Samantha Morton glad to make new Weinstein film after he ‘bullied’ her

ACTOR Samantha Morton is happy to be in the new film She Said, about the American journalists who brought down Harvey Weinstein — becausethe producer almost bullied her out of the industry.

Morton said Weinstein “didn’t like her” after she turned down a part in a film and would “do things to harm my career”. “I was bullied by Harvey, so I have all this history in regards to being a young actress in the Nineties,” Morton told Empire magazine.

In She Said, Morton plays Zelda Perkins, one of Weinstein’s former assistants, who helped journalists at the New York Times expose his behaviour. Perkins has since started Time’s Up UK, a campaign to stop the misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). She is hoping the film will help raise funds to continue her work.

Jacob just rolls back the years

Labour’s deputy Angela Rayner laid into the Tories at last night’s Political Cartoon awards in Westminster. She said Matt Hancock’s “zinger of a midlife crisis” on I’m A Celeb “is the closest I’ve come to voting Tory in my life.” Rayner called co-host Jacob Rees-Mogg “the former secretary of state for Victorian Affairs”, leading Rees-Mogg to retort that he is an 18th-century boy: “Angela thought it was the 19th century. She’s a frightful modernist.”

Is Harry the new Handel?

Could Harry Styles have written Zadok the Priest? Croydon music venue Fairfield Halls has annoyed classical music fans by describing Baroque composer Handel as “the Harry Styles of his day” in an advert for an upcoming concert. The head of a south London choir wondered: “Did Handel transition into an acting career in his twenties?”, while one hack always saw Handel as “more of a Zayn”. Hmm.

Figes: don’t stop learning about Russia

ORLANDO Figes, an expert on Russian history, says the invasion of Ukraine will change how the history of Russia is taught in universities. Figes told us at a book signing at Hatchards Piccadilly last night that Russia will be seen as more of a “colonial” subject, with more studies on Ukraine. But students shouldn’t be put off: “It’s even more reason to study it”, he said, criticising boycotts of Russian culture.

Jamal, never to be forgotten

Londoner’s Diary 1st December

THE MOBOs paid tribute to Jamal Edwards last night at Wembley Arena with a special award for the late SB.TV founder, who died earlier this year. Disco legend Nile Rodgers got the Lifetime achievement award, while Craig David won Outstanding Contribution. Also there were singer Tyla, boxer Anthony Joshua and model Jourdan Dunn. In Soho, actor Robert Downey Jr. hugged director Terry Gilliam at a screening of new documentary Sr., about Downey’s filmmaker father.