Director Woody Allen, who has long been accused of sexually abusing his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was 7 years old, continued trying to cast himself as a Me Too champion, even though he dismissed the movement as it grew in 2017.
“I’ve done everything the Me Too movement would love to achieve,” Allen told France 24 in an interview that aired Friday ahead of the premiere of his previously shelved film “A Rainy Day in New York.” “I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses. Not one of them has ever complained about me — not a single complaint. I’ve employed women in the top capacities, in every capacity, for years, and we’ve always paid them the equal of men.”
He also defended a 2018 interview in which he declared himself a Me Too “poster boy” because none of the female stars in his movies have accused him of sexual misconduct.
“A Rainy Day in New York” premieres later Friday at the Deauville American Film Festival in France. It will be released this fall in several countries in Europe, South America and Asia.
Amazon Studios tabled the U.S. release of the movie in 2017 and later severed ties with Allen, dropping a four-film distribution deal. In a court filing in April, studio lawyers argued that the writer-director’s comments dismissing Me Too in 2017 and his repeated denials of Farrow’s allegation gave them no choice, “effectively sabotaging” the release of his film “Wonder Wheel” that year.
At the time, Allen expressed sympathy for disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is accused of sexually abusing scores of female actors and employees. He also accused Farrow of using the Me Too movement for personal gain, and called it “a witch-hunt atmosphere” that threatened “every guy in an office who winks at a woman.”
Many Hollywood stars have since distanced themselves from Allen and pledged not to work with him again. Others, however, are standing by him. Scarlett Johansson told The Hollywood Reporter this week that she believes Allen is innocent.
On Thursday, Farrow criticized Johansson.
“Because if we’ve learned anything from the past two years it’s that you definitely should believe male predators who ‘maintain their innocence’ without question,” Farrow tweeted. “Scarlett has a long way to go in understanding the issue she claims to champion.”
Despite the cloud over his personal life and a succession of movies that were critical duds, Allen, 83, continues to receive financing for his work. Over the summer, he filmed a new movie in Spain.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
REAL LIFE. REAL NEWS. REAL VOICES.
Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard.