Brian de Palma, known best as the director of Carrie and Scarface, has revealed he is working on a horror film about the scandal and crimes surrounding Harvey Weinstein.
In an interview with Le Parisien, the director said that he’s writing a script about the disgraced producer and the scores of sexual assault and misconduct allegations: “My character won’t be named Harvey Weinstein, but it will be a horror film, with a sexual aggressor, and it will take place in the film industry.”
De Palma also spoke about the #MeToo movement and the aftermath. “It will be interesting to see when women start controlling the aesthetic, what is going to happen,” he said. “It would be interesting to see if their gaze is so much different than ours. Because a lot of movies are about the male gaze, what the male sees.”
Though De Palma asserts that he’s followed the news of Weinstein “very closely”, claiming he knows many of those involved, his further comments on #MeToo seem to negate the need for him to wade in with some sort of revenge horror film on Weinstein’s crimes. As exemplified by both the #Metoo and #TimesUp movements, now is the moment for women to be leading the narrative and telling their stories how they wish. Revenge, directed by Coralie Fargeat, is a recent, fresh, and subversive take on the rape revenge action film – a truly oversaturated, male-dominated genre.
Weinstein was recently indicted on charges of rape and other counts of sexual abuse, after he handed himself into police in New York. His lawyers assert that he plans to plead not guilty, and continues to deny all allegations. The charges come from two women’s cases: one unnamed, one former actress Lucia Evans.
