Movies

The Weinstein Company is already feeling the heat ... a major film financier has pulled the plug on a massive loan because Harvey's no longer steering the ship.

AI International Holdings fronted a $45 million loan to TWC last year. We've learned AI sent a letter to TWC and their lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers Tuesday, demanding that the money be returned pronto.

AI says in its letter, "The dismissal of Harvey Weinstein from his position as co-chairman" constitutes a "material adverse change" ... allowing them to demand immediate repayment of the loan.

AI's film division has financed some major movies, including "Lee Daniels' The Butler," "Hacksaw Ridge," and the soon-to-be released Miramax film, "I, Tonya."

This underscores the dilemma for TWC ... it was all Harvey, and now that he's gone it's unclear how they will continue to do business. TMZ broke the story, Harvey is in settlement talks with the company and is open to some sort of outside relationship after he gets back from sex rehab in Europe.

Here's Jean-Claude Van Damme and UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer proving 60 is really the new 30 -- lookin' absolutely JACKED at a workout sesh.

The pic comes to us courtesy of Buffer ... who says he was droppin' sweat with his old buddy JCVD at a Gold's Gym.

Pretty crazy -- Buff actually looks BIGGER than Jean-Claude ... though the movie star gets props for his ripped-up arm. Bottom line -- both are in insanely good shape.

Probably helps that JCVD's still kickin' ass in "Kickboxer" reboots ... almost 3 decades after the original!

Tyrese says he's not mad at The Rock for doing a spin-off of 'Fast & Furious,' but then Tyrese goes after him with a vengeance, essentially saying he's a selfish actor who screwed his loyal fan base just to get ahead.

We got the 'Fast' actor Tuesday, chillin' in a limo near Catch, and asked about what we thought was his social media feud with Dwayne Johnson. At first Tyrese says there's no beef, but watch him ratchet up the rhetoric as he continues to grouse that the release date of 'F9' was pushed back to 2020 to accommodate The Rock's work schedule for the spin-off.

Sounds like beef to us.

Nia Long used Dove products, UNTIL she read the label.

We got Nia Tuesday in one of the treasures of L.A. -- Larchmont Village -- and asked her about the brouhaha over the soap.

It's pretty stunning ... she says she was a fan of Dove until she noticed the description on the box that said it was for "normal to dark skin." Translation ... dark skin isn't normal.

That's all she wrote for Nia ... who raised the bar and chose a different bar.

The Napa estate Lindsay Lohan schemed her way into "The Parent Trap" has miraculously been spared by wildfires in Northern California ... at least for now.

Staglin Family Vineyards -- portrayed as Dennis Quaid's "Parker Knoll" in the movie -- is currently unscathed by any of the surrounding fires in the area ... so says the owner.

Shari Staglin tells TMZ her property in the town of Rutherford hasn't been touched in the midst of raging blazes this week, despite bordering towns having been evacuated. She says the nearest fires are 3-5 miles away ... and threatening winds have started to die down.

Staglin also notes the property -- comprised of a vineyard and 2 mansions -- is surrounded by streams, so she's expecting to be fine. She's also housing some evacuated employees and families there, too, through the disaster.

The fires in NorCal have killed at least 15 so far, and scorched up to 100,000 acres.

The Weinstein Company is facing its first lawsuit in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal.

The suit was filed by former Paramount President of Production Brad Weston and producer Michael Menchel, who claim they produced a movie for TWC called "One Chance." The suit claims they accepted a reduced fee for their work in exchange for back end profits. In return, they say TWC company promised the movie would appear on 800 screens, but only ended up on 43.

The movie -- based on a true story -- starred James Corden, as a shy shop assistant who was an amateur opera singer at night and ended up winning "Britain's Got Talent."

Weston and Menchel want $1.25 million each.

Seeing as how it was only on 43 screens, this is probably your first glimpse at the flick.

Ben Affleck is flat out lying if he wants people to think he didn't know about Harvey Weinstein ... at least according to Rose McGowan who says she told Ben face-to-face.

Shortly after Ben issued his first comments about Weinstein -- with whom he worked closely on several movies, including "Good Will Hunting" -- Rose blasted the actor for making it sound like Weinstein's pattern of sexual harassment was news to him. She claims she told Ben that Weinstein assaulted her, and Ben replied, "Goddamnit! I told him to stop doing that."

She says she even remembers where Ben said it -- while they were at a news conference for a movie they did. Rose adds she was forced to go to the event after Weinstein had assaulted her.

She told Ben ... "You lie."

Rob Schneider wants to make one thing clear about Harvey Weinstein -- the mogul is no lone wolf, and Rob knows it because he too was sexually harassed by a director.

While Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan have all blasted Weinstein for his behavior -- Rob told us this kind of harassment and abuse also happens to men. He recalled a famous "gross director" making a semi-nude pass at him.

Rob says the director is now dead, but the incident has clearly stuck with him. Likewise, actor Terry Crews went public today with a run-in he had with a male studio exec ... just last year.

Harvey Weinstein's new accuser alleges he begged her to watch him masturbate in the hot tub in his hotel nearly a decade ago.

