Despite the fallout earlier this year with MGM, which cost The Weinstien Company their distribution deal, they are moving forward by financing and distributing the Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize winning play “August: Osage County.”
The award-winning play deals with a highly dysfunctional family living outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Harvey Weinstein said his company is fully financing and distribute the adaptation, which is currently being penned by the original playwright, Tracy Letts.
Head of The Weinstein Co., Harvey Weinstein, was not deterred by the length or unconventional nature of the play, which runs a little over three hours. “I’ve loved the writing since I was given a 240-page script for a three-hour play that starred nobody, or that had no workshop. My reaction was similar to the feeling I had when I read Quentin Tarantino’s script for ‘True Romance.’ Tracy has that Kind of voice.”
With regards to the botched relationship with MGM, Weinstein sees it as a non-issue. “Our company is 2 and half years old. We’ve grown past the MGM deal and are doing our own distribution. We’ve got our own Showtime deal to feed, and we’re moving toward the kind of film we used to do at Miramax.” The project is currently in the casting stage and the Weinstein’s are hoping to have the first draft of the screenplay finished to two or three months. They are hoping to have the project ready for a 2011 release.