Weinstein ‘failed to pay $2m German loan for The Reader’

The German producer behind The Reader claims Harvey Weinstein’s film company failed to repay a $2 million loan he was given to help finance the 2008 drama starring Kate Winslet.

Michael Simon de Normier filed a criminal complaint with a branch of state police in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region this week in which he alleges The Weinstein Co. only paid back a small portion of the loan. 

Weinstein and the company he once headed before he was fired have not been named as defendants in de Normier’s complaint, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

German producer Michael Simon de Normier claims Harvey Weinstein and his company only paid back a small portion of the $2 million it was loaned to film the 2008 drama The Reader

Instead, the complaint blames the heads of the German tax-funded NRW film body for failing to recoup the loan.

NRW had loaned the Weinstein Co. the $2 million to film parts of The Reader in the region on the condition that the company would pay it back once it recouped production costs. 

The Reader ended up raking in more than $108 million after having a production budget of $32 million. 

The Weinstein Co. allegedly only paid back a few hundred thousands dollars.

Accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers had approved revenue statements that said the film was unable to replay the loan’s full amount due to insufficient profits. 

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, de Normier said the statements saying they couldn’t repay the funds were ‘pure fantasy’. 

NRW had loaned the Weinstein Co. the $2 million to film parts of The Reader in the region with Kate Winslet

NRW had loaned the Weinstein Co. the $2 million to film parts of The Reader in the region with Kate Winslet

DailyMail.com reached out for comment to the Weinstein Co. 

The Reader also made headlines in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal after its star, Kate Winslet, revealed she purposely left the Hollywood producer out of her Oscar acceptance speech.  

Weinstein and his former company are not named in the complaint, rather de Normier points the finger at the German tax-funded film body NRW

Weinstein and his former company are not named in the complaint, rather de Normier points the finger at the German tax-funded film body NRW

The 42-year-old told the LA Times that she was instructed to praise the disgraced producer after picking up the Best Actress Academy Award for The Reader; but deliberately omitted his name while thanking 19 other people who had helped her get there.

‘That was deliberate. That was absolutely deliberate,’ she said.  

‘I remember being told. ‘Make sure you thank Harvey if you win.’ And I remember turning around and saying, ‘No I won’t. No I won’t.’ And it was nothing to do with not being grateful. If people aren’t well-behaved, why would I thank him?’  

‘The fact that I’m never going to have to deal with Harvey Weinstein again as long as I live is one of the best things that’s ever happened and I’m sure the feeling is universal,’ she added.

The actress revealed that Weinstein constantly reminded her that he gave her her start in her first film – 1994’s Heavenly Creatures – and even claimed credit for her Oscar.  

‘For my whole career, Harvey Weinstein, whenever I’ve bumped into him, he’d grab my arm and say, ‘Don’t forget who gave you your first movie.’ Like I owe him everything.

The Reader, starring Kate Winslet and David Kross, ended up raking in more than $108 million at the box office

The Reader, starring Kate Winslet and David Kross, ended up raking in more than $108 million at the box office

‘Then later, with The Reader, same thing, ‘I’m gonna get you that Oscar nomination, I’m gonna get you a win, I’m gonna win for you.’

‘But that’s how he operated. He was bullying and nasty. Going on a business level, he was always very, very hard to deal with — he was rude,’ she continued, adding that he used to call her female agent by a vulgar term for a female every time he spoke to her on the phone.

She also claimed that while she was never sexually harassed by him, there was a whole ‘other can of worms’ regarding his behavior on the set of The Reader that she did not want to discuss.

‘I can’t even begin to describe the disgraceful behavior that went on — and I’m actually not going to because it’s a can of worms that I’m not prepared to publicly open — nothing to do with sexual harassment, thankfully, lucky me,’ she said. ‘My god. I somehow dodged that bullet.’

Despite the film’s success, The Reader was the last time she ever worked with Weinstein.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk