When charges of child-labor exploitation were first leveled at Slumdog Millionaire right around the time when Oscar ballots arrived in Academy members’ mailboxes, we quite naturally assumed that Harvey Weinstein — whose The Reader is also nominated for Best Picture — was somehow behind the whole thing (though we were afraid to say something, lest we, too, be accused in the press of exploiting child labor). In this week’s EW, in a story on Reader’s Oscar odds, Harvey is asked if he was responsible and he doesn’t, technically, deny it.
â€What can I say?†Weinstein says, on the phone from Rome. â€When you’re Billy the Kid and people around you die of natural causes, everyone thinks you shot them.â€
Obviously not the most categorical denial we’ve ever heard. Also, what was he doing in Rome? Seeking a papal condemnation of Benjamin Button’s three-hour running time?
Oscars 2009: ‘The Reader’ Changes the Game [EW]
Hunter/Gatherer [Carpetbagger/NYT]
Earlier: Slumdog Millionaire Backlash Intensifies
Vulture Exclusive: Harvey Weinstein on Yesterday’s Golden Globe Nominations