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The world of entertainment is a story-making machine. From fascinating tales set in unrealistic fictional worlds to tales grounded in reality offering eye-opening commentary on the world we live in, to everything above and beyond and between.

The same tales have a unique power to transport us into worlds of imagination, drama, and emotion, often leaving us questioning the blurred lines between reality and the fictional world. All these stories are born out of the incredible minds of their storytellers, aka the screenwriters. But sometimes, even storytellers need inspiration, and this inspiration comes from true stories.

While some movies like Oppenheimer, Into the Wild, Schindler’s List, and more wear their ‘based on a true story‘ badge with honor, others often end up slipping under the radar, weaving real-life inspirations into narratives that feel like pure Hollywood invention. These hidden gems often end up surprising us with their storytelling and the remarkable truths behind them.

Few stories about pop culture are more prevalent than the myth that Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. For decades, it has been clear other extenuating factors led to John Lennon leaving the band, and yet the story continues to percolate. To help dispel this idea, One to One: John & Yoko examines the famous couple during their life in New York City in 1972. In the process, it follows Lennon and Ono as they mount various pressure campaigns to change the policies and politics of the era. While not entirely successful in showcasing the couple, director Kevin Macdonald paints a compelling, if overly broad, vision of the moment.

Related“I feel like I understand John and Yoko better”: One to One: John and Yoko Director Kevin Macdonald Discusses Creating a Different Type of Beatles Documentary One to One: John & Yoko — The Plot

1972 was a year of tumultuous change for America,...

When 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert called 911 on May 1, 2010, she was absolutely frantic. An escort, Gilbert was on Oak Beach, Long Island for a date with a first-time client named Joseph Brewer when she became distressed, eventually screaming in the call to authorities, “they’re trying to kill me.” When she was last seen, she had run from Brewer and her driver Michael Pak, before knocking on several neighbors’ doors for help and running off into the dark.

Gilbert was a sex worker. She was a diagnosed bipolar who was reportedly not taking her medication.

It can be difficult sometimes to fully appreciate the fact that we still have a legend like Robert De Niro still with us. Part of it is that De Niro has been a constant for decades now, almost as long as our Modern Hollywood has existed: breaking out as the chief collaborator and muse of Martin Scorsese in the early ’70s with performances in “Mean Streets” and “Taxi Driver,” the two-time Oscar winner personified the grit and edge of the New Hollywood revolution, and remained a vibrant force on film through the ’80s and ’90s.

That said, not every film that De Niro stars in is a hit, and not every performance he gives is up to the standards he’s often set for himself. Especially in his later years, De Niro has a reputation for sometimes coasting, particularly in films that don’t exactly measure up to the classics...

Picture: Miku Martineau (left) and Yumeko (right)

Netflix has a mixed track record for its live-action anime and manga adaptations. However, the streamer has seen recent success thanks to adaptations of One Piece and Avatar. Next on the list is the adaptation of Kakegurui, with Warrior Nun creator Simon Barry at the helm. Coming to Netflix in 2025, here’s everything we know so far about the series.

The series is from Warrior Nun creator Simon Barry. While Warrior Nun was canceled at Netflix and revived later with a different team, Barry has moved on to BET, the American live-action adaptation of the Japanese manga Kakegurui by author Homura Kawamoto. Jeff F. King, David Fortier, Ivan Schneeberg, Jon Rutherford, and Nick Nantell are joining him as producers. Barry is also directing.

Creator, writer and director Simon Barry

BET is set in an elite boarding school where everything, including the pecking order,...

A gaunt-looking Harvey Weinstein pleaded with the judge in his upcoming criminal retrial to move the start date forward, even by a week, because “I don’t know how much longer I can hold on” while the fallen mogul remains imprisoned in New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail.

Judge Curtis Farber on Wednesday morning set April 15 as a trial date after denying a motion by Weinstein to have the indictment against him dismissed. With the schedule set, the cancer-stricken Weinstein, seated in a wheelchair, addressed the judge directly.

“I’m asking you, and begging you,” Weinstein said, his voice rising as he appealed for his trial to begin on April 7. “Every week counts. I’m holding on because I want justice for myself. I want this to be over.”

He said that “every day is a struggle” at Rikers, which he referred to as a “hellhole” and a “stain on this city.

Prosecutors say they are looking into “additional violent sexual assaults” allegedly committed by disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, opening the possibility that more witnesses will come forward to testify as New York seeks a new indictment after his previous conviction was overturned.

Prosecutor Nicole Blumberg argued in a Tuesday hearing before Judge Curtis Farber in New York state criminal court in Manhattan that further assaults Weinstein allegedly committed were still within the statute of limitations to be charged as crimes.

