Ready to Rumble

Image credit: Gangs of New York: Mario Tursi

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Despite the overruns, Weinstein insists ''Gangs'' won't bust the bottom line. '''The English Patient,' believe it or not, was riskier, based on where we were with that cast and with an unproven director,'' Weinstein says of the 1996 Oscar winner, which grossed $78.7 million domestically. ''We didn't have the foreign component like we have on this. If we lost all our money on this movie, we'd lose $16 million tops.'' By comparison, Weinstein says he came up $11 million short on last year's Kevin Spacey drama ''The Shipping News.''

But money wasn't the only thing on the mind of the man often dubbed in the industry Harvey Scissorhands. On his frequent visits to Rome (totaling some 16 weeks in all), Weinstein conferred so vocally with Scorsese that reports of dissension on the set soon surfaced -- something both now downplay. ''What I was able to achieve for Marty was the realization of his dream to make this particular movie,'' notes Weinstein, who plans a vigorous campaign for ''Gangs'' in hopes of ending Scorsese's Oscar drought after three directorial nominations. ''I brought every one of my producing skills that have been honed over 22 years.'' Weinstein even persuaded U2 to write and record a new song for the credits, tentatively titled ''These Are the Hands That Built America.''

Scorsese concedes that it took him a while to reconcile Weinstein's dual role as producer and financier. ''He looked at my footage and told me how much he loved it,'' says Scorsese. ''But he had to watch the budget and the schedule. And then you add to that that Harvey Weinstein is a really colorful character and I'm also excitable at times. The nature of the pressure of the film caused us to have our disagreements, but it was always constructive.''

Others on hand during the shoot seem to agree. ''It was a classic give-and-take between these two people who are larger than life in the movie business,'' says Joe Reidy, assistant director and a coproducer. Adds Diaz: ''I had an amazing experience on the set. I'm not involved in the politics of the whole thing.'' Weinstein now says his real worry wasn't the budget or the schedule but whether audiences would embrace a story so rooted in 150-year-old history.

After Scorsese whittled the film down to three hours, a test screening for 400 was held Jan. 31 in New Jersey. Weinstein and Scorsese stood in the back of the theater, sweating it out. ''That was scary,'' Weinstein says. ''I said for sure they are not going to understand a goddamn thing and we're just going to have to hang ourselves.'' Weinstein and Scorsese say the test results were so positive that they celebrated that night with an Italian feast. ''We were giggling like two schoolboys,'' Weinstein says. ''Their only concern was length.''

Scorsese, who has control over the final cut, has trimmed ''Gangs'' to a final running time of two hours and 40 minutes. ''If I could've gotten it down to two hours, I would have,'' says Scorsese. ''With this kind of money you owe something to the people who are going to pay for the tickets.'' Like a full shot of St. Thomas.

(Additional reporting by Kelly Choi)