Louisette Geiss -- a former actress and screenplay writer with credits on "Two and a Half Men" and "The Drew Carey Show" -- came forward Tuesday with the new accusations as she was flanked by her attorney, Gloria Allred. Geiss joined a score of women who have spoken against the former studio exec, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

Geiss said the incident went down in 2008 when Weinstein invited her to watch the premiere of "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden" at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Geiss says Weinstein later invited her to his hotel room to further discuss the script she was pitching.

Geiss goes on to say she heard rumors about Weinstein coming on to women and made him promise and shake her hand -- while under a security camera at the hotel -- not to touch her. She says he shook her hand and laughed it off.

Then, the alleged harassment.

Gwyneth Paltrow says Harvey Weinstein got sexually aggressive with her and her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt confronted the movie mogul.

Gwyneth told the New York Times the incident happened in the mid-'90s when she was 22 years old. Weinstein had just cast her in a star-making role in the movie "Emma." She says she had a meeting scheduled with Weinstein at the Peninsula Beverly Hills Hotel.

Paltrow says she was in a hotel suite with Weinstein when he placed his hands on her and suggested they head to the bedroom. Paltrow says she immediately left and said to herself, "I thought you were my Uncle Harvey."

She says she confided in Brad Pitt and he approached Weinstein at a movie premiere and told him never to touch her again.

Paltrow says Weinstein later called her and screamed at her for a long time and she feared she was going to lose the movie role.

Angelina Jolie now claims she too was sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein ... sources tell TMZ.

Our sources say Jolie claims in 1998, when she was doing a junket for Weinstein's movie, "Playing by Heart," she was in a hotel room and he made "an unwanted advance" toward her. She says she was taken aback and declined the advance and he backed off.

The movie was made while Weinstein was running Miramax.

We're told Jolie says she never complained about Weinstein's alleged move ... until now. But she told the New York Times, "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warned others when they did."

Ben Affleck is condemning Harvey Weinstein -- who helped make him an Oscar winner -- calling his actions "completely unacceptable."

Affleck says reading the allegations against Weinstein made him sick, especially because they'd worked together so closely on "Good Will Hunting" -- the 1997 Miramax release that earned Ben his first Oscar.

Rose McGowan seemed to be calling out Ben and his brother Casey on Monday with a vague tweet ... suggesting they've known about Weinstein's behavior, but had remained silent.

Affleck added in his statement, "We must support those who come forward" and condemn behavior like Weinstein's. He also said having "more women in positions of power" would help.

Speaking of women in power ... Hillary Clinton finally sounded off on Weinstein, who's famously made sizeable donations to her political campaigns.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal just got exponentially worse -- he was caught on tape asking a model to watch him shower ... and the recording was just released.

The New Yorker put out the audio Tuesday in a new bombshell report with women -- including actress Asia Argento -- claiming the Hollywood producer committed rape and sexual assault -- far more serious than just the alleged chronic harassment reported by The New York Times.

The new report also includes audio of Weinstein captured by a Filipina-Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez as part of a 2015 NYPD sting operation ... where you hear Weinstein beg the woman to come in his room and watch him shower ... to her great displeasure.

He also admits to groping her breast and saying "I'm used to that" ... promising he won't do it again if she just comes inside. He eventually dismisses her when she refuses ... for like the 10th time.

The NYPD was reportedly ready to arrest Weinstein for his conduct, but there wasn't enough to charge him. According to a statement from the Manhattan DA's Office ... they would have prosecuted Weinstein in 2015 if they could have, but "the audio was insufficient to prove a crime."

Weinstein's already been fired from his own company ... only time will tell what else happens to him now.

Judge Judy is big into karma, and thinks Harvey Weinstein got what he deserved for years of alleged sexual harassment.

We got the most famous judge in America leaving Craig's in WeHo Monday night, and she had no sympathy for the fired movie titan. She thinks Weinstein was off base to beg his powerful friends to go to bat for him to prevent his firing.

Harvey Weinstein made a failed attempt to save his job in the 11th hour, firing off an email to other studio execs and asking them to back him in his time of need.

Weinstein's email said, "My board is thinking of firing me. All I'm asking, is let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling." He added ... "A lot of the allegations are false as you know but given therapy and counseling as other have done, I think I'd be able to get there."

As we reported, The Weinstein Co. fired its head honcho Sunday after the New York Times story alleging he'd sexually harassed employees, actresses and others for decades. It seems the letters of support were never sent, or simply weren't persuasive enough.

The Hollywood Reporter says Ron Meyer and Jeffery Katzenberg were among the recipients of the email.

Weinstein laid it on thick though ... "I am desperate for your help. Just give me the time to have therapy. Do not let me be fired."

Chris Hardwick ripped Harvey Weinstein for his lame I-grew-up-in-the-'60s excuse ... but not before offering advice to young actresses on how to avoid creeps like him.

We got Chris at LAX and asked him about the studio exec getting fired from the company he founded for rampant sexual harassment allegations over a 3-decade period that, among others, included Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan.