According to a Weinstein Co. source, everyone who's headed to the Cannes film festival to support the many projects they've got in competition there, including the Quentin Tarantino half of Grindhouse, will be flying to France economy-class. Well, everyone except Harvey, who's flying there in his private plane, of course. So is the big bossman feeling the pinch of Grindhouse, Factory Girl and Breaking and Entering's respective floppy openings? Well, in other areas, it doesn't seem like he's hurting—he was just yesterday crowing to the Post about how much money he plans to pump into Halston, the "iconic brand" he bought as a present for his girlfriend. And we also hear that "50% of the Cannes budget is just his hotel, his plane." So maybe he's just still a huge jerkface! Making his staff travel with the common people!

Is it perhaps your fault, movie-goer, that Grindhouse opened to startlingly bad box office? As the Times writes today, its take is $11.6 million, to be exact—less than half than had been projected. Grindhouse's disappointing opening, coupled with the less-than-stellar showings by films like Factory Girl and Breaking and Entering, has led to speculation that Harvey Weinstein—for so long, the Manhattan king of Hollywood and the pioneer of the sorta-independent film—might be vulnerable for the first (well, sort of second!) time in his formidable career. Is he suffering from outsized expectations? Or is there something more nefarious at work? To the evidence!

• In a rare interview with British Vogue, Kate Moss discussed her compassion for the paparazzi: "'Once I was walking from The Mercer [hotel] in New York down the street (because otherwise I don't walk anywhere), and this woman paparazzo who was following me fell over a fire hydrant and her whole tooth went through her lip. I leant over her, saying, 'Are you all right?' and she was still taking pictures. I was, 'You know what? You are sick in the head.'" [Independent]
  

It's generally understood among people who generally understand this sort of thing that the only reason award-show-going actresses wear designs from upstart UK fashion duo Marchesa is that the brunette Georgina Chapman half of the company is banging Harvey Weinstein. Today, the Times saddles up the elephant in the room and rides it around the petting zoo, getting plenty of fashion insiders to subtly imply that Marchesa would be nothing without the Miramax heavyweight's fiscal support and strong-army influence. But what does Harvey make of the haters? "The people who say things like that are just jealous. It takes away from the talent that Marchesa has exemplified." Talent for what, though, he didn't say.

· CBS's Les Moonves agrees to a skittish Harvey Weinstein's request for a last minute edit removing the word "terrifying" from a Hannibal Rising commercial, which Weinstein apparently feared would induce mass panic in potential ticket-buyers for his film. [Variety]
· Columbia Pictures is about to pick up the script You Don't Mess with Zohan, about a Mossad agent who fakes his death to become a hairdresser in NY, from Judd Apatow, Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler. Sandler, of course, will play the blow-dryer-wielding spy. [THR]
· Tommy Mottola and Biggest Loser producer David Broome are putting together a "grittier take" on the America's Next Top Model formula for TLC starring Petra Nemcova, in which eliminated models are force-fed cocaine until their weakened hearts explode instead of sent home. [Variety]
· Following American Idol's latest Nielsen-dominating performance, Fox's desperate competitors are seriously considering having Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell killed. [THR]
· Var produces some important service journalism for its Grammy-attending readers, warning that the closure of parking lots at the Staples center will likely result in huge traffic jams and the mass inconveniencing of limo passengers. Save yourself a headache by commissioning a helicopter for the night. [Variety]

Since we know that most Oscar voters (at least the ones who don't delegate their responsibilities to their undocumented domestics) are probably scrambling to squeeze in some last minute DVD screeners before their nominations ballots are due tomorrow afternoon, we thought we'd help them more efficiently utilize their precious time by pointing them to these three moments from Sienna Miller's Factory Girl performance, tied together thematically by the actress's unselfconscious nudity, which potentially could free harried Academy members from having to watch the entire film. While the third clip, featuring a strung-out, naked Miller showing off her acting chops is the clear Oscar contender of the group, we prefer the one of her love scene with Hayden Christensen, in which the unshowy, Skinemax-inspired editing truly spotlights her generosity as a performer. Take some time to watch these highlights before hastily filling out those ballots with easy choices like Helen Mirren's nevernude queen; it's what Harvey Weinstein would want you to do.

