Rudin walks away from The Reader, and the real drama begins

By Steven Zeitchik

Longer-running than the presidential campaign and more surreal than Sarah Palin's candidacy, "The Reader" saga added yet another bizarre chapter late Thursday. The Weinstein Company confirmed that Scott Rudin has severed ties with the pic -- which means he won't be involved in the post session that Stephen Daldry and editor Claire Simpson are currently engaged in and likely won't be credited as a producer on the movie.

Lots of speculation about Rudin's endgame -- did he walk away in disgust or because of a (still-undiscovered) strategy? There's also the possibility that Harvey had a role in his leaving the pic, though it should be said that the Weinstein Company seemed genuinely surprised by the Rudin move late Thursday night. Either way, without Rudin the movie is now wholly a Harvey Weinstein enterprise, a movie over which he will completely dictate terms as he shapes an Oscar contender produced by his late compatriots Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack.

The coda to what had already been a difficult battle -- months of high-pitched, lawyer-enhanced back and forth between the two men over whether the movie will be released this year -- does suggest once and for all that these two titans of indie film won't be able to work together no matter the vision, dollars or glue (in this case, Daldry) holding them together. Not that we should be surprised. Given their historical rockiness on pics like "The Hours," this was a marriage fraught from the start, and even a Kumbaya moment a few weeks ago when they reputedly agreed on release date and post support turned out to be short-lived.

But Rudin's departure hardly means an end to the drama. With TWC putting many eggs in this awards basket, and with Rudin sitting on two buzz Oscar candidates himself in "Doubt" and "Revolutionary Road," you can bet that both men will pull out all the stops to best not just other movies but each other when the gold-statue derby picks up the pace. Can you say Oscarfight?