIN

New York

Weinstein is co-chairman of the Weinstein Co.