It’s rare to hear anyone defending Woody Allen these days, so when Scarlett Johansson, the biggest female movie star in the world right now, stepped into his corner it was a big deal.
This week the Avengers: Endgame star told The Hollywood Reporter she believed he was innocent and “would work with him any time.”
Perhaps having such a strong ally inspired Woody to speak up for himself as well; just days later he gave a rare interview in which he not only defended himself but said the #MeToo movement would be lucky to have him as their poster boy!
Um, what? An accused child molester?? How’s that?
He told France24:
“I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses not one of them has ever complained about me, not a single complaint. I’ve worked with, employed women in the top capacity, in every capacity, for years and we’ve always paid them exactly the equal of men. I’ve done everything that the #MeToo movement would love to achieve.”
Those things are great. And some of his movies are even really funny.
But that doesn’t make up for the crime people believe you committed, man! You have to realize that!
In the early ’90s the Midnight In Paris director was investigated after his daughter Dylan Farrow accused him of molesting her; he was not prosecuted.
To this day she maintains her story, and in the wake of #MeToo and Time’s Up, the way people view that accusation has really changed, to the point Allen has become something of a pariah.
In fact, Amazon went so far as to give back the rights to his most recent movie, A Rainy Day In New York, as they didn’t want to release it.
But Woody says he thinks it’s a temporary setback for the film, whose stars Rebecca Hall and Timothée Chalamet donated their salaries to women’s charities:
“To me the movie is being released all over the world. If people enjoy the movie, I think it will eventually be released in the U.S.”
On being persona non grata in Hollywood, the filmmaker says:
“I couldn’t care less. I’ve never worked in Hollywood. I’ve always worked in New York and it doesn’t matter to me for a second.”
Um, right, but Hollywood isn’t just referring to El Lay. We’re getting close to the point where no one will even act in your movies!
Allen’s next project couldn’t find financing in the States, eventually turning to the Spanish company which produced Vicki Cristina Barcelona. But he doesn’t mind; he says:
“If tomorrow nobody would finance my films and nobody would finance my theater plays or nobody would publish my books, I’d still get up and write because that’s what I do. So I will always work. What happens to it commercially is another matter.”
Allen says he won’t just quit, not ever.
“I haven’t thought of retiring. I don’t have to make movies, if people didn’t want to finance my movies I would be very happy working in the theater, or writing books, but I like to get up and write. I don’t like to get up and do nothing.”
Well, we can’t imagine the women leading the #MeToo movement are going to take him up on his mascot offer anytime soon.
So maybe time to get started on that book?
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