She Said (film)

''She Said'' is a 2022 American biographical drama film directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, based on the 2019 book of the same title by reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. The film stars Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as Twohey and Kantor, respectively, and follows their '' New York Times'' investigation that exposed Harvey Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women. Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, and Samantha Morton co-star, with Ashley Judd appearing as herself.

The book was optioned in 2018, and the film was announced in 2021 as a co-production between Annapurna Pictures and Plan B Entertainment. Filming took place in New York with cinematographer Natasha Braier. During post-production, editing was completed by Hansjörg Weißbrich and the score was composed by Nicholas Britell.

''She Said'' had its world premiere at the 60th New York Film Festival on October 13, 2022, and was released in the United States on November 18, 2022, by Universal Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the screenplay and the performances of Kazan and Mulligan. It was also named one of the best films of 2022 by the American Film Institute.

Plot

In 2017, '' New York Times'' reporter Jodi Kantor receives a tip that actress Rose McGowan was sexually assaulted by Indiewood producer Harvey Weinstein. McGowan initially declines to comment, but later calls Kantor back and describes an encounter in which Weinstein raped her when she was 23. Kantor also speaks with actresses Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow, who describe their own sexual encounters with Weinstein, but both ask not to be named in the article for fear of career blowback. Frustrated by a lack of progress in her ensuing investigation, Kantor recruits Megan Twohey to help with the piece.

Twohey tracks down a woman who worked as an assistant to Weinstein at Miramax decades ago and disappeared; the woman fearfully declines to speak on the matter due to having signed an NDA. Kantor confronts the former CFO of Miramax about former payouts by Weinstein against his accusers, but he is hesitant to divulge any information about it. Twohey is similarly rejected by the EEOC after requesting more information about these payouts. Twohey speaks to a former member of the district attorney's office about why criminal complaints against Weinstein were dropped so quickly; she learns that Weinstein had social connections with the DA office.

Kantor receives a tip about three former Weinstein assistants who may have been abused: Rowena Chiu, Zelda Perkins, and Laura Madden. Kantor flies out to confront each of them individually; she is unable to meet with Chiu, but Perkins recounts an incident in which Chiu had a breakdown due to a sexual encounter with Weinstein. Madden initially declines to speak with Kantor, but changes her mind after a representative of Weinstein reaches out to discourage her from speaking to reporters about her experience.

Weinstein learns of the investigation and sends a lawyer to attempt to appease reporters, but declines to go on the record and denies all wrongdoing. The lawyer acknowledges a number of past financial settlements, but declines to say how many. Kantor receives an anonymous tip to speak with Irwin Reiter, one of Weinstein's former accountants; he shows her an internal memo that circulated at Miramax in 2015 detailing abuse allegations from a former employee.

The ''Times'' notifies the Weinstein Company board of the impending article and asks for a statement. Weinstein denies the allegations and pressures the reporters to name their sources, threatening to talk to other publications to discredit the story. Weinstein eventually releases a statement acknowledging that he has caused pain to others in the past and that he is taking a leave of absence from The Weinstein Company. Kantor and Twohey attempt to convince their sources to go on the record; all initially decline, but Judd and Madden later agree to be named in the article, believing it is the right thing to do.

The ''Times'' publishes the story on October 5, 2017. After the article's publication, 82 women come forward with their own allegations against Weinstein, leading to workplace and legal reforms. Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence for rape and sexual assault in New York, with additional charges pending elsewhere.

Cast

Production

On October 5, 2017, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey from '' The New York Times'' revealed substantial allegations of sexual misconduct by Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, accusing him of three decades of sexually harassing actresses, female production assistants, temps and other employees at Miramax and The Weinstein Company. The allegations served as a catalyst for the burgeoning #MeToo movement and eventually resulted in Weinstein being sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment.

In 2019, Kantor and Twohey published '' She Said'', a book detailing the different processes they employed to investigate and uncover Weinstein's sexual misconduct. The rights to the book were optioned in 2018 by Annapurna Pictures and Plan B Entertainment. In June 2021, Universal Pictures announced they were developing an adaptation with Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan in negotiations to star as Kantor and Twohey. It was also reported Maria Schrader was attached to direct from a screenplay by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, with Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner set to produce.

In July 2021, filming began in New York City with cinematographer Natasha Braier. By August, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Samantha Morton, and Tom Pelphrey were announced as part of the cast. Adam Shapiro was confirmed to star in October 2021.

Pitt's involvement with the film has received scrutiny as he was made aware of Weinstein's behavior in 1996 by his then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow and later by his then-partner Angelina Jolie but continued to work with Weinstein after the fact, and because he was accused of abusing Jolie and their children in 2016.

In August 2022, Weinstein and his attorneys tried to delay his trial from its October 10, 2022 start date by claiming that the film's marketing and publicity would prejudice any Los Angeles jury against him; Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench denied the request.

Music

Release

The film was theatrically released in the United States on November 18, 2022, coinciding with the then on-going Weinstein trial in Los Angeles. It premiered at the 60th New York Film Festival on October 13, 2022, and at the BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2022. It also screened at the TCL Chinese Theatre during the 2022 AFI Fest on November 4, 2022.

Home media

The film was available on rental PVOD on December 13, 2022.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, ''She Said'' was released alongside '' The Menu'', and was projected to gross $3–5 million from 2,022 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $830,000 on its first day, including $160,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $2.2 million, finishing sixth. '' Deadline Hollywood'' called the opening total "a flop" and cited the "emotional exhaustion" of audiences, the perception of the film's "anticlimactic existence" since the Weinstein trials were still ongoing, and journalists " ot beingas interesting as they think they are" to the average person. They also noted that the trending lack of interest in awards season and auteur projects by the general public and the competition and overlapping demographics from holdovers '' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'' and ''The Menu'' may have also played a role in the underperformance. '' The Hollywood Reporter'', which listed the film's debut among the worst-ever for a film playing in over 2,000 theaters and also noting audiences may not want to "re-litigate recent and ongoing scandals," said that films about Hollywood don't tend to play well outside Los Angeles and New York City, citing that the film's top 10 grossing theaters were on the coasts.

Critical response

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film an 89% overall positive score.

Accolades

References

External links

*
*

Official trailer

{{Weinstein effect

2022 films
2022 biographical drama films
2020s American films
2020s English-language films
American biographical drama films
Annapurna Pictures films
Films about The New York Times
Films about journalists
Films about sexism
Films about sexual harassment
Films based on non-fiction books
Films scored by Nicholas Britell
Films set in 1992
Films set in the 1990s
Films set in the 2010s
Films set in 2015
Films set in 2016
Films set in 2017
Films set in Ireland
Films set in New York City
Films shot in New York City
Plan B Entertainment films
Universal Pictures films
Works about the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations