Harvey Weinstein on Backing The Artist

Of all the movies in my career, The Artist was probably the most difficult decision for financial people to accept. They really didn’t get it. When was the last time any network showed a silent movie? Television stations hardly play black-and-white movies, much less something silent. So there’s only one venue for this movie: It’s theatrical, unless you create something so vast that you can get the American TV stations to come off the conservative bent that they have.

My brother Bob paused when he first heard about it on the phone. I said, “Black-and-white,” and he said, “O.K.” I named the actor, and he said, “Never heard of him.” I named some of the American cast, and he said, “Fine, fine, fine.” Then, when I said, “It’s silent,” there was silence. The King’s Speech had just won the Best Picture Oscar, and some people said I’d let that go to my head.