It seems Factory Girl, the Edie Sedgwick biopic Harvey Weinstein promised us would establish Sienna Miller as a Major Actress, instead of just "that chick who's all pissed and shit about Jude Law banging his nanny," is well on its way to laying claim to the title of Hollywood's Doomed Production of 2006. As additional scenes are being shot, presumably to tighten the narrative while making it stink less than the trailer suggests it currently does, now comes news that Bob Dylan has unleashed his gang of scary lawyers on Girl producer Bob Yari—himself no stranger to the art of the threatening legal missive—over what they are claiming to be the film's thinly veiled characterization of the singer, played by Hayden Christensen:

Say what you will about Harvey Weinstein - he's a big fat Heeb with a bad temper and a gruff, uncouth manner - but the man knows his marketing. Consider the forthcoming Black X-Mas, a Santa-slasher pic from the Weinstein Company being released on Christmas Day! The holiest day of the year! Predictably, the outrage police have already had their hackles raised: Matt Drudge links to this Nikki Finke cri de couer:

• Screech — er, Dustin Diamond — has a sex tape on the loose, which depicts some sort of three-way and, allegedly, some Dirty Sanchez action. Which is just about the most disgusting thing we can imagine right now. Mark Paul Gosselaar, by all means, not this. [R&M]
• Winona Ryder wanders in through the back door of Soho boutique Lounge, does a lap around the store, and then screams, "Where am I?!" She then ran back to Bleecker Street and spent the rest of the day sobbing into her Marc Jacobs safety blanket. [Page Six]
• Paris Hilton destroyed former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. Not that that's so hard to do. [Us Weekly]
• Jude Law finds Harvey Weinstein "tough, but tender." Exactly what he wants in a lover. [Lowdown]
• After much hype on their MTV reality show, Rev. Run's wife gives birth to a stillborn. Even Judy McGrath is a little sad. [TMZ]
• Renee Zellweger and George Clooney? Is someone too busy pushing for Darfur to notice how much he's dating down? [Page Six]

When the trench warfare of the Oscar campaign season commences anew, there is perhaps no better person for an actress to have in her, ahem, foxhole than Harvey Weinstein, the ruthless, battle-scarred warrior of countless awards skirmishes. The Envelope's statuette-fondling Gold Derby blog notes that Weinstein will probably channel his For Your Consideration bloodlust on behalf of Sienna Miller, star of Factory Girl, though another member of his harem of skinny, blonde war brides might also enjoy his affection:

Beware: It seems that Harvey Weinstein has finally cloned himself. It's unclear how many Harvey multiples have been released into the wild, but once he gets up to four, no one will be safe.
Cracked mocks up some t-shirts for those who find an episode of Best Week Ever taxes their feelings of nostalgia.
· One of the secret perks of being a famous actress is that you can always find a gallery willing to hang your bad art.
Amazingly, L.A. didn't rate on Gridskipper's poll of sexiest cities. Don't fake tits and lip collagen count for anything anymore? [Warning: the chart is sort of gross and NSFW]
Lost's producers discourage skinny dipping, afraid that the paparazzi might capture a picture of Dominic Monaghan's naughty hobbit parts.
· George Lucas has been named the Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade, where the director's prodigious neck-wattle will be decorated with flowers and used as a float.

When we guessed that Sacha Baron Cohen's grand entrance to the aborted Borat premiere on a wench-drawn carriage would "probably prove to be the only truly interesting thing that will emerge from the Toronto Film Festival," we obviously had no idea that a triple murder would eventually spice up the event:

Radar has awoken from a nine-month hibernation to relaunch its website today, celebrating the rebirth with the publication of its poll of the "industry's heaviest hitters" that it first started researching back around the time of its 1981 "Ron Howard Washed Up At 27?" issue. The survey doesn't really contain any surprises: Howard is nice, Brett Ratner's a hack, Russell Crowe has a temper problem, and CAA's partners are the agents you'd most like to have devouring babies on your behalf. Among Radar's "winners" is Imagine Entertainment superproducer Brian Grazer, whose signature "Produced By Brian Grazer, From An Idea Brian Grazer Had While Distracted By A Shiny Object During A Meet-And-Greet With Stephen Hawking, And Directed By A Guy Brian Grazer Hand-Selected to Execute Brian Grazer's Uncompromising Vision" movie credit seems to have rankled some of his peers:

