Weinsteins to Basterds: Please Save Our Careers

Fallen Miramax founders desperate for Hollywood comeback

Once Hollywood’s highbrow hitmakers, Bob and Harvey Weinstein are hitless, humbled, and hoping that a movie about Nazi-killers can save them, the New York Times reports. They once raked in Oscars by producing films like Pulp Fiction and The English Patient, but since leaving Miramax to start their own company 4 years ago, they've invested in fashion, social networking, and cable TV. “I got more fascinated by these other businesses and I figured, ‘Making movies, I can do that in my sleep,’” says Harvey.

Now they're planning to release 10 new movies, spearheaded by Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. But morale is reportedly low at the Weinstein Company, which lost most of its senior staff last year. And the maverick brothers who once scored big on low-budget flicks are leaning mainstream, investing in banner names like Brad Pitt and Penelope Cruz. Have they lost their touch? “The problem is that they’re not really hungry anymore,” director Kevin Smith says. “They’re starving and desperate.” (More Harvey Weinstein stories.)

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