Apple has opted not to move forward with an Elvis Presley biopic series produced by The Weinstein Company following a sexual harassment scandal involving founder Harvey Weinstein, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
The Apple Music project with The Weinstein Company was in the early stages of production, and would have seen Apple airing a 10-part Elvis biopic. It was reportedly one of four music-related projects that Apple had in the works with The Weinstein Company, with the others set to feature Michael Jackson, Prince, and Frank Sinatra.
Apple first established the deal with The Weinstein Company ahead of the June hiring of Sony executives Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, and the Elvis biopic was the only one of the four projects that was nearing development.
The Elvis series was first announced in September of 2016, but at that time, Apple's involvement was not known. It was developed alongside the Presley estate, with the estate offering access to the entire Elvis Presley music catalog, cars, clothing, and Elvis' Graceland home.
Apple's decision to end the project comes following a Thursday report from The New York Times that detailed the decades-long sexual harassment history of founder Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company over the weekend, and sources have told The Hollywood Reporter that the company will change its name shortly.
(Image via Elvis.com)
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Top Rated Comments
https://www.thewrap.com/media-enablers-harvey-weinstein-new-york-times/
The “scandal” may be recent but his actions are not. People like this are sick.
And on a lighter note, Meryl Streep cried and said she knew nothing of this, but she's been using fake tears her entire life.
Lots of people have to answer for this man after he gave Democrat causes and candidates like Hillary Clinton tons of money, most of which knew about this.
As for Apple, it's hard to imagine anyone at Apple knew about this, well except for maybe Dr. Dre! :D
From what's being told now, everyone who went to the Hollywood parties or were in a Weinstein picture knew and looked the other way for the sake of their careers. Shame on you Hollywood and Kudos to Apple.
I'm sure the Elvis project will reappear in the future under a different production company.
“Harvey, we have a problem, and we need to fire you. Don’t worry. Take some time off and we’ll keep sending the dividend checks. Your 50% stake in the company still is yours, but this will make sure that it retains its value. Keep going to ‘counseling’ and in 9 months, we’ll get you on the talk show circuit with your apology tour.. By this time next year, I’m sure the President will tweet something to take the public’s eye off of what you may or may not have done.”
“OK, but make it look good.”
[doublepost=1507623921][/doublepost]Kind of what they did to Bill Clinton... oh wait... they didn’t.
Why aren’t they extolling people from being critical and using the tired old line, “what he does in his personal life has no bearing on his professional life...?”