Catch and Kill

Roman Khaykin and Igor Ostrovskiy sit in a car outside Farrow’s home. Farrow leaves for a meeting with David Corvo, and the private investigators follow him. An experienced newsman, Corvo is the producer chosen by NBC to conduct a meticulous review of the Harvey Weinstein story. He has previous experience in similar cases, having covered the Juanita Broaddrick story for NBC. Broaddrick had accused President Bill Clinton of rape, and NBC only aired her interview after she threatened to take the story elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Farrow, a woman at NBC accused Corvo of sexually harassing her via text messages. The case against him was settled for $1 million.

Meanwhile, the private investigators take turns surveilling Farrow around the clock. They lose Farrow when he attends a meeting with David Remnick and an editor named Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn. She has researched the background of the Harvey Weinstein story in great detail. Both she and Remnick are astonished that NBC may not run the story. They tell Farrow that The New Yorker is very interested if NBC passes. As he exits the meeting, feeling assured, a string of 200 spam messages appear on his phone from different numbers. These are used by Khaykin and Ostrovskiy to try and locate him.

Harvey Weinstein continues to pursue any updates about the story from people at NBC. Andy Lack, who has been accused of sexual harassment, joins a phone call with lawyer David Boies. Lack confirms that NBC is not running a story about Weinstein and that he will let Boies know if that changes.

Farrow flies to Los Angeles to meet Canosa. While he flies, McHugh receives a frantic phone call from Rich Greenberg demanding that they cease any new reporting. Farrow receives the same instruction when he lands but refuses to follow it. He casually calls Oppenheim and mentions the original offer to take the story to another outlet. Oppenheim almost seems relieved. Within a day, he and Greenberg move to stop all new reporting on the story, including filming new interviews. Farrow calls The New Yorker. He worries that working on the story without the backing of a news organization means that he has no protection. He proceeds nervously with his reporting while awaiting news from the magazine’s legal department. When the news finally comes, they tell him to proceed. Farrow hires his own camera crew to shoot the interview with Canosa. The interview is devastating, and Canosa specifically condemns news outlets who are intimidated into not reporting the story. 

In late August 2017, Farrow meets with Emily Nestor who agrees to continue with the story even after the change in news outlet. He writes the draft of the story and sends it to The New Yorker. Harvey Weinstein continues to demand updates from people at NBC. He sends Lanny Davis to the NBC offices to find out more from Oppenheim, who confirms that Farrow is no longer working on the story for NBC

Farrow takes a meeting with important people from The New Yorker. He runs them quickly through the story and fields questions. The magazine agrees to move forward with the story subject to fact checking. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein meets an actress and then retires to a corner with Dylan Howard of the National Enquirer. They spend hours examining thick folders of information. Howard has recently published several stories targeting NBC news anchor Matt Lauer for alleged infidelity. 

Harvey Weinstein continues what Farrow calls his “usual mix of intimidation and influence in the media” (141). He reaches out to powerful media figures and tries to set up business deal while also contacting many people at NBC. He begins to believe that both the story and Farrow have been dropped by NBC. As for Farrow, he assumes that he remains on NBC’s staff and that his contract will be renewed in four months. But in a meeting with Oppenheim, he is told that there is no longer any room in the budget to keep Farrow on the staff.

Farrow flies to his boyfriend’s house in Los Angeles. There, he receives a call from the British reporter Seth Freedman. Their conversation comes to a polite but firm end. Freedman makes several similar calls to Farrow, all based on instructions he receives from Black Cube. About two weeks later, Farrow receives a call from NBC’s legal team demanding that he never mention their name when contacting sources. Weinstein is ecstatic with these developments. He assumes that he has the power to kill any story. He even reaches out to Oppenheim with an email and a gift to bury any disagreements between them.

