Movie Biz PR Whiz Is Nixed

Two of Hollywood’s reigning queens of spin, both experts at shielding A-list clients from negative publicity, have found themselves at the center of their own public relations nightmare.

Pat Kingsley, doyenne of the influential publicity firm PMK/HBH, where she serves as chairwoman and chief executive, and Leslee Dart, the firm’s New York-based president and a partner, jointly announced Thursday in a news release that Dart had been fired.

“PMK/HBH has opted to not renew [Dart’s] contract, which expires at the end of this year,” read the release, notable for its lack of sugar-coating. “Dart’s exit is effective immediately.”

Dart’s ousting came after the 50-year-old lost an internal power struggle to take control of the agency from the 72-year-old Kingsley, who for decades has been considered Hollywood’s most powerful publicist. Wednesday’s firing -- which Kingsley handled personally -- capped years of tensions between the two, who have worked together since 1983.

“I think Leslee is capable and ready to run a company -- I was just not ready for it to be this one,” Kingsley said in a phone interview Thursday.

Many in Hollywood expressed surprise. Dart is credited with, among other things, being the brains behind the rehabilitation of Hugh Grant’s image after the actor’s embarrassing incident with a prostitute.

Given the timing of the firing, just weeks into the Oscar campaign season, some of Dart’s clients were outraged.

“It’s appalling and stupid that they treated her that way,” said producer Scott Rudin, calling the coming months a “do or die” time for Oscar contenders.

“To manage the talent, the movies, the studios and the media is a huge order, and no one does it like Leslee does,” Rudin said.

Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein, who has worked closely with Dart over the years, said he was “shocked.” He called Dart “the best public relations person in the industry.”

The contentious nature of the split came through in separate phone interviews Thursday, when neither Dart nor Kingsley made even the slightest attempt at positive spin.

“I definitely felt I had put in my time, and was told all along that I would be heir to the throne,” said a shaken Dart. Although Kingsley herself had never made that promise, sources at PMK/HBH said there was a tacit understanding that Dart would someday step into Kingsley’s shoes.

Dart, who also works with directors Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Wes Anderson and Ron Howard, as well as actress Nicole Kidman and producer Brian Grazer, said she played a key role in growing the agency from a $1.5-million-a-year business to a $14-million-a-year business.

“I do take some credit for that,” Dart said.

For her part, Kingsley said that although her own contract would be up in December, she planned to stay on: “My intention is not to leave the company in the foreseeable future, and I felt I needed to tell [Dart] that.”

The PMK/HBH chief dismissed speculation that partner Simon Halls, who heads the Los Angeles office, was in line to replace her. “I have made no succession plans, no commitments.”

Among others, Halls represents movie stars Jude Law and Kate Winslet and heads PMK/HBH’s burgeoning corporate division, which today accounts for an estimated 30% of its overall annual revenue, Kingsley said.

Some, including Rudin, said that Dart’s firing signaled that PMK/HBH was increasingly turning away from the movie business in favor of more-lucrative corporate clients. That shift, Rudin said, was a major philosophical difference between Kingsley and Dart.

Especially since 1999, when PMK was purchased by Interpublic Group, Dart had grown uncomfortable with the firm’s growing focus on such clients as AOL, Reebok and Motorola, Rudin said.

In addition to PMK, which merged with the PR firm Huvane Baum Halls in 2001, Interpublic also owns publicity firms Rogers & Cowan, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli and the production and management firm Industry Entertainment.

On Wednesday morning, Dart said, Kingsley summoned her to PMK/HBH’s headquarters and suggested that she leave the company immediately. At Dart’s request, however, Kingsley allowed her to extend her tenure by one more day so she could say goodbye to her staff Thursday. Dart specifically requested that Kingsley not attend.