Over the weekend, filmmaker Brian De Palma – most famous for directing 1976 horror movie Carrie and crime drama Scarface – confirmed that he is working on a film based on the Harvey Weinstein scandal.

De Palma has been following the unfolding Weinstein story “very closely”, he said in an interview with news agency AFP, and has been discussing a script with a French producer. He added that his film will explore the subject of sexual abuse in the film industry – “although my character would not be called Harvey Weinstein”.

“But it is a horror film, with a sexual aggressor, and the story will take place within the film industry,” he told French newspaper Le Parisien.

De Palma stressed that he finds Weinstein’s alleged actions abhorrent, stating that filmmakers have a responsibility to “get actors’ confidence and their love”, and that “to violate it on any level is just to me the worst thing you can do, just because of your gluttony or your lust”.

But despite his – surely sincere – insistence that he sees the disgraced producer as a villain, it’s hard not to feel a twinge of discomfort at the idea of De Palma tackling the Weinstein story. Aside from Carrie and Scarface, the American filmmaker is best known for his work on “erotic thrillers” such as Dressed to Kill and Body Double: in other words, he specialises in films that are violent, bloody, sexy, frightening and melodramatic. The thought of the Weinstein scandal being given the traditional De Palma treatment is disturbing, to put it mildly.

De Palma is not, however, the only man to express an interest in creating art about Weinstein’s fall from grace. Playwright David Mamet has already written a piece – titled Bitter Wheat – about the producer, with actor John Malkovich reportedly in talks to play the role of Weinstein on stage. Brad Pitt’s production company, meanwhile, has acquired the rights to make a film about Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey, the New York Times reporters who first broke the scandal in October.

“We should be wary of men who want to turn the Weinstein scandal into art”