Mira Sorvino was left ‘heartbroken’ by Peter Jackson’s confirmation on Thursday that she and Ashley Judd were blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein because they fought back when he sexually harassed them.
The actress responded on Twitter to Jackson’s revelation, telling fans that she ‘burst out crying’ when he confirmed her fears this week.
‘Just seeing this after I awoke, I burst out crying. There it is, confirmation that Harvey Weinstein derailed my career, something I suspected but was unsure.
‘Thank you Peter Jackson for being honest. I’m just heartsick,’ she said.
Judd responded in her own tweet but was less surprised, saying: ‘I remember this well.’
On Thursday, Jackson told Stuff how Weinstein vetoed Judd and Sorvino from his Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the late 1990s.
Mira Sorvino responded in anguish on Friday to director Peter Jackson’s confirmation that she was blacklisted from appearing in Lord of the Rings by Harvey Weinstein
Mira Sorvino claimed in October that Weinstein sexually harassed her in 1995 and that she was blacklisted from films afterwards because she rejected him. The pair are pictured in 2006
Jackson was eager for them to be involved in the Miramax production but said that Weinstein put a stop to it.
‘I recall Miramax telling us they were a nightmare to work with and we should avoid them at all costs. This was probably in 1998.
‘At the time, we had no reason to question what these guys were telling us – but in hindsight, I realise that this was very likely the Miramax smear campaign in full swing.
‘I now suspect we were fed false information about both of these talented women – and as a direct result their names were removed from our casting list.’
Judd was among the first women to speak out against the 65-year-old in an explosive New York Times article in October.
She told how he confronted her in a hotel room in 1997 wearing just a bathrobe and asking her for a massage.
She refused but the pair went on to work together in several films to come. The bathrobe incident took place a year before Lord of the Rings went into production.
Sorvino’s accusations against Weinstein take a similar shape.
Ashley Judd also responded to Jackson’s revelations but with less surprise, saying only that she remembers what he described ‘well’
Ashley Judd was also blocked from the production, Jackson revealed. She claims Weinstein tried to force himself on her in 1997 and that she refused and was punished for it afterwards. The pair are pictured at a 1977 Oscars party
Director Peter Jackson made the revelations this week after staying quiet on the scandal for months. He said that he never saw Weinstein harass or assault any woman but that he now believes he was fed poor information about both Judd and Sorvino who he had wanted to appear in the film
Sorvino said Weinstein had confronted her in 1995 in a hotel room and that he ‘chased’ her ‘around’ while trying to get her to have sex with him.
Her claims were published for the first time in a New Yorker article which mirrored the Times piece.
In it, author Ronan Farrow said: ‘Four actresses, including Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette, told me they suspected that, after they rejected Weinstein’s advances or complained about them to company representatives, Weinstein had them removed from projects or dissuaded people from hiring them.’
During his own interview, Jackson told not just of Weinstein’s treatment of the actresses but said he behaved shamefully with everyone else involved in the film.
He added that Weinstein and his studio ‘controlled’ the film’s production and that the mogul and his brother Bob ‘behaved like second-rate Mafia bosses’.
Judd’s experience with Weinstein and his alleged mistreatment of her spans several films and years. Earlier this week, Salma Hayek claimed that she and Judd were pushed into a romantic kiss for the film Frida. Hayek claimed Weinstein wanted them to go further and that eventually she had to take part in a lesbian scene with another female co-star. Weinstein denied her accusations
‘They weren’t the type of guys I wanted to work with – so I haven’t,’ he said.
Judd responded to Jackson’s remarks with less surprise, saying: ‘I remember this well.’
It was the first time New Zealand director Jackson has commented on the scandal which now engulfs Weinstein.
While his Lord of the Rings trilogy began with Miramax, Weinstein was never involved in producing the final versions.
In the early stages of production, Jackson claimed Weinstein told him that he did not like his vision to adapt the legendary literary tale into several films.
At the time, Jackson wanted to tell the story in not three but two different films.
He claims Weinstein wanted just one and, to make him fall in line, gave Jackson and his wife Fran a month to find another studio who would agree to their way of things.
If they could not find a replacement, they would go with Weinstein’s plan to make just one film, he recalled.
New Line was the studio which stepped in at the 11th hour and proposed the idea of the trilogy.
‘Although his name had to be on the Lord of the Rings credits for contractual reasons, he was not involved in the movies we ended up making,’ Jackson said.
Weinstein flatly denies any and all accusations of sexual misconduct.
Weinstein flatly denies any and all accusations of sexual misconduct