Harvey Weinstein thinks that he and Steven Spielberg would do a “great job” at producing the Oscars together. If asked to do the gig by the Academy, Weinstein says he’d “probably bring Billy Crystal back to host, too.”
“Steven Spielberg and I once talked about producing it together. If we could survive each other, we’d do a great job,” the producer told The Hollywood Reporter Monday. “They’re not using technology properly. It still feels like a variety show. Jimmy Kimmel was brilliant, but give him a couple of things to do that are so mind-blowingly cool so people will go, ‘Oh my God.’ [Virtual reality] is just the start. Mike [De Luca] and Jen [Todd] did the most beautiful-looking Oscars I’ve ever seen.
“I would just take it way further, which is why I’ll never get the job. I’d probably bring Billy Crystal back to host, too.”
Weinstein also teased that he’d have Warren Beatty announce Best Picture, following this year’s gaffe. “The suspense would be incredible,” said Weinstein.
Michael De Luca and Jennifer Todd produced the 89th Academy Awards. In recent years, De Luca and Todd have frequently served as co-chairs of the Producers Guild Awards, one of the most reliable predictors of Academy Awards success.
De Luca and Todd succeeded David Hill and Reginald Hudlin, who produced last February’s show. Craig Zadan and Neil Meron produced the Oscars in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Weinstein also revealed that he’s open to considering a big studio job, to explore things he can’t do at The Weinstein Company.
“I never thought so, but now it [might] because you get to do $200 million movies, and we can’t do that here,” he said. “I love TV, so I’m excited about that, but I wonder if we drove those comic books to a higher quality, would they do even better? God, I hate to think they’d do worse. So yeah, I’d like to have two years and say, ‘OK, guys, I’m gonna create a ‘Star Wars’ franchise.’ Seriously.”