“As we said in 2020, there were women who were not ready to proceed with the legal process. Some of those women are now ready to proceed,” Blumberg said, according to Reuters.

In the February 2020 New York conviction, a jury found Weinstein guilty of third-degree rape of Jessica Mann and a criminal sexual act against actress Miriam Haley. The mogul, who was sentenced to 23 years in jail, has denied the attacks,...

Harvey Weinstein, who once used to get lauded by film experts and media alike for seldom losing box office battles as a producer, is now showing no signs of accepting a defeat in the legal arena.

Harvey Weinstein in a still from The Graham Norton Show

On Wednesday, the disgraced producer’s lawyer approached the highest court in New York to overturn his conviction, saying that too many accusers were allowed to testify at this trial.

Suggested“You can’t hurt me”: Nathan Lane Tried to Expose Harvey Weinstein Years Before MeToo After Being Assaulted at Hillary Clinton’s Party

Harvey Weinstein’s Lawyer Challenge His 2020 R*pe Conviction

Harvey Weinstein‘s dominance in Hollywood came crashing down after a New York Times report detailed scores of allegations of se*ual harassment against the producer.

Harvey Weinstein. Credit: CNN

Eventually, the 71-year-old found himself under the scanner of the law.

Attorneys representing convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein, the onetime titan of Hollywood whose trials in the public sphere and courtrooms on both U.S. coasts defined the #MeToo reckoning, will appear before an Albany judge today to argue that his 2020 conviction was not the result of a fair trial.

Weinstein will not appear in the Albany Court of Appeals on Wednesday as his attorneys argue for the dismissal of his 2020 conviction, which amounted to a watershed moment as the #MeToo movement saw women worldwide come forward across multiple industries alleging sexual and other misdeeds from powerful men. As his lawyers argue the appeal on Wednesday, Weinstein may watch via video feed from nearby Mohawk Valley Correctional Facility, where he is serving 23 years after the trial in question resulted in a guilty verdict in February 2020.

“What we’re arguing is that there should not be a different set of rules for an...

With a career now spanning seven decades, Robert De Niro is among the most accomplished actors in film history. Studying acting at Hb Studio, the Actors Studio, and the Stella Adler Conservatory, De Niro trained in the Stanislavski system, which focuses on the "art of experiencing." In other words, actors should feel the same emotions as their characters.

De Niro's intense dedication to the craft of acting has resulted in him pushing method acting to its very limits. From The Godfather Part II to Cape Fear, De Niro's outrageous method acting stories are the stuff of legend.

Martin Scorsese Says Robert De Niro's Character in Taxi Driver Is Now the Norm

James "Jimmy" Conway Ties Everything Together in Goodfellas (1990)

In Goodfellas, De Niro plays Jimmy Conway, a mafia associate based on real-life gangster James Burke. An associate of the Lucchese crime family, Burke's claim to fame was the organization of the Lufthansa heist,...

Two-time Oscar winner Alexander Payne returns to the big screen with his entertaining and crowd-pleasing film “The Holdovers” which debuted at the Telluride Film Festival on Thursday night, where he was in-person to introduce.

With a 1970s aesthetic, a sharp script by David Hemingson, and a trio of exquisite performers, the film feels like the slam-dunk Oscar contender the establishment members of the Academy can get behind.

“The Holdovers” reunites Payne with his “Sideways” star Paul Giamatti. It tells the story of a curmudgeonly instructor at an elite New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the students with nowhere to go. He forms an unlikely bond with a damaged, brainy troublemaker (played by newcomer Dominic Sessa) and the head cook (portrayed by Da’Vine Joy Randolph).

It’s hard to believe Giamatti, 56, who’s been remarkable in movies such as “American Splendor” (2003), “Barney’s Version” (2010) and of course,...

Former Suffolk County police chief James Burke was arrested on Tuesday morning on multiple sexual misconduct charges, according to Associated Press. The 58-year-old, who once helmed the Gilgo Beach killings investigation, was taken into custody in Farmingville, New York. He now faces charges for offering a sex act, public lewdness, indecent exposure, and criminal solicitation.

Burke’s arrest arrives as the result of a prostitution sting in which he allegedly exposed himself and attempted to solicit a male sex worker at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, according to NBC New York.

Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is a film that needs no introduction. The definitive mob movie, Goodfellas is not just one of the greatest crime films of all time, but one of the best films ever made period. Full of fantastic performances, the standout of the lot may be Robert De Niro's spine-tingling turn as mobster Jimmy Conway. In the long, fruitful history between De Niro and Scorsese, this may be their best collaboration. De Niro turns from charismatic to stone-cold killer at the drop of a hat, and the chemistry between him, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, and Lorraine Bracco is undeniable. He plays Conway as a coiled snake, and the audience is always unsure if or when he is about to strike. The famed diner sequence, as well as the scene between him and Bracco discussing Henry's case display this greatly. However, how close is De Niro to his real-life equivalent,...

Exclusive: The Exchange has added Bill Pohlad’s Dreamin’ Wild starring Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe and Zooey Deschanel to its Cannes slate.

Roadside Attractions, which snapped up North American rights for the film following its Out of Competition Venice premiere, will release the film theatrically on August 4.

Dreamin’ Wild is the third film from Pohlad, who is also known for his Academy Award and Emmy Award-nominated work as a producer including 12 Years A Slave, The Tree Of Life and A Monster Calls.

The drama is inspired by the real-life story of Donnie and Joe Emerson, two brothers living in the Washington State rural town of Fruitland, who were catapulted to fame in the 2010s after an album they self-recorded in the 1970s was re-discovered by music critics.

Oscar-winning Manchester By The Sea actor Affleck plays Donnie, a working dad who tries to keep his dreams of rock stardom alive...

Creed III hinted at Amara Creed's future storyline in the series, and she already has a great real-life inspiration for Creed IV. Amara Creed is the daughter of the series' main character Adonis Creed, and while she hasn't had a huge role in prior films, Amara did get a slightly larger role in Creed III. It seems like she'll be getting even more of a spotlight in Creed IV, and the character's arc could mirror that of a true story.

Born in Creed II, Amara is the daughter of Adonis Creed and Bianca Taylor. Bianca's hearing loss has been present since the original Creed, but when Amara was born, the couple found out that their daughter would be fully deaf. This hasn't hindered Amara, who has grown up into a fierce young girl in the several years since Creed II. Creed III reveals that Amara wants to be a fighter,...

Following a 16-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, “In the Bedroom” and “Little Children” writer-director Todd Field reemerged in 2022 to unleash his first original creation on the world (his previous films were adaptations). “TÁR” — an engrossing fictional character study and a deep analysis of how and why power is abused — is now up for six Oscars, including Best Picture. Since he was previously nominated for producing “In the Bedroom,” he could follow Jim Burke (“Green Book”) and Dan Janvey and Peter Spears (“Nomadland”) as the fourth person in five years to take the academy’s top prize on his second bid.

SEE2023 Gold Derby Film Awards ceremony: Watch 20 exciting acceptance speeches by Michelle Yeoh, Colin Farrell, Austin Butler …

“TÁR” primarily takes place in modern day Germany, where central character Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) serves as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. The highly-decorated artist initially appears to enjoy the seemingly perfect...

Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas chronicled the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), who became close to some of the biggest names in the mob, as were Jimmy “The Gent” Conway (Robert De Niro), Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), and Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino), but how do their deaths compare to real life? Based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, Goodfellas tells the true story of Henry Hill and his involvement with the Lucchese crime family, as well as his decision to become an FBI informant years later.

After running errands for Paulie and his crew when he was a teenager, Henry earned their trust and eventually became part of their family. Along with Jimmy and Tommy, Henry participated in various crimes, though Henry didn’t take part in the Lufthansa heist, but he was key in planning it. Henry ended up cooperating with the FBI and...

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California governor Gavin Newsom’s wife, is one of five women who accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and who will testify at the disgraced mogul’s sexual assault trial in Los Angeles that begins this week.

The former film producer faces charges of rape and other sex-related counts involving five female accusers, including Siebel Newsom, who say Weinstein attacked them in hotel rooms between 2004 to 2013. All five are expected to testify, as well as other women not part of the criminal charges.

“Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap,” Siebel Newsom’s attorney, Benjamin Fegan, said in a statement to the media via ABC 7. “She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s...

Five years after the watershed #MeToo movement and two-and-a-half years since Harvey Weinstein was convicted of criminal sexual assault by a New York jury, the disgraced movie mogul is back in court, this time in Los Angeles, where a jury is expected to hear from a far more broad spectrum of accusers – and possibly Weinstein himself.

Weinstein arrived in court Monday by wheelchair, and showed some difficulty standing up as the jury pool of 67 men and women was introduced in court. Jury selection is expected to give way to opening statements sometime around Oct. 24.

Weinstein is already serving 23 years in a New York prison for criminal first-degree sexual assault and third-degree rape, a conviction he has been granted the right to appeal, arguing that a juror and Judge James Burke was biased against him. Weinstein has maintained his innocence since the beginning, and has spent more than a year in...

