Australian actress Cate Blanchett has spoken out about Harvey Weinstein being credited as an Executive Producer on her 2015 film Carol, admitting that she was "disappointed" by his involvement.
Speaking during an on-camera interview with Variety, Blanchett said she'd been on the receiving end of his harassment and had no say on attaching him as the film's distributor.
“He was brought on as the producer on many films that I had absolutely no say on," she said.
She continued: "I didn’t have a creative or functional relationship with him.”
Carol producer Elizabeth Karlsen added that Weinstein being called an Executive Producer on the film was simply “one of the non-negotiable terms of the distribution agreement.”
She continued: “He was not a producer on the film. Neither he nor TWC were involved in the development of the film nor had any script, editorial, casting or other type of creative involvement in the film whatsoever."
“This is a frequent and frustrating misrepresentation of Harvey Weinstein and his role – he was a distributor, who stole the producing credit from the actual producers who sourced, developed, filmed and fully created the work as we did with Carol."
Karlsen concluded: “He simply released and distributed it into cinemas.”
When Blanchett was asked if Weinstein had ever sexually harassed her, she responded: “With me, yes."
“I think he really primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable. I mean, I got a bad feeling from him."
She continued: “He would often say to me, ‘We’re not friends’, [because] I wouldn’t do what he was asking me to do.”
“What people like Harvey have done… there are men across many industries [who have done that]. He’s been held up as an exemplar because he’s unfortunately typical of certain men.
“I’m interested in those people being prosecuted. We have to set a legal precedent."