Farrow’s agents try to contact him. Harvey Weinstein has been hounding them all summer to demand a meeting with Farrow. He bombards the agents’ offices with letters threatening to sue Farrow unless he immediately stops his reporting. Farrow forwards everything to The New Yorker’s legal team and continues his reporting. He is surprised to see Lisa Bloom’s name connected with Weinstein’s legal defense. He contacts her and expresses his disappointment and frustration. She tells him to come and talk to her but he refuses. 

Farrow continues his investigation. He contacts Mira Sorvino who starred in a Woody Allen movie distributed by Harvey Weinstein. One of the first things she says to Farrow is that she has “lost so much of my career to this” (148). Weinstein spent years pursuing and harassing her and then deliberately ruined her career when she rejected him. She agrees to speak to Farrow but her voice always has a note of fear whenever she talks about Weinstein. Sorvino warns Farrow that Weinstein has “nefarious connections” (149) to people who might harm him.

Rosanna Arquette finally agrees to talk to Farrow. She tells a story about a meeting with Weinstein that is relocated at the last minute to his hotel room whereupon he demanded sexual favors in return for professional advancements in the entertainment industry. Arquette also beliefs her career suffered for having rejected Weinstein and claims that many powerful men in the entertainment industry protect one another. She agrees to be part of the story but does not believe that it will be published.

Meanwhile, a literary agent named Lacy Lynch who has become close friends with Rose McGowan takes a meeting with Weinstein. She tries to sell him numerous movie projects. Lynch is the person who introduced Diana Filip to McGowan. Since that time, McGowan and Filip grew even closer. They discuss how to tell McGowan’s life story. Filip wants all of the information about how explicitly McGowan is willing to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct. McGowan trusts Filip completely. 

Farrow spends months trying to track down Asia Argento. Although the Italian actress and filmmaker is terrified to talk about her experience with Harvey Weinstein, she finally agrees to an interview. She recalls being taken to a hotel room by a Weinstein employee and being left alone in Weinstein’s room. The routine is familiar. He asked for a massage and then sexually assaulted her. Eventually, she feigned enjoyment to make the nightmare end, and she spent years regretting that she did not fight back harder. For a long time after she felt under his control and as though he had won. Argento embodies for Farrow “a collision of complications” (153) as she has also being accused of having sex with a 17-year-old boy with whom she reached a financial settlement. Despite Argento’s later actions, Farrow corroborates her story about Weinstein. He notes that many perpetrators of sexual abuse were themselves victims at one time. Nevertheless, the media expects all victims to be saints, otherwise they are “disregarded as sinners” (153).

The sources Farrow talks to point him toward new sources. He talks to actresses Sophie Dix and Emma de Caunes, both of whom have stories about Weinstein and are willing to go on record. 

Despite his success in securing interviews, Farrow hits many dead ends. Many people simply refuse to talk about Weinstein. There are others who have known Weinstein for years but seem “sincerely to know little about the claims surrounding him” (156), Farrow writes. Still others regard Weinstein’s behavior as an open secret while certain individuals seem to report back to Weinstein whenever Farrow contacts them.

Weinstein makes progress of his own. He reaches out to Farrow’s father Woody Allen in the hope of proving the existence of a conflict of interest. Allen refuses to get involved, but Weinstein researches many of the same tactics Allen used when shutting down accusations from Farrow and his sister years before. Weinstein also contacts Farrow’s sources and tries to intimidate them into silence. He meets with investigators and employees of Black Cube. A woman named Anna has extensive recordings of McGowan discussing her upcoming book in which she plans to make accusations against Weinstein. 

As The New Yorker fact-checks his story, Farrow returns home and spots the same silver car he has seen many times outside his apartment. He finally relents to friends’ warnings to take his security seriously and moves into a house owned by his friend Sophie. Although the security in the new home is much tighter, Farrow considers buying a gun.