Casey Affleck heaped praise on Andrew Dominik’s forthcoming Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde during a press conference for his latest film Dreamin’ Wild at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday.

“I’ve seen Blonde and it’s incredible,” Affleck told press corps. “I’ve seen a couple of versions of Blonde and it’s taken him [Dominik] a long time to get it out into the world. But that’s just how he is. He’s so slow with it. And it’s an amazing, beautiful film.”

Affleck began discussing the Nc-17-rated flick after he was asked about his relationship with the film’s director Andrew Dominik whom he worked with on The Assassination of Jesse James, which also debuted in Venice.

Later during the presser, Affleck continued to discuss his work with Dominik on The Assassination of Jesse James when he was asked about his personal regrets and how they...

Stalwart indie filmmaker Bill Pohlad today premeres in Venice Dreamin’ Wild. His directing follow up to the critically acclaimed Brian Wilson film Love & Mercy also follows a music story, though one far less familiar. Casey Affleck, Noah Jupe, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins and Beau Bridges star. When Donnie Emerson (played by Affleck and Jupe) was a teenager growing up on his father’s farm in Fruitland, Washington (population 791) he spent his days writing music and dreaming of becoming a music star. And everyone in the family became invested in that dream, including his brother Joe (Goggins) who became his drummer, and especially his father, Don Sr (Bridges). He mortgaged his farm to build a 100,000 recording studio, and more to help Donnie make and release his first record. It went nowhere and the bulk of the farm had to be sold when the loan came due. But 30 years later, the...

Exclusive: Karl Spoerri, Viviana Vezzani and Tobias Gutzwiller are officially launching production label Zurich Avenue, which will sit under the banner of their finance company SPG3.

Based in Zurich and LA, the production-specific label will focus on film and TV and currently has ten English and German-language projects in different stages of production.

Among the slate is Bill Pohlad’s Venice Film Festival title Dreamin’ Wild, which stars Casey Affleck, Zooey Deschanel, Walton Goggins, Chris Messina, Noah Jupe, Jack Dylan Grazer and Beau Bridges, and tells the true story of musicians Donnie and Joe Emerson.

Pic was produced in partnership with River Road Entertainment and Innisfree Pictures while SPG3 co-financed with River Road. Kim Roth, Bill Pohlad, Jim Burke, Karl Spoerri and Viviana Vezzani served as producers.

Currently in production are Greatest Days and Nyad. Coky Giederoic directs the former, the big screen adaptation of UK comedy musical The Band,...

A New York appeals court has upheld Harvey Weinstein’s conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, rejecting arguments that the trial judge effectively rigged the outcome in favor of the prosecution.

In a unanimous ruling issued on Thursday, a five-justice appellate panel found that the judge did not make errors that would warrant overturning the conviction or the 23-year sentence.

“We reject defendant’s arguments, and affirm the conviction in all respects,” wrote Justice Angela Mazzarelli, on behalf of the court.

Alvin Bragg, who was sworn in as Manhattan D.A. in January, issued a statement thanking the survivors in the case “for their remarkable courage and candor.”

“We are gratified by today’s decision, which upholds a monumental conviction that changed the way prosecutors and courts approach complex prosecutions of sexual predators,” Bragg said.

A spokesman for Weinstein, Juda Engelmayer, said that, “We are disappointed, but not surprised.

Harvey Weinstein is serving a 23-year sentence on rape and sexual assault charges, which make him ineligible for parole until after his 87th birthday. He’s also facing additional charges in Los Angeles that carry a maximum sentence of 140 years.

But the disgraced producer could go free in just a few months if a New York appeals court overturns his conviction.

Five justices heard arguments on the case on Wednesday, and three of them expressed serious concern about the testimony admitted at trial. One justice, Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, referred to the use of uncharged allegations as “overkill” and “piling on.”

Weinstein’s attorneys are not making any predictions about how the court will rule, but they are feeling optimistic.

“I think it couldn’t have gone better,” said Donna Rotunno, the lead defense lawyer at Weinstein’s trial, who said that the line of questioning felt like “a wish list of...

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction was under intense scrutiny today before an all-female bench of appeals court judges in New York.

With terms including “overkill” and “that argument rubs me the wrong way” thrown at the office of outgoing Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance II, the five justices of the Appellate Division First Judicial Department of the Supreme Court of the Empire State strongly indicated that they could be considering tossing out the Pulp Fiction EP’s 23-year sentence for two felony sex crimes charges.

