Hollywood's 'Punisher' Humbled By Hard Times

Harvey Weinstein has been described as both a "punisher" and a "god" but he has told Sky News being Hollywood's most successful film producer has not always been easy.

Speaking to Sky at the plush Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, Weinstein explained how, after having had a reputation for being ruthless and aggressive at the height of his career in the 1990s, he was forced to change when things took a turn for the worst.

The movie mogul, who found and championed the hot Oscar favourite The Artist, said: "There were tough times but I stood up for what I believe in and, after five years in the wilderness, I'm humbler... changed for the good."

Weinstein's Miramax production company was bought by Disney in 1993 and saw huge success with films like The English Patient and Shakespeare In Love.

But, in 2005, he fell out with the studio over the making of the Lord Of The Rings.

With his brother Bob, he set up The Weinstein Company and, at first, they failed to recreate the success of previous times.

Things changed from 2009 onwards with Quentin Tarantino's box office smash Inglourious Basterds.

But what really put Weinstein back in the game was the phenomenal success of The King's Speech last year which won four Oscars, including best picture, and took $400m (£252m) at the box office.

This year, The Weinstein Company has three films up for 16 Oscars: The Artist, My Week With Marilyn and The Iron Lady.

But it is silent film The Artist, nominated for 10 awards, which has been the most talked about and Weinstein is understandably proud of it.

"The script transported me back to my love of cinema," he said.

It has been 83 years since a silent film won the best picture award and Weinstein seemed aware that bringing back this type of film was not necessarily something the movie-going public was prepared for.

"The Artist is a film that needs time, it's like a fine wine."

But he admitted the best actress category is a difficult one for him with both Michelle Williams, who plays Marilyn Monroe, and Meryl Streep, who takes on the role of Margaret Thatcher, nominated.

"I'm hoping for a tie between Michelle and Meryl, it's happened twice before in history... so of course that will happen again, I'm not worried about that."

During the interview, Weinstein also divulged the secret to his movie-making success.

"Writers are the secret sauce. We have always loved good writing - the secret of making movies is having the strongest possible script."

Out of the 303 Oscar nominations the father-of-four's films have received, 67 have walked away with statues but he claims it is not about adoration.

"It's not the glory, it's about being honoured in front of your peers... excellence... the spotlight and making challenging films."

He said he sometimes likes to take a gamble on films that may not be huge box office hits.

"I don't like to do big action movies, it's actually easy to make movies like that. I like making great movies, great movies are challenging."