Rumors suggest that the New York Times is moving forward with their own story about Harvey Weinstein. Farrow encourages his sources to talk to whomever they feel comfortable with. When news comes that the New York Times are about to publish, no one knows whether the story will be about the sexual harassment or the charity mismanagement under investigation by McHugh. The story hits the press and McHugh immediately texts Farrow: The New York Times is focused on the charity. Farrow tries to accelerate his publication out of fear that he may be beaten to the press, but The New Yorker editorial team refuses to rush the story. Soon, they will have to reach out to Weinstein for a comment. 

Farrow is exhausted as the story edges closer to publication. The fact-checkers begin to call sources and Weinstein ramps up his threatening behavior. He sends legal letters to The New Yorker and his tactics appear to be informed by those used by Woody Allen many years prior. Weinstein’s lawyers, including Lisa Bloom, claim that Farrow has been brainwashed by his sister and her accusations against their father.

Weinstein takes a meeting with the New York Times which is readying its own article about his sexual misconduct. The news reaches Farrow who breaks down on the phone to his boyfriend. He worries that he has gambled everything on the story only to be beaten to publication by another journalist.

Farrow meets with the New Yorker editorial team. The legal threats from Weinstein are dismissed out of hand. The magazine offers to defend Farrow in case he is personally sued. As he leaves the office that evening, Farrow receives a message from Asia Argento’s partner Anthony Bourdain. The message encourages Farrow to move ahead with the story. In the following weeks, the fact-checkers double down in their efforts. Weinstein’s legal team seems almost resigned to the inevitable publication of the story. 

The mounting pressure takes a toll on Weinstein. His behavior is even more erratic than usual, and his appearance is increasingly haggard. The team he assembles to fight the accusations includes Lisa Bloom and Dylan Howard. Farrow sits down and finally calls the Weinstein Company for a comment about his story. He reaches Weinstein himself, but the man hangs up as soon as Farrow mentions the possibility of recording the conversation. Farrow tries again later that day with the same result. Eventually, Weinstein begins to talk and then he cannot help himself. He lashes out and attacks Farrow. He ends the call by telling Farrow to direct all questions to Lisa Bloom.

Later that day the New York Times publishes their article. Weinstein’s team sits and reads it in silence. Weinstein is not too bothered by this story but fears The New Yorker’s imminent article on the same subject. Farrow and his editorial team sit and read the New York Times piece. They agree that the story is powerful but there are “no allegations of assault or rape” (167). Weinstein’s team releases a statement suggesting that the allegations are the result of a misunderstanding, the product of Weinstein’s old-fashioned tendencies which he never updated for a modern world. Lisa Bloom frames Weinstein’s behavior as the mild indiscretions of an “old dinosaur learning new ways” (167). Weinstein himself claims that he is in the process of reforming and that Bloom is helping him to do so. He promises to get therapy and donate to women’s charities. Farrow’s phone begins to buzz. Everyone encourages him to publish as quickly as possible. 

Harvey Weinstein issues a rallying cry to his staff declaring his innocence in the wake of the article from the New York Times. He tells his employees that he is “going to war” (169). Some employees cannot tolerate him any longer and quit. The board of his company calls an emergency meeting in which he denies everything. The meeting ends in a furious argument. Afterward, Weinstein reaches out to any possible ally and pleads with them for their support. He calls in every favor from everyone in the chain of command at outlets like NBC. McHugh has a story ready to go about Weinstein’s charity scandal, but it is pulled at the last minute. Only after ex-employees allude publicly to the story is it reinstated and published.

Farrow is banned from any NBC set, even on stories unrelated to Weinstein. The Weinstein story picks up steam across the other networks and refuses to go away. The only network which shies away from the story is NBC. Even comedy shows like Saturday Night Live refuse to acknowledge the developing story. Executives and important people at NBC begin to brief reporters that they never really had a story and that Farrow “really didn’t have anything” (171) which might incriminate Weinstein. Many people at NBC blame Noah Oppenheim for the lack of Weinstein coverage on the network.