The judge in the ongoing trial of former film mogul Harvey Weinstein has warned jurors in Los Angeles not to watch the trailer for German director Maria Schrader’s new film ‘She Said’.
The drama film about the exposure of the Weinstein scandal by two female journalists in 2017 recently celebrated its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. After the theatrical release in mid-November in the USA, the film is also scheduled to hit German cinemas in December.
Judge Lisa Lench instructed the jury at the end of the first week of the trial yesterday afternoon (local time) to avoid the “She Said” trailer published online, as reported by journalists present at the scene. The twelve jurors were released for the weekend, and the trial was scheduled to continue on Monday.
Allegations by five women
Weinstein is on trial for a second time on sexual assault charges. After a trial in New York that ended in 2020 with a guilty verdict and a long prison sentence, he now faces 11 charges in California, including rape. It is about allegations by five women in a period from 2004 to 2013. After the opening statements this week, the plaintiffs and witnesses have already had their say. The process should take several weeks.
The abuse allegations against Weinstein made by dozens of women started the global MeToo movement in 2017. The producer was finally sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for rape, among other things.
Director Schrader (57, “Unorthodox”) brought actresses Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan to the camera for “She Said”. You play New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who released their revelations about Weinstein’s sexual assault in October 2017 after arduous research.
