It looks like a major legal battle is about to go down between filmmaker Michael Moore and disowned producer Harvey Weinstein over "Fahrenheit 11/9," Moore's upcoming Donald Trump documentary.
Last week Moore revealed, on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,' that he was teaming up with film exec Tom Ortenberg, to distribute 'Fahrenheit 11/9.' However, Deadline's Mike Fleming Jr. is now reporting that Harvey Weinstein "paid just north of $2 million out of the $6 million pledged in a docu deal Moore used to get the film to this point."
The movie was completed right before the ensuing sexual assault allegations that have since been made against Weinstein.
In what will most likely be a hotly contested legal bloodbath, Weinstein and his brother Bob are demanding their money back, but "Moore and his WME reps want them to step aside, chalking the loss up to the price of scandal." In other words, Moore finds it morally wrong to pay back a predator like Weinstein.
If you remember, Moore's 2017 Facebook essay titled “Use This Moment To Create A World Without Harveys" called Weinstein a "sexual predator"and "sociopath."
"A Weinstein source [has it] that what he is asking for is to be allowed to continue funding the film as producer, but if that isn’t possible, he should recoup his share of the money that he has paid into a project."
"The Weinsteins and Moore set up a company called Fellowship Adventure Group and released [2004's "Fahrenheit 9/11""] through Lionsgate, and went on to gross over $222 million globally to become far and away the biggest grossing documentary of all time."
Fleming goes on to hint that "Fahrenheit 11/9" is not going to be finished until next year and is aiming for a Cannes premiere.
Official synopsis of Fahrenheit 11/9:
"Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9 is a provocative and comedic look at the times in which we live. It will explore the two most important questions of the Trump Era: How the f**k did we get here, and how the f**k do we get out? It's the film to see before it's too late."
[Deadline]