You want the truth?

Disney watchers might have taken note last week that when it came time for Miramax Film Corp. to finally part company with the Burbank-based entertainment company, it was Richard Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, who shared the stage with Miramax's Bob and Harvey Weinstein--not Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner, nor even Eisner's heir apparent, Robert Iger.

There certainly was no love lost between Eisner and Harvey Weinstein, which is one reason the corporate divorce took so long to execute. Eisner, in fact, had turned down several promising Miramax proposals over the years, including producing the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which became one of the big success stories for Time Warner Inc.'s New Line Cinema. That's why the canned comments by both men in announcing the separation sounded so, well, canned.

Eisner: "Harvey and Bob's unprecedented 12-year association with Disney will go down in the motion picture annals for its unparalleled contributions to independent filmmaking and the entrepreneurial creative spirit they fostered within a corporate environment."

The Weinsteins: "We know that there is no bigger fan of our movies than Michael Eisner and think it was pretty brave of him to give us the ability to make movies like 'Hero' and 'City of God.'"

In Hollywood, kind words only go so far, of course. When Eisner was asked last fall why he offered gracious comments in a press release about Michael Ovitz's acrimonious departure, he said that in business and politics, "you say nice things. Nobody believes them but you say them."