Because it's so late on a Friday that no one in the industry is at their desks, save the assistants carefully polishing and stowing the gleaming surgical instruments with which their bosses tortured them all week, we don't feel so guilty about passing along a really fun, completely unsubstantiated, wildly un-fact-checked rumor we just heard, in which hot-tempered Hollywood legend Harvey Weinstein is planning on folding the still-shiny Weinstein Co. into MGM and then stepping up to run The Lion. We've helpfully created a graphic for you to print out, clip, and produce should you choose to kick around this piece of idle chatter over cocktails this weekend. Happy gossiping!

• David Patrick Columbia tells the story of Ron Burkle. Our favorite part is about midway, when we learn that Ron used hidden cameras to videotape his then-wife's affair with her personal trainer. Fucking the help is so clichéd; hidden cameras, even more so. Update: NYSD makes a correction to this item. [NYSD]
• And then there's the result, Ron Burkle's messy divorce: Interestingly, the Democrats in the California legislature (the same Democrats that count Burkle as a major supporter) are pushing forward legislation that would keep his divorce records from becoming public information. Pity — the public would love to read about who's been on that private jet. [America's Finest Blog]
• Did Harvey Weinstein lie to the poor ol' Gray Lady about his connections to Page Six? Nikki Finke wouldn't put it past him, and she's totally right. [Deadline Hollywood]
• Dealbook proudly presents the Page Six Mogul Index. We lurve it. [Dealbook]

The dry, cracked riverbed of Hollywood inspiration has once again turned to the seemingly bottomless well of beloved sitcoms for creative irrigation: We can now look forward to our fond memories of Welcome Back, Kotter being irreparably soiled on its journey to the big screen, Variety reports, with the no-brainer casting of gangsta-rapper-turned-beloved-star- of-forgettable-family-comedies Ice Cube producing and starring:

This morning MSNBC gossip Jeannette Walls considers the problem of notorious Scientologist John Travolta agreeing to play Edna Turnblad in the forthcoming movie of Hairspray, given that Scientology is pretty notoriously antigay:

It's Fashion Week in New York, when armies of skeletal, bored-looking (but secretly loving every minute!) models clomp down runways in every available large, indoor space in Manhattan not already occupied by a class of middle-school math students. With so many companies showing so many lines, it would seem almost impossible to have your young fashion house's designs land on the backs of Hollywood's red carpet elite. That is, unless your company is called Marchesa and you're screwing Harvey Weinstein:

· Extra! Extra! Smaller "niche" films such as The Constant Gardener perform healthily at overseas box office! And in blogging news, associate editor sticks head in oven over pathetically boring news day. [Variety]
· Fox pushes the release of Just My Luck, starring road menace Lindsay Lohan, to May 12, hoping it will find an audience of teenage girls who have no interest in Warner Bros.' Poseidon Adventure remake. And for the rest of us? Let's hope there's a nice "niche" film opening that weekend. [Variety]
· Paramount Network TV hires Kate Adler as their new VP of comedy. Adler used to be in scripted development at Worldwide Pants but then went on to become a reality producer on Survivor. Which just goes to prove that old saying: "A development executive who starts in scripted comedy but then forges a career in reality can still get work in scripted if she changes her mind later." [Variety]
· A THR analysis of the outcome of the Guilds' demands for industry standards for forced brand integration whoring has come to the conclusion that they are being completely ignored. Are you going to take that sitting down, Radical Rosenberg?! [THR]
· The Weinstein Co. has reverted all distribution rights of their Cannes pick up Wu Ji/The Promise back to its producers, with the new, leaner Harv just not wanting to put Hero-type money behind its promotion. [THR]

We bet the traffic on your evening's commute will be just a bit less excruciating in light of the New York transit strike, but when any huge news story touches the lives of millions, we must first ask the obvious question: how does this event affect the entertainment industry?