Director Kevin Smith to donate money from Weinstein films to support female filmmakers

Director Kevin Smith is one of many celebrities who issued a statement about Harvey Weinstein. PHOTO: REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Washington Post) - Director Kevin Smith said that he will donate future residuals from his films that were produced or distributed by Harvey Weinstein to Women in Film, a nonprofit organisation supporting female filmmakers.

Smith, who has directed many films with Weinstein connections, including Mallrats, Chasing Amy and his 1994 directorial debut Clerks, got emotional while speaking about the allegations against the veteran Hollywood producer during the recent edition of his podcast, Hollywood Babble-On.

"My entire career is tied up with the man. Everything I did in the beginning has his name on it," Smith said, adding that he "spent many years lionising and telling stories" about Weinstein.

Miramax famously purchased Clerks after Weinstein saw the low-budget indie at the Sundance Film Festival. The studio also hired famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz to appeal the film's initial NC-17 rating, and the Motion Picture Association of America changed the rating to an R.

"It's been a weird f--ing week," Smith told his co-host Ralph Garman and a live audience at the Improv in Hollywood. "I just wanted to make some f--ing movies, that's it. That's why I came. That's why I made Clerks. And no f--ing movie is worth all this. Like, my entire career - f-- it, take it, it's wrapped up in something really f--ing horrible."

The podcast episode, taped Friday, followed a week of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Weinstein, who was fired from the Weinstein Co., the film studio he co-founded. On Saturday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled the producer.

"I'm not looking for sympathy. I know it's not my fault. But I didn't f--ing help because I sat out there talking about this man like he was a hero and like he was my friend and like he was my father and sh- like that," Smith continued, his voice trembling."I was singing praises of somebody that I didn't f--ing know. I didn't know the man that they keep talking about in the press. Clearly he exists. But that man never showed himself to me."

Smith is one of many celebrities who issued a statement about Weinstein following a bombshell New York Times report chronicling decades of sexual harassment allegations against the producer. "He financed the first 14 years of my career - and now I know while I was profiting, others were in terrible pain. It makes me feel ashamed," Smith wrote on Twitter.

While announcing why he picked the Los Angeles-based Women in Film, Smith said, "It's historically much harder, of course, for a woman to get a film made than a man." He added that he is worried his Weinstein-associated projects will be devalued by the scandal, so he pledged to give US$2,000 (S$2,740) a month to the organisation "from now until the f--ing day I die.""And hopefully that just goes to people that get to make sh- without having to deal with some f--ing animal saying, 'Here's the price,' " Smith said.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.