UNHOLY ALLIANCE?

If this is as rough-and-tumble as the Disney-Miramax relationship is going to get, neither studio has reason to complain. When Disney offered Miramax a five-year deal in 1993, both sides benefited: Miramax received a much-needed infusion of cash and access to powerful home-video and international distribution systems. And Disney's $80 million bought it some badly needed prestige (Miramax received 22 Oscar nominations this year to Disney's 10). "Because of what Miramax is worth to the company," says one Disney executive, Disney is "willing to jump through hoops for them." The next hoop, however, may be where the jumping stops. When Miramax signed its agreement with Disney, it gave up the right to release any movie that was rated NC-17, which Disney policy forbids. Now, in the form of photographer Larry Clark's drama, Kids, a gritty documentary-like cautionary tale that contains simulated sex acts and drug use by actors playing teenagers, Miramax's severest test of its parent may be near. "While it looks like a docudrama," says Weinstein, "90 percent of the film is scripted. There are no problems on any level." But according to those who saw the picture at the Sundance Film Festival in January-its only public showing so far-Kids stands a good chance of earning an NC-17 from the MPAA. Miramax has squirmed its way out of such troubles before, hiring attorney Alan Dershowitz to win an R rating for Clerks. But last spring, Miramax was forced to relinquish Martin Lawrence's NC-17-rated You So Crazy. "I had a great relationship with Martin Lawrence," sighs Weinstein. "We were talking about making movies together." The film went on to gross $10 million for an archrival, the Samuel Goldwyn company. Weinstein says he won't let that happen again. "No other distributor is going to get it," Weinstein says of Kids, which he acquired for $3.5 million. "Not to walk away (from the movie is) the most important thing I've done." But if he continues to dig in his heels after the film is shown to the MPAA in the next few months, a showdown looms. Walt Disney Motion Picture Group chairman Joe Roth drew his line in the sand at an entertainment-industry seminar in April. "There's a charter, and it's in black and white," he said. "Miramax can make the pictures it wants as long as they're under a certain budget range, and as long as the MPAA rates it R, Disney will release it." If it becomes necessary, Weinstein is prepared to use personal funds to create an independent company through which he would release Kids unrated-after buying it back from Miramax. Whether that would satisfy Disney-or its heartland critics-is unclear. Despite Disney's and Miramax's insistence that their union is strong, the Weinsteins, with three years left on their contract, pine, if not for more freedom, then perhaps for old mentor Jeffrey Katzenberg, who helped orchestrate the Miramax-Disney deal, then left the company and cofounded DreamWorks SKG. While Weinstein claims that Roth and Disney chairman Michael Eisner are no less supportive, "my business quadrupled under Jeffrey. He was a great cheerleader. He used a Brillo pad to get rid of our rough edges." Not all of them; Weinstein is still a far cry from a slick Hollywood film executive. At one end of a panel at the Wertheim Schroder & Co. entertainment industry conference in New York earlier this month, the usually cocky Weinstein, stuffed into an ill-fitting sport jacket, seemed distinctly out of place. When impeccably suited Viacom chairman Jonathan L. Dolgen razzed him about his penchant for relentlessly promoting his movies, Weinstein smiled grimly, then interrupted a Dolgen soliloquy on budgets, demanding to know how much Paramount was spending on the costly comedy Sabrina. Dolgen fell silent; then, as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jane Fonda looked on in amusement, the two men lobbed grenades at each other across the table. "Jonathan Dolgen speechless?" chortled Weinstein. "Not for long," replied the furious executive. Disney's Roth gallantly leaned forward, blocking Weinstein, and politely argued a few points with Dolgen, deflecting the confrontation. Weinstein is not accustomed to letting someone else do the talking for him: "After that situation, it was clear that I'm not in the club," he says, drawing his own line in the sand. "You know what? That's fine with me. I'm happy to stay where I am. I like what we do better." *