“Let’s put in as much as we can to show this guy is a terrible guy,” Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels said to Assistant D.A. Valerie Figueredo at today’s hearing of the case constructed almost two years ago against Weinstein. “He doesn’t get convicted for being a bad guy,” another justice added about the trial that saw other accusers of the producer take...

Several appellate justices said Wednesday that they worried that Harvey Weinstein had been subjected to “overkill” at his criminal trial in New York last year.

Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer, is appealing his conviction on charges of sexual assault and third degree rape, which resulted in a sentence of 23 years in prison.

At a hearing before the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, on Wednesday, three of the five justices expressed serious concerns that Justice James Burke had erred by allowing prejudicial evidence at trial that could impugn Weinstein’s character.

“You’re really arguing this was not overkill?” Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels asked Valerie Figueredo, the assistant district attorney representing the Manhattan D.A.’s office.

The defense has argued that Burke should not have allowed three women — Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff and Lauren Young — to testify at the trial. Each of them alleged that Weinstein had sexually assaulted them after...

In December 2010, law enforcement found four bodies along a scrub-covered stretch of highway on the south coast of Long Island. The following spring, six more sets of human remains were found in the same area. Six of the victims have been identified as young women who were sex workers. Four, including a toddler and a person with male anatomy remain unidentified. In late 2011, authorities announced they were looking for one murderer responsible for all of the deaths. A decade later, the mystery, which became known as the Long Island serial killer case,...

James Burke, a member of the classic Chicago soul group the Five Stairsteps died last Friday, February 19th. He was 70. Burke’s brother and bandmate, Dennis Burke, confirmed James’ death to Rolling Stone, adding that the cause was pneumonia but unrelated to Covid-19 complications.

Formed in the mid-1960s, the Five Stairsteps scored a string of hits, including their 1970 classic “O-o-h Child,” to earn the moniker, “the First Family of Soul.” Burke family patriarch, Clarence Burke, Sr., a former Chicago police detective, formed and managed the group, which consisted of his four sons,...

Netflix latest true crime drama Lost Girls tells the story of the Long Island Serial Killer – or elements of the case at least – but there is plenty more to learn about this strange and horrible series of crimes that didn’t make it into the movie. If you’ve seen Lost Girls and want to know more about the true story of the Long Island Serial Killer (aka the Craigslist Killer), here are some of the things the movie changed, omitted or chose not to focus on.

This article contains spoilers for Lost Girls (but check out our spoiler free Lost Girls review)

Mari Gilbert’s daughters

In the movie Mari has three children, Shannan, Sarra, and Sherre. In real life Mari had a fourth daughter, Stevie, the youngest of the family. Sarra also had a baby of her own in 2009 with her then boyfriend Manny. Sarra, who as the...

Harvey Weinstein is heading back to Rikers Island, after doctors concluded he was healthy enough to leave Bellevue Hospital, his spokesman said.

Weinstein will be held at North Infirmary Command, the medical ward at Rikers where he had been held for several days prior to his sentencing last week.

Justice James Burke sentenced him on Wednesday to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

Just hours later, Weinstein was brought back to Bellevue after a very short stay at Rikers, where the hospital staff was concerned about his health.

The week prior to his sentencing, Weinstein underwent an angioplasty, after complaining about chest pains and spiked blood pressure. Despite reports that surfaced last week, Weinstein did not suffer a minor heart attack, according to his spokesman.

“It’s known that he has a weak heart,” Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer tells Variety. “So, right after the sentencing, when he went back to Rikers,...

On Wednesday morning, sexual assault survivors all over the world sighed a breath of relief after a Manhattan judge declared that former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein — convicted of rape and a forcible sexual act — would be sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Inside the Manhattan courtroom, the group of six women who accused Weinstein of assault and testified during the months-long trial — Miriam Haley, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff, and Lauren Young — embraced one another in tears as they heard that Weinstein would be behind bars for close to the maximum possible sentence. And on the opposite coast, mornings were punctuated by the ping-ping-ping of notifications from survivor group texts containing all-caps messages expressing joy and victory.

“I had just got out of the shower and I was like, ‘What the heck?'” Weinstein silence breaker Louise Godbold told TheWrap in Los Angeles, where she was in the...

Now back behind bars in New York to start serving the 23-year prison sentence he was handed today, Harvey Weinstein’s appeal may have to get in line behind sex crimes charges the much-accused producer is facing in the City of Angels.

“The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has begun the process of extraditing defendant Weinstein to California to face the sexual assault charges that were filed in January,” a spokesperson for D.A. Jackie Lacey said Wednesday just a few hours after Weinstein was given a near maximum sentence for his conviction on first-degree sexual assault and three years for third-degree rape in the Empire State.

