TIME 100 Confirms the Most Powerful Man in Hollywood

After steering Meryl Streep to her third Oscar win and The Artist to a near-sweep of the Oscars, Harvey Weinstein is back on top. Johnny Depp spoke with TIME about the producer who "isn't afraid of a duke-'em-out."

  • Share
  • Read Later
John Carucci / AP

Harvey Weinstein, film producer and co-chairman of The Weinstein Company

“There are producers, and then there are producers,” writes Johnny Depp in the Time 100, out today. He is, of course, talking about the venerable Harvey Weinstein, the only producer on the list and a Hollywood titan in its truest sense. It’s hard to believe that the Hollywood establishment had recently counted him out as he warred with Disney over Miramax, eventually losing the company. What a difference a few years make.

Now with more than 200 films under his belt — including recent Oscar winners The King’s Speech and The Artist — Weinstein has rebuilt his multi-media empire, bulldozing his way to his throne. As Depp writes, “No one gets to the top without the occasional scrap.” But the tantrum-throwing blowhard of a few years ago, known for careening around town in his chauffeur-driven black Escalade, his hefty midsection straining his shirt’s bottom buttons, has shown a softer side.

This year he has used his perch to advocate for Bully, a life-changing documentary about the abuse children inflict on other children. As TIME’s Richard Corliss wrote, when the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the industry lobbying group in charge of movie ratings, slapped Bully with an ‘R’ rating, Weinstein agreed to remove three of the six F-words in question if it could keep the rest in the scene it considered essential. The result: a much needed PG-13 rating, allowing kids to see the film unattended by adults. “He stops at nothing for what he believes in,” writes Depp. We can’t wait to see what Weinstein does next — we’ll just stand out of his way.

Who else in Hollywood joins Weinstein on the Time 100? Find out here.
.