In an interview with The Guardian, Helena Bonham Carter has shared details of her past experience working with Harvey Weinstein, revealing that she stood up to the disgraced Hollywood producer on numerous occasions.
The actress said: "There were times when Harvey asked me to do certain things, and I said no. I knew I was running a thin line. Standing up to him wasn’t an easy thing to do because I knew I could potentially lose work.”
She described one occasion on the set of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's ‘The Young and Prodigious TS Spivet’, about a 10-year-old prodigy who embarks on a solo cross-country journey.
“Harvey wanted me to tell Jeunet to change it,” she said. “There is a scene in which he hitchhikes and Harvey said as soon as that kid gets into a truck everyone will think the truck driver is a child molester and all the kids in America will be freaked out. I said: ‘I don’t think you’re right, and I’m not going to tell Jean-Pierre Jeunet I know better than him.’”
According to Bonham Carter, Weinstein's response was: “'You’ve got to tell that arrogant asshole he’s being a s**t, he doesn’t know the American market like I do.’ I found it revolting.”
She said she believed she could stand up to Weinstein, “because I already had a career. Other people were employing me. I wasn't reliant on him.”
Bonham Carter said she had not heard of any allegations of sexual abuse previous to The New York Times and the New Yorker reports, after which more than 70 women accused Weinstein of sexual assault, harassment, or misconduct.
“I was aware certain actresses had had sex with him, but I thought it was consensual,” she said.
“Nobody is wholly bad and nobody is wholly good. [Weinstein] was very clever," she added. “There are a lot of reasons he was very powerful. He knew how to get you Oscar nominations. Both my nominations are due to him. And he had great taste in films.
“I found the way he treated certain people chilling – without any kind of respect. There were many times I disagreed with the way he behaved, and I don’t mean sexually.”