More On: goldie hawn Joni Mitchell’s 80th birthday celebrated by Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and more at star-studded bash Goldie Hawn claims ‘an alien touched’ her and it was ‘like the finger of God’ First date jitters? Here’s what to expect from each zodiac sign Comedy legend George Schlatter on pal Judy Garland: ‘Dangerous and fun’
Goldie Hawn doesn’t mind that Harvey Weinstein is doing the cell block tango.
The Hollywood actress, 77, is blasting the jailed producer, saying he swindled her out of a movie role in the late 1980s.
Hawn told Variety on Wednesday that she and Madonna were set to star in a screen adaptation of “Chicago” produced by Weinstein before he suddenly rejiggered the project.
“Harvey basically undermined me and Madonna,” the star stated, saying she had been cast as Velma Kelly, while the “Like a Virgin” singer was attached to play Roxie Hart.
At the time, Hawn was in her early 40s.
However, before production began, Weinstein suddenly commissioned a new script in which Velma was 23 years old, effectively aging Hawn out of the role.
The star recalled confronting Weinstein after she learned the news.
4 Harvey Weinstein and Goldie Hawn attend the de Grisogono Dinner at the Hotel du Cap Eden Roc on May 17, 2011, in Cannes, France. WireImage
She told Variety: “I said, ‘Don’t f–k with me. Because I know just what you’re doing. We made a deal.’”
While Weinstein never went ahead with having Hawn in the role, he did pay her a salary because she had signed on to star in the project.
“You stand up to a bully. And sometimes, you win,” she declared.
4 Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger in a scene from 2002’s “Chicago.” Photographer: RAFY
“I said to him afterward: ‘You know what the best part of you paying me is? Not the money. You restored my faith in dignity and ethics.’ Little did I know …”
Weinstein finally ended up producing the big-screen adaptation of “Chicago” in 2002, with Catherine Zeta-Jones playing Velma.
Zeta-Jones went on to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role.
Weinstein was once the most powerful producer in Hollywood, famed for making and breaking careers.
4 Madonna and Harvey Weinstein chat during an “Arthur and the Invisibles” special screening in New York on January 11, 2007. FilmMagic
But in 2017, multiple women came forward saying the movie mogul had raped and sexually assaulted them, sparking his dramatic downfall.
Weinstein is serving a 23-year jail sentence in New York for his crimes.
Last month, the former power player was sentenced to a further 16 years behind bars by a Los Angeles judge after he was convicted in that city on three charges of rape and sexual assault.
Weinstein gave a statement from prison regarding Hawn’s claims.
4 The “Cactus Flower” star got candid about her experiences working with the ex-film producer in a recent Variety profile. Peggy Sirota for Variety
He told Variety: “Acting roles were always chosen based on what was best for the project, artistically and financially.”
The disgraced producer bizarrely claimed that Hawn had a “positive” experience being attached to the role, adding: “We felt we did the best we could on ‘Chicago’ and I’m proud of it, and I am so elated that Goldie’s experience was a positive one, and that she has the fortitude to say that in this environment. I would simply say, ‘Thank you.’”
Hawn, however, isn’t losing any sleep about Weinstein’s demise, telling Variety: “He’s finally living his karma.”
Elsewhere in her interview with the industry publication, Hawn revealed how she was asleep at the time she won her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Cactus Flower” back in 1970.
