Like a game of “men who (allegedly) mistreated women” dominoes, the current scandal surrounding Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Co., and the suspension of a top-level Amazon executive due to accusations of sexual harassment, appear to have come together tonight to take out David O. Russell’s long-in-the-works Mafia show for the service. The untitled series—set to star Robert DeNiro and Julianne Moore—was one of two Amazon projects in development with help from TWC; the other, Matthew Weiner’s The Romanoffs, will continue forward, shorn of its Weinstein connections and funding.
Amazon has been mulling over what to do about its business connections to the now-disgraced Weinstein, who was fired from his studio last week amid ever-increasing allegations of sexual harassment and assault against women, for a few days now. Yesterday, the service issued a press statement to that effect, at the same time that it announced it was placing programming chief Roy Price on a leave of indefinite absence, thanks to harassing comments he allegedly made to Man In The High Castle producer Isa Dick Hackett in 2015.
“Amazon Studios no longer plans on moving forward with the David O. Russell Project,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “As for The Romanoffs, Amazon intends to move forward without the involvement of The Weinstein Company.” A joint representative for DeNiro, Moore, and Russell—who’s faced his own allegations of abusive behavior from performers in the past—confirmed that the show is dead: “We support Amazon’s decision as in light of recent news and out of respect for all those affected we have decided together that it is best to not move forward with this show.”