By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Factory profile: I wouldn’t want to confuse a pretty woman with a waitress
The ever-crafty Weinsteinco’s newest news about the status of Edie-bio Factory Girl emits from the Sunday Styles section of NY Times, where Mickey Rapkin has a tipple with not-dethroned director George Hickenlooper. “As late as last week, he was still shooting new scenes… Despite news media reports that Mr. Hickenlooper had been taken off the project (not true) and that Bob Dylan was upset with how he is portrayed (true), the only opinion that matters now belongs to the executive producer, Harvey Weinstein. He has decided to release Factory Girl in Los Angeles on Friday, in time, barely, for the Oscars. “He wants a nomination for Sienna,” Mr. Hickenlooper said Wednesday… Mr. Hickenlooper, 41, had taken a break from editing to stop at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel. He was dressed in standard Los Angeles auteur gear (leather blazer, oversize plastic frames, goatee). “I really need a drink,” he said, looking around for assistance. “I wouldn’t want to confuse a pretty woman with a waitress.” He ordered one cabernet and then another… “We’re all starved for intimacy and we’re looking for something to fill that void,” Mr. Hickenlooper said. “You could take the names Edie and Andy off of this and it would still be compelling.” Hickenlooper offers reasons for the film’s hiccuppy existence behind the headlines: “The film was over budget at the start, so scenes were cut. Shooting wrapped in February, but when the rough cut was first viewed in August, it was clear that there were holes. They had to wait for Ms. Miller’s calendar to open up. Three days of planned shoots in New York stretched to five. And when Mr. Weinstein suggested extra scenes to flesh out the friendship between Ms. Sedgwick and Warhol, two days in Connecticut were added.” …. “I’d love another three months to edit,” Mr. Hickenlooper said, “but Harvey believes — and I agree — that the film has momentum.”