James Cameron Almost ‘Clocked’ Harvey Weinstein With An Oscar For Screwing Over Guillermo Del Toro
Before Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, James Cameron almost threw down with now-disgraced super-producer Harvey Weinstein in the middle of the 1998 ceremony. Cameron made the revelation during a massive retrospective on Titanic dominating that year’s Academy Awards, which prompted Weinstein to try and sign the director as he was going back to his seat. However, what Weinstein didn’t know is that Cameron was close friends with visionary director Guillermo del Toro who had been jerked around by the infamous Hollywood tyrant.
“He had told me the horrible shit that Miramax pulled on him when he made his first American commercial film, Mimic, and they fired him,” Cameron said. “The actors, led by Mira Sorvino, kind of revolted and wouldn’t work until they brought him back. Then, when the film was successful and well regarded, Harvey sort of jumped up to take praise for the movie.”
According to Cameron, that’s all he knew about Weinstein, which was enough to rebuff the guy right there on the spot. Weinstein, who’s used to getting his own way, did not take it well.
I’m on my way back to my seat with my editing Oscar, and this guy’s jumping up to introduce himself, saying, “If you want to come to work at a place that’s a friend of the artist, a friend of the filmmaker” — he’s holding his hand out, and I just blew him off. It was just an ugly little moment. But, yeah, I did defend Guillermo and I called Harvey on his bullshit, and then he got very loud and verbally abusive and almost potentially physically violent. And he was about to get clocked by an Oscar — which would’ve been highly appropriate, I think.
Looking back at the moment, Cameron was more fascinated by the crowd’s reaction than the fact that he almost brained Harvey with an Oscars statue.
“The hysterical thing about the whole moment was people around us were saying, ‘Not here! Not here!'” Cameron recalled. “It was kind of like, ‘It’s OK if you boys fight out in the alley, but don’t do it here at the Academy Awards!'”
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)