More from DeadlineIrate Harvey Weinstein Attorney Still Says Evidence Presented Irreconcilable With 'Normal, Regular Rape Victims'Hollywood Reacts To Harvey Weinstein Sentencing: "This Gives Me Renewed Hope In The U.S. Justice System," Says Reese WitherspoonHarvey Weinstein Accusers Speak Out: "23 Years! We Did It!

Justice has been served, as fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been ordered to serve 23 years in prison. On Wednesday, the former movie producer was sentenced by a judge to spend the next two decades behind bars in relation to the rape and sexual assault charges against him.

The two victims named in the trial, Miriam Haley and Jesica Mann, spoke about their harrowing experiences with Weinstein one last time before Judge James Burke decided to slam him with the hefty sentence. As the case was nationally publicized, the verdict has already brought about celebrations all across social media from people following the story.

Many would say Weinstein's 23 year prison sentence is still way too short, given all of the other accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against him. He was also facing a maximum of 29 years behind bars, meaning he'll be serving about six years less than he legally could have.

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team may think his sentence is “obscene,” but mere minutes after the much-accused prodicer was sentenced to almost the maximum for his sex crimes conviction, the Manhattan District Attorney that put the once mighty movie mogul away hailed the 23 years behind bars as giving “hope.”

“We thank the court for imposing a sentence that puts sexual predators and abusive partners in all segments of society on notice,” declared Cyrus Vance Jr on Wednesday from NYC’s Criminal Courts building.

Though Assistant D.A.s Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and Meghan Hast took point in the weeks long case, patrician Vance was in the 15th floor courtroom this morning with them as Judge James Burke handed the 67-year old Weinstein 20 years in prison for his conviction on first-degree sexual assault and three years for third-degree rape. Accusers Jessica Mann, Miriam “Mimi” Haley, Annabella Sciorra, Tarale Wulff, Lauren Young, and...

Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Wednesday morning in New York City for his recent rape and criminal sexual assault convictions. Last month, the former Hollywood heavyweight was found guilty of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree.

Weinstein was eligible for nearly 30 years of potential combined sentencing time, though experts had posited that he was likely to be sentenced to 10 to 15 years from Judge James Burke. Reflecting on the severity of the sentence he ultimately handed down, Burke said to Weinstein during sentencing, “This is your first conviction. It is not your first offense.”

More from IndieWireBerlin 2020 Empowered Women Directors and Hinted at a Better Future for Europe's Film FestivalsHarvey Weinstein's Future: What Happens After His Rape and Sexual Assault Convictions

The New York trial covered five criminal counts, including two of predatory sexual assault, one involving Miriam Haley and actress Annabella Sciorra,...

Disgraced former Hollywood mogul attended court to make statement.

Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for third-degree rape and first-degree sexual assault.

Weinstein attended court to hear the sentence and expressed remorse to Judge James Burke and said he was confused by the decision. The judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison and five years of supervised release for the first-degree offence and three for the third-degree rape.

He has spent the last few days at Rikers Island prison in New York, following a brief stay at Bellevue Hospital where surgeons inserted a stent into his heart.

Updated with Weinstein quotes Harvey Weinstein, his handcuffs temporarily removed and likening himself to Hollywood’s blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, was sentenced to 23 years in prison today, with New York Supreme Court Judge James Burke dismissing pleas from the former Hollywood mogul and newly convicted rapist for the minimum five-year hitch.

The judge delivered the sentence to a packed courtroom, with accusers who testified during the trial — Jessica Mann, Miriam “Mimi” Haley, Annabella Sciorra, Tarale Wulff, Lauren Young, and Dawn Dunning — filling the first two rows of the courtroom. They, along with supporter and witness Rosie Perez and attorney Gloria Allred, entered the courtroom as a group, prior to Weinstein’s arrival.

“The sentence just handed down by this court was obscene,” Weinstein’s attorney Donna Rotunno told reporters outside the courthouse. “That number was obnoxious. There are murderers who will get out of court (sic) faster than Harvey Weinstein will.

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team asked a judge on Monday to sentence him to five years in prison, the statutory minimum for two counts of rape and sexual assault.

In a seven-page sentencing memo, the defense recounted Weinstein’s charitable contributions and his support for social causes. They also argued that Weinstein has already received a harsh societal sanction.

