Goldie Hawn revealed that she was once set to star in the hit musical Chicago back in the 1980s — until the now-disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein helped to age her out of the role.
Hawn, 77, said she as set to star in the film and to produce it nearly four decades ago before Weinstein, 70 — whom Paris Hilton recently accused of trying to follow her into a bathroom at Cannes — tried to insert an actress 20 years younger than her, according to a recent profile in Variety.
Weinstein and his former production and distribution company Miramax eventually released the film in 2002 to strong reviews from critics, six Academy Awards — including Best Picture — and more than $300 million at the global box office.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, who took on the role that Hawn had helped to develop, was honored with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role — though it may not have hurt Hawn too much, as she already had the same trophy for her role in 1969’s Cactus Flower.
But the veteran star noted that she at least got paid the full amount she was owed, even though Weinstein had pushed her out of her own project.
Missed opportunity: Goldie Hawn, 77, revealed to Variety that she was set to star in and produce a version of the hit musical Chicago back in the 1980s — until disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein kicked her off the project; seen in 2021 in Washington, DC
Pushed aside: Hawn had developed the musical back in the 1980s, but she says that Weinstein commissioned a new screenplay that made her character 20 years younger than her, icing her out of the part; seen in 2009 with Weinstein and her daughter Kate Hudson
Has to hurt: Catherine Zeta-Jones later won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role Hawn would have played, and Chicago won five other Oscars, including Best Picture
According to Hawn, she was going to star in the ’80s version of Chicago with Madonna in the role that eventually went to Renée Zellweger.
The stage show — with music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and original director Bob Fosse — was still relatively recent at the time after opening in 1975.
‘Harvey basically undermined me and Madonna,’ Hawn told the publication. ‘I really don’t know how she felt about it. You know, she just went with the tide.’
She had significant creative control over the development of the film project due to her status as a producer, but Weinstein eased his way into the development due to his role at Miramax, which he cofounded with his brother Bob Weinstein in 1979.
He reportedly commissioned a new screenplay for the film, which now wrote Hawn’s character Velma Kelly as a 23-year-old, even though she was 20 years older than that.
The Overboard actress was furious with Weinstein and confronted him over the changes, which endangered her future with the project.
‘I said, “Don’t f*** with me. Because I know just what you’re doing. We made a deal,”‘ she recounted saying.
With her seemingly out of the picture, Chicago gathered dust until it was revived to become the 2002 hit musical, which also starred Richard Gere and John C. Reilly.
Despite the venom she directed at Weinstein, he eventually acquiesced and paid her what she was owed for her work on the earlier version of Chicago.
‘You stand up to a bully, and sometimes you win,’ she added.
Ironically, Hawn felt optimistic about Weinstein after he paid her, before the extent of his sex crimes were fully made public.
‘I said to him afterwards, “You know what the best part of you paying me is? Not the money. You restored my faith in dignity and ethics.”
‘Little did I know,’ she added.
Leading ladies: Hawn was set to costar with Madonna in the role that was eventually filled by Renée Zellweger; seen in 1980
Cashed out: Weinstein’s version sat dormant until the 2002 version, but he still had to pay Hawn what she was owed. He was later sent to prison for decades for his sex crimes; seen in 2011 in Cannes, France
Now, she says that Weinstein — who will most likely spend the rest of his life behind bars — is ‘finally living his karma.’
In 2020, he was convicted of a criminal sex act and third-degree rape, charges which earned him 23 years in prison.
He was convicted in New York, but he was later charged with additional crimes in California and extradited to Los Angeles.
Weinstein was convicted of three of seven charges in December 2022, and he was sentenced to 16 additional years, which he will begin serving immediately once his previous sentence has expired.