Crazy how many times white dudes get to reap the rewards of something when they tried everything in their power to ruin it
They got 5% of the total gross too:
After Heavenly Creatures was acquired by Miramax, Peter and [his wife and creative partner] Fran Walsh signed a first-look arrangement with the Weinsteins. It meant that any idea they had, it had to be presented to Miramax first.
Bob Weinstein suggested at one point that we kill three of the Hobbits. Disney didn't want [the adaptation] and the relationship between Peter and Miramax soured.
Eventually, I go to Harvey and say, "You have to give us a window to shop it." A traditional window [to try and sell a property to a different studio] is between six and 12 months – Harvey gave us three weeks. He also wanted a $12m (£9m) advance to cover what Miramax had spent and five per cent of the total gross, and to be named as an executive producer. We had three weeks to sell Lord of the Rings to another studio or the rights were Harvey's and he'd kick Peter off the project.
They were pursuing all the major studios and all the indie financiers, including New Line. I had spent probably 10 years rabbiting to [New Line founder] Bob Shea about Peter, and he was familiar with him through that Nightmare on Elm Street script.
Bob Shea was a riverboat gambler. He rolled the dice and he took a shot. They said yes on Monday and were out of pocket $12m by Wednesday. Harvey was absolutely stunned. He set us up to fail and expected us to fail. But he got his five per cent.