“Mr. Weinstein cannot walk outside without being heckled, he has lost his means to earn a living, simply put, his fall from grace has been historic, perhaps unmatched in the age of social media,” the attorneys wrote.” Deserved or not, this is certainly a unique and extremely severe consequence that Mr. Weinstein had to endure, and in the age of social media and given his fame, virtually unrivaled when compared to any other defendant in the state of New York if not nationally.”

Justice James Burke is set to sentence Weinstein...

Around 36 hours before Harvey Weinstein is set to discover how long he is going to prison for, the disgraced producer and convicted sex offender’s defense team today say they want the judge to low ball the sentence.

“Please accept this letter as our request that the Court sentence Mr. Weinstein to a period of incarceration of five years,” wrote attorneys Donna Routunno, Damon Cheronis and Arthur Aidala to Judge James Burke late this evening as the determining March 11 hearing looms (read the letter here).

Full of citations about the currently Rikers Island incarcerated Oscar winning producer’s charitable works, naming dropping Nelson Mandela and Paul Newman, the fact he is a “first-time offender” and more, the correspondence also comes just three days after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office essentially recommended to Empire State Supreme Court Judge Burke that he bury the 67-year old Weinstein and his “total lack of remorse.

The Manhattan district attorney has urged Justice James Burke to give Harvey Weinstein a “lengthy prison sentence” worthy of the offenses he has committed, which carry a sentence of up to 29 years in prison.

In a letter signed by Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and sent to the judge on Friday, Illuzzi-Orbon outlined the findings of the D.A.’s office two-year investigation into Weinstein, which included 16 different accusations of sexual assault and harassment — dating back to 1978 — that Weinstein ultimately wasn’t charged for by the D.A.’s office, 17 different accusations of “abusive behavior in the workplace” and three other examples of “bad acts.”

“These acts, viewed in the totality, establish that throughout his entire adult professional life, defendant has displayed a staggering lack of empathy, treating others with disdain and inhumanity. He has consistently advanced his own sordid desires and fixations over the well-being of others. He has...

Five days before sex offender Harvey Weinstein is due to be sentenced in a New York City courtroom, prosecutors made it clear they want the judge to throw the Oscar-winning producer in jail and toss away the key.

Listing off a multi-page recount of rapes and other sexual assaults of which the February 24-convicted Weinstein has been accused, Assistant D.A. Joan Illuzzi-Orbon on Friday vehemently condemned the man a jury found guilty of felony sex crime and rape charges. Set to stand before Judge James Burke in Lower Manhattan’s Criminal Courts building on March 11, Weinstein, currently incarcerated at Rikers Island, is looking at a sentence of five to 29 years.

The chief prosecutor doesn’t name a figure in today’s 11-page correspondence (read it here). Yet, you can pick up pretty easily what Illuzzi-Orbon is putting down when she states: “the People will ask the the Court to...

Judge to pass sentence on March 11.

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein has been relocated from hospital to Rikers Island prison in New York after undergoing a heart operation.

The disgraced former Hollywood mogul spent the last 10 days at Bellevue Hospital where he was admitted after complaining of chest pains following guilty verdicts in two of five felony charges on February 24.

Surgeons inserted a stent into his heart to relieve a blockage. Weinstein’s lawyers said the New York City Department of Corrections decided to send him to Bellevue.

Now in Rikers, Weinstein will remain in the North Infirmary Command medical unit...

Less than a week before his sentencing hearing for multiple sex crimes, Harvey Weinstein is in an ambulance right now heading to New York’s notoriously tough Rikers Island.

Having been isolated in the Big Apple’s Bellevue Hospital with various ailments since a jury found the much-accused producer guilty of two of five felony charges on February 24, the often hobbling 67-year old Weinstein has finally been ruled in good enough health by the New York City Department of Correction to be moved to the prison’s vast North Infirmary Command.

Suffering from a blockage in his heart, Weinstein underwent mild surgery on Wednesday by doctors at the renowned hospital. “The procedure was a success and he will be carefully watched at the infirmary,” Weinstein spokesperson Juda Engelmayer confirmed to Deadline today.

Rikers is just under 10 miles from the 1st Avenue-located Bellevue and should take about 45 minutes in NYC traffic...

Harvey Weinstein won’t be hauled into a City of Angels courtroom on rape charges for at least a few more weeks, but the now convicted and much accused producer is proving a potentially decisive factor in Tuesday’s primary election for Los Angles County District Attorney.

As incumbent Jackie Lacey tries to contain the blast radius over her husband this morning threatening Black Lives Matter protesters with a gun if they didn’t get off the couple’s Granada Hills property, the bid for the powerful D.A. job has tightened in the polls. Among other topics, the main contenders for the post are fighting over why multiple sexual assault charges were only made public against Weinstein in Los Angeles in January, on the first day of his rape trial in New York City.

