Director, actor Rob Reiner talks to WISH-TV about new film ‘LBJ,’ Harvey Weinstein
INDIANAPOLIS Ind. (WISH) – Hollywood actor, director and producer Rob Reiner was in town to showcase the new film he directed titled “LBJ.”
Heartland Film Festival kicked off Thursday night with a red carpet event. More than 250 films are being shown in Indianapolis over the next week, including “LBJ.”
The biopic stars Woody Harrelson as LBJ. It depicts Johnson’s rise to power. It kicked off the festivities at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Every year the red carpet event for the Heartland Film Festival features some pretty big names in Hollywood and this year that was Rob Reiner.
Reiner has had a long career in TV and movies and is known for directing classics like “Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “Spinal Tap.” He’s visited Indianapolis for the festival before and says Hoosiers are the perfect way to tell if a movie will do well across the country.
“This is a great place to screen a film, it’s not Hollywood and not New York and it is a different audience that, hopefully, if you can appeal to an audience here you got a good chance of being successful around the country,” said Reiner.
Reiner is also known for being outspoken politically. He even had a job in the California government. He says what’s going on in the White House and around Hollywood is a systemic problem in society. When asked about the Harvey Weinstein scandal Reiner says he didn’t know it was going on and he is disgusted by the accusations against Weinstein.
“This is not about Harvey Weinstein, it’s disgusting but here’s the thing, this is what’s hard for women,” said Reiner. “Look at how many years Harvey Weinstein was doing it before people were willing to come forward or came out. It was kept under wraps. This went on forever and all it says to me is the women have it impossible. They are either not believed or believed they were asking for it or they’re destroyed and they’re buried and overpowered by more powerful men and that to me is what needs to be talked about.”
You can get tickets for the rest of the film festival with 250 movies showing. Tickets are for the AMC theaters in Castleton and AMC Showplace at Traders Point. “LBJ” is in theaters across the country Nov. 3.