MILLER: Let’s start with the question everyone is asking. How are you?

HW: I’m fine. I weigh 40 pounds less, and I don’t smoke two and a half packs of cigarettes a day. I have stopped completely. I have three nicotine patches on, and I went cold turkey when I was in the hospital.

MILLER: Is it hard?

HW: It is one of the most difficult things but I will tell you, my sinuses have cleared up, I don’t cough anymore and my wife tells me I don’t snore in bed. For those three things alone, it is definitely worth quitting cigarettes. It’s injurious and it took this to make me realize it.

BW: But it wasn’t cigarettes that [sent Harvey] to the hospital.

HW: Right, but I took it as an opportunity.

HW: I had a bacterial infection. I got it in St. Bart’s, probably from something I ate down there. I was feeling sick and sweaty, and I came back to New York and they treated it with antibiotics, and I’m fine.

HW: No. It was a pain. It was painful.

HW: I think somehow Bob and I have both become figures [of speculation] because we defy the rules. We stand up for the, you know, with the rank and file. We’re more [like] them than the studio executives who govern. There is a tremendous amount of jealousy in the executive ranks. We hang with the talent. We hang with the technicians. We’re just as friendly with the cameraman and the production designer as we are with the stars, and I just think there is jealousy in that area. I wasn’t incommunicado. I saw friends. But my wife said no business people whatsoever… I was definitely aware of things, and I was laughing at the speculation.

HW: No. [laughs] I was in no position to argue with her. She was looking out for my health.

HW: No, I love it more than ever. I’m very jealous that my brother ran the Academy campaign on “Cider House Rules” and it got seven nominations. I was the point person on “The Talented Mr. Ripley” [which received five nominations, none for best picture or director]. I’m lucky I have a job.

BW: The picture began to speak for itself the more people saw it. We got tremendous feedback and we knew we started to hit a nerve. When a lot of competing pictures started to expand, they started to drop, pictures like “Magnolia” and “Angela’s Ashes.” They’re all fine pictures but they didn’t have something the audiences wanted. This was the only picture that was in wide release that started to go up [in box office]. We knew we had a chance, an opportunity.

HW: We knew that this was a movie that people love. We say this every year: the key to an Academy race is getting the people to see the movie. If someone is in Thailand, make sure you get a cassette to that person. That’s what we do. There’s no magic or some incredible marketing campaign that we create. Read an Ed McBain novel: it’s police work. Do the grunt work, find out where the [academy member] is living.

HW: The thing that pleases me the most is that Newsday, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and Variety all said that it’s pretty much a two-horse race: “Cider House Rules” and “American Beauty.” That’s what they said.

HW: Yeah. I was the captain of that ship and I was, unfortunately, convalescing in the hospital and at home when I should have been out there campaigning for it. I would have just made sure the right people saw the film. Even though the movie is a tremendous financial success, –“Ripley’s” done close to $80 million and I think with five nominations there is a good chance to get to $90 or $100 million in America–it is hard to motivate Academy people… So I feel like Matt Damon and Anthony Minghella got robbed because I was away. I think I could have added something. I’m really disappointed for Anthony and Matt. I was shocked.

BW: People used to say, well, those guys have proven themselves to be great acquirers, but we are sure they will fail when it comes to producing. That’s literally what was said. So the answer is, yes, we have tackled the challenge of producing movies, and our track record is fairly successful. HW: Our productions and coproductions are probably 80 percent of our profits.

HW: People said we had no edge last year. This is what we did last year. We produced “Dogma”… We made “Holy Smoke” with Jane Campion. Can you make an edgier movie? I don’t think so. We distributed “My Son the Fanatic” and “Lovers Under the Bridge,” a movie that was in bankruptcy in France for five years.

BW: If we buy too many films then people say we’re just gluttons who buy too many. If we buy too little they say we have abandoned our independent roots. I swear to you we have read both sides. We cannot win.

BW: I don’t feel under siege, but… I do agree with my brother [that there is a lot of jealousy]. I would be jealous too. There is no other distributor ever, I believe, who has had eight years running with nine pictures nominated for best picture. I feel badly for the guy who beat Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson didn’t get the headline [when he beat Woods]. It was Tiger Woods loses. Right now we can make bigger news by us losing than the other guys winning.

HW: No. No. Because we know audiences. We know that pundits wanted to see us get our ass kicked, and we’re sorry to disappoint them. We will continue to disappoint them [laughs].

HW: That’s true.

BW: Mark McGwire hits 70 home runs, the best anyone has done since Babe Ruth. That was our $125 million year. There has been no independent ever to make $125 million profit.

HW: Let’s put it this way–$67 million profit is probably more money than all the other [indies] combined.

BW: We will be up 30 to 40 percent [in profit], conservatively.

HW: Remember one thing. We make money and we try to be successful for one reason and one reason alone: we love our autonomy, we love our freedom, and we’re the guys who do “The Talented Mr. Ripley” at the end of the day. We’re the guys who do the “Dogmas.” We’re the guys who take those chances, those risks, because we either want to support our talent who have been with us a long time, or we read something like “Shakespeare in Love,” which has been sitting in somebody’s desk for 10 years. That’s what we do it for. We have to play the money game because otherwise our competitors would just rip us to pieces. They rip us to pieces anyway!

BW: Lovable us? That’s impossible.

HW: Let me tell you something. I get sick of teams who win all the time. So last year we had “Life is Beautiful” and “Shakespeare in Love” and won a slew of Academy awards. This year when “Cider House Rules” wins for Best Picture are they going to say we failed? We’re back in high gear again on Oscar promotion! I’m quoting other people! I didn’t say it!

HW: Right. And the combination is just too much. [Laughs] The great joke about Talk magazine is just what they used to say about Miramax, that we’re doing badly. By May-June, circulation will be at 600,000. Nothing starts like that. We promised 500,000 for the first four issues. We made it, and we will have 600,000 by May or June. Come on!

HW: The idea is we will break even on the investment in five years and then have an asset worth at least $100 million. And one thing that is making money already is [Talk Media Books]. We have some of the most incredible books coming out. The book division is immediately profitable.

HW: No, it’s enticing! It’s interesting. It keeps the engine going.

HW: We have been offered, this year alone, three studios to run. Three.

BW: It’s not a step up for us. We built something. This is us. Why would we need to take over another studio? Now, when they throw hundreds of millions of dollars in offers at you, it is enticing. But we’re happy here.

HW: We’re so young! I’m 47. Bob is 45. First we’re going to coronate ourselves! [Laughs] And then we’re training our daughters to take over. That’s the plan!