“There’s no objective reason to wait years to bring these charges other than to aid her prospects of reelection,...

Harvey Weinstein is “in disbelief,” but “not delusional,” about his conviction, as he remains under care at Bellevue Hospital before being transferred to Rikers Island, where he’ll be put behind bars.

“He’s still in disbelief of the charges he was convicted of. He’s very consistent about his innocence,” one of Weinstein’s attorneys, Arthur Aidala, told Variety over the phone late Wednesday night.

Weinstein was convicted Monday on two felony charges: criminal sex act in the first-degree for assaulting Miriam Haley by forcible oral sex in 2006, and rape in the third-degree for raping Jessica Mann in a New York City hotel room in 2013.

Aidala, who visited Weinstein in the hospital this week, gave some insight into Weinstein’s thoughts about his conviction.

“He’s realistic, and he knows he’s got a major problem. He’s not delusional,” Weinstein’s attorney said. “But at the same time,...

More than two years after a pair of exposes outed Harvey Weinstein as a serial sexual abuser and brought global awareness to the #MeToo movement, the former movie mogul was found guilty of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree in a Manhattan courtroom. On February 24, the ousted Weinstein Company head went from “alleged assailant” to “convicted rapist,” with a pair of guilty verdicts that could see Weinstein in prison for the rest of his life.

The New York trial covered five criminal counts, including two of predatory sexual assault, one involving Haley and actress Annabella Sciorra, the other count involving Sciorra and Jessica Mann. In addition to the predatory counts, Weinstein was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault (against Miriam Haley), and two counts of rape. The verdict found him guilty of sexually assaulting Miriam Haley at his Soho apartment on...

A juror in Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial says the testimony of accuser Annabella Sciorra was convincing to some on the jury. “The way things went for her, it was wrong,” the woman identified only as Juror No. 2 tells Inside Edition in an exclusive interview tonight.

The jury returned convictions on two counts against Weinstein on Monday, including first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree rape, charges stemming from the testimony of the trial’s primary accusers Mimi Haley and Jessica Mann.

But Weinstein was acquitted on two counts of predatory sexual assault — both involving Sciorra’s testimony of being raped by the former producer during the winter of 1993-94.

Annabella Sciorra Calls Weinstein Testimony “Painful But Necessary” After Jury Acquits On Her Charges

“I wouldn’t say [Sciorra’s testimony] wasn’t convincing, it was very much so convincing to a lot of the jurors,” the juror says. “I feel like the way things went for her,...

Harvey Weinstein never made it to jail Monday after being found guilty on multiple counts in his New York rape trial. Instead the disgraced producer is currently at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital.

Having left the Criminal Courts Building near the Big Apple’s Chinatown Monday afternoon, the already hobbled Weinstein complained of pains while in the ambulance on the way to Rikers Island. En route, the onboard medic made the call that the now-convicted rapist required greater professional treatment and told the driver to head to the hospital on First Avenue.

Weinstein seemed to be having heart palpitations, a source close to the producer tells me. But they added that he suffers from high blood pressure, and that could be playing a role as well as his other aliments.

It is not known how long the 67-year old Weinstein will be at Bellevue, which is the oldest public hospital in America.

Convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein was unavailable for comment on Monday afternoon, after being carted off to jail following a guilty verdict on two of five counts related to charges of rape and sexual assault in cases involving Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann, but one of his lawyers was on hand to provide the disgraced mogul’s thoughts on his conviction. Variety reports that Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala told assembled press that Weinstein was stunned by the rulings. “The words he said over and over again to me is, ‘I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How could this happen in America?,'” Aidala said outside the lower Manhattan courtroom.

Weinstein was found guilty on Monday morning of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree, but was acquitted of other charges leveled at him, including sexual predatory assault. The conviction in the...

As Harvey Weinstein sat in court when his verdict was being called, it was difficult to see the reaction on his face as the former powerhouse producer was surrounded by a swarm of court officers — but Weinstein’s attorney says the fallen mogul was stunned by the guilty verdict.

“The words he said over and over again to me is, ‘I’m innocent, I’m innocent, I’m innocent. How could this happen in America?'” Weinstein’s attorney Arthur Aidala told Variety and other reporters outside the courthouse shortly after the verdict was called on Monday.

Aidala was sitting next to Weinstein at the defense table as the verdict was read. The attorney says Weinstein did not take any convincing or maneuvering to get up, and was compliant when he was taken by the court officers into custody.

Weinstein was found guilty by the jury of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape,...