She Said: Journalists who helped bring down Harvey Weinstein ‘flabbergasted’ to see their work turned into Oscar-tipped film
Carey Mulligan says meeting one of the New York Times’ reporters whose article brought down Harvey Weinstein “was rockstar crush stuff”.
The film She Said shows the efforts that went into Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor’s Pulitzer-prize winning journalism in 2017 which exposed Harvey Weinstein, then one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, as a sexual predator.
Their work brought about a global reckoning on the sexual abuse of women with the #MeToo movement.
Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey won a Pulitzer prize for their work helping to expose Weinstein
Mulligan – who plays Twohey to Zoe Kazan’s Kantor – told Sky News she was “hugely intimidated” meeting the writers.
“It was rockstar crush stuff…Zoe was in New York and met [them] in person originally, I was still in the UK and so my first meeting was on Zoom, but I was hugely intimidated.
“Not that they’re intimidating people,” Mulligan laughs, “they couldn’t be more lovely, but they are just so impressive, I think we just both wanted them to be happy!”
Shot in the actual New York Times newsroom and with the pace unfolding like a thriller, the film follows the efforts of the journalists to persuade scared sources to go on the record.
Kantor says she and Twohey were “just flabbergasted” to see their investigation turned into a film.
“We started out by investigating a Hollywood producer, so we’re still a little confused about how likenesses of ourselves ended up on the big screen but listen, we’re really moved by it.
“One of the messages of this story, especially as time recedes, is that the number of people who really gave us publishable information about Harvey Weinstein was so small. In the end, we’re talking about like a conference room worth of people and yet look at the impact they had worldwide.”
Mulligan – who’s widely tipped to be Oscar-nominated for the role – says few “could have anticipated what the impact would be” but, in terms of the film industry she says she’s seen “lots of concrete changes” as a result.
Harvey Weinstein is currently serving 23 years in jail
“Codes of conduct, workshops that are for the whole cast and crew that talk about what is expected on set in terms of behaviour – that never existed before,” she explains.
Speaking of how intimacy coordinators are now considered “crucial”, the actress says “we did this for a long time before that was a thing and it’s still sort of shocking to look back and think that was never in place before, it just seems like such an obvious need on a film set.”
Mulligan says the movement the article triggered has even influenced how scripts are written nowadays.
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
“The way the female characters are described in screenplays now, it’s not perfect but there’s definitely there’s a big shift from, you know, ‘Gorgeous girl in a bikini, beautiful but she doesn’t know it…’ you’re seeing markedly less of that, which I think is very welcome.”
She Said is out in cinemas on Friday.
US
California: 21 children taken into custody – amid claims couple misled surrogate mothers across the US
Police have taken 21 children into custody, amid allegations that a couple in Los Angeles may have misled surrogate mothers across the US.
Silvia Zhang, 38, and Guojun Xuan, 65, are believed to be the legal parents of the children, who are aged between two months and 13 years old.
“We believe one or two were born biologically to the mother,” Lieutenant Kollin Cieadlo said. “There are some surrogates who have come forward and said they were surrogates for the children.”
“The couple told police that they wanted a large family,” he added.
The home of Silva Zhang and Guojun Xuan, northeast of downtown Los Angeles
Fifteen children were removed from the couple’s home in Arcadia, about 13 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles, after an abuse allegation was made. Another six living in the care of family and friends were also located.
The couple were arrested in May after a hospital reported that their two-month-old infant had a traumatic head injury – with a nanny accused of violently shaking the baby.
The infant was not taken to hospital until two days later, after they began suffering seizures.
CCTV footage recorded inside the home showed the children being emotionally and physically abused by at least six nannies.
The couple’s property had CCTV cameras, which police said recorded footage of abuse by nannies. Pic: AP
Lt Cieadlo said Zhang had produced what appeared to be legitimate birth certificates, including some from outside California, that list her as the mother of the children.
Business records show a company called Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC was previously registered at the couple’s address, although the most recent documents show the business licence ended in June.
Read more from Sky News:
The cost of Musk’s fallout with Trump
Blaze destroys main stage at festival
Babies born with DNA from three people
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Police said they are investigating whether the children found at the home in the San Gabriel Valley were part of a surrogacy scam.
Lt Cieadlo also confirmed officers were working with the FBI as part of their investigation.
Kayla Elliott, one of the surrogate mothers who has come forward, told Sky’s US partner NBC News: “I was a bit hysterical. You just don’t expect that you’re going to go through a pregnancy and a delivery and then hand the baby over to their parents and then all of a sudden find out that there was abuse and neglect going on.”
Arrest warrants were issued for Zhang, Xuan and the 56-year-old nanny, who was not in custody on Wednesday. Zhang and Xuan were detained on suspicion of child endangerment/neglect.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which removed the couple’s children, declined to comment on the case.
Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell could use “government misconduct” to challenge her imprisonment, her family has claimed.
The 63-year-old, who was jailed in 2022 for luring young girls to massage rooms for Jeffrey Epstein to abuse, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Maxwell’s family have frequently claimed she “did not receive a fair trial”, but legal appeals against her sex trafficking convictions have been rejected by the courts.
The latest challenge from the Maxwell family comes as President Donald Trump faces questions over whether or not he will order the release of the so-called Epstein “client list”, following a backlash from Republican loyalists who have called for any list to be made public.
Ghislaine Maxwell. Pic: US Department of Justice
Judges previously dismissed arguments from Maxwell’s lawyers that she “should never have been prosecuted” because of a “weird” agreement drafted more than 15 years ago.
The family argue that Maxwell should have been protected under an agreement Epstein had entered with the US Department of Justice in 2007, which agreed not to prosecute any of his co-conspirators.
During her trial in 2021, Maxwell was described as “dangerous” by prosecutors, who told jurors about how she would entice vulnerable girls to go to Epstein’s properties for him to sexually abuse.
In a statement, her family said: “Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial.
“Her legal team continues to fight her case in the courts and will file its reply in short order to the government’s opposition in the US Supreme Court.”
Read more:
UK ambassador ‘regrets’ association with Epstein
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Is Trump in a corner over Epstein?
David Oscar Markus, one of her lawyers, said in the statement released by her family: “I’d be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the government break a deal.
“He’s the ultimate dealmaker and I’m sure he’d agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it.
“With all the talk about who’s being prosecuted and who isn’t, it’s especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the US government made and broke.’
“These are sentiments with which we profoundly concur.”
Epstein, 66, was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike