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Spring 2008 hasn't been kind to Harvey Weinstein and his little production company. First, his close friend Anthony Minghella passed away (prompting a highly critical piece penned by New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein), then he butted heads with the Marley family over his planned biopic on the reggae singer, and now the portly producer finds himself at the center of NBC and Lifetime's battle for Project Runway. Moments after Lifetime announced their five-year $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co. to take over the helm of Bravo's signature show, Jeff Zucker and his peacocked lawyers immediately responded by suing Harvey and his goons for breach-of-contract. And insiders at NBC aren't keeping mum about their feelings towards the money-hungry Weinstein:

"Harvey hates us passionately, always did...He despises Bravo because he thinks we didn't pay him enough."

As the NY Post reports, Lifetime will be shelling out $1 million per episode to the Weinstein Co for Runway, while Bravo was set to pay only $600K per episode for the next two seasons. And sources say Weinstein had dollar signs in his eyes since Runway's early days: "The situation came to a head after Season 3 when Macy's...dropped its show sponsorship after Weinstein insisted that a representative from Wal-Mart, where he had a DVD deal, appear on the finale." Coupled with Weinstein's alleged resentment towards Zucker and co. for undermining his involvement with the show, the Post blames Harvey's ego and greed for all the animosity. For Weinstein's sake, we certainly hope one of his "five true friends" includes whichever judge is assigned to this case.