James Cameron admitted he almost hit Harvey Weinstein with his Academy Award as he was honoured for his work on Titanic back in 1998.
Cameron’s Titanic sailed into theatres 20 years ago this December, and the Canadian filmmaker spoke about bagging an impressive 11 awards out of a possible 14 at the Oscars.
Recalling what he remembers the most about the star-studded ceremony, Cameron told Vanity Fair, “I remember almost getting in a fight with Harvey Weinstein and hitting him with my Oscar.”
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The interviewer replied, “In retrospect there are probably a lot of people…” to which Cameron said: “That would’ve preferred I had played through on that one.”
When asked what provoked the near-spat, Cameron said, “It’s kind of a long story, but it has to do with Guillermo del Toro and how badly he was dealt with by Miramax on ‘Mimic.’”
“Harvey came up glad-handing me, talking about how great they were for the artist. I just read him chapter and verse about how great I thought he was for the artist based on my friend’s experience, and that led to an altercation.”
Del Toro previously discussed working with Weinstein and Miramax, admitting he “hated” it.
“I have got to tell you, two horrible things happened in the late nineties, my father was kidnapped and I worked with the Weinsteins,” he added during October’s BFI London Film Festival.
“I know which one was worse…the kidnapping made more sense, I knew what they wanted.”