How Woody Allen's stars have addressed his sex abuse scandal
With every passing year, it gets harder to talk about Woody Allen the filmmaker without contending with Woody Allen the man.
In February 2014, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof shared an open letter from Dylan Farrow on his blog. In it, Woody Allen’s adopted daughter alleges that her father sexually assaulted her when she was seven years old. Although Farrow’s disturbing account of abuse horrified many readers, these accusations weren’t new: The case first made headlines in the early ’90s. The state prosecutor ultimately declined to press charges against the acclaimed director out of concern for the “fragility of the ‘child victim,'” although the attorney believed he had probable cause to do so. Allen, who had an affair with and later married Mia’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, has emphatically maintained his innocence throughout the years.
On Wednesday—the same day that Woody Allen’s latest film, Café Society, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival—Dylan’s brother and Allen’s estranged son Ronan Farrow published an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter in which he expressed his support for his sister and excoriated the “culture of impunity and silence” that has allowed Allen’s career in Hollywood to continue unimpeded. (In response, Woody Allen’s publicist Leslee Dart banned THR reporters from attending a lunch with her client on Thursday.)
Farrow cast aspersions on the actors who “continue to line up to star in his [father’s] movies,” predicting that the Café Society cast could “trust that the press won’t ask them the tough questions” on the red carpet that very night.
Although this opinion piece has sparked conversation at Cannes (Allen said he didn’t read it), it’s a matter of a fact that the actors who choose to work with the 80-year-old filmmaker are rarely asked to address the molestation scandal. As a general rule, those who do acknowledge the existence of Dylan Farrow’s claims have very little to say about them.
Following the public resurgence of sex abuse allegations against Allen in 2014, here’s a rundown of how the stars of recent Woody Allen movies—as well as a few collaborators from his past—have responded to the controversy.
Cate Blanchett
Public stance on allegations: Neutral
Dylan Farrow’s open letter hit the New York Times on February 1, 2014, just weeks after Cate Blanchett won a Golden Globe and garnered an Oscar nomination for playing the title role in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine (2013). Asked to comment on the subject at the Santa Barbara Film Festival later that same day, Blanchett said, “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some sort of resolution and peace.”
Some speculated that the backlash could cost the Best Actress frontrunner her shot at an Academy Award, but she went on to win as originally predicted on March 2. She thanked Allen in her acceptance speech.
Alec Baldwin
Public stance on allegations: Neutral
The next day, Blanchett’s Blue Jasmine costar, who was also named in the open letter, angrily responded to a Twitter user who suggested he apologize to Dylan Farrow in a series of soon-deleted tweets: “What the f&@% is wrong w u that u think we all need to b commenting on this family’s personal struggle? …You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.”
Wallace Shawn
Public stance on allegations: Supports Woody Allen
Actor Wallace Shawn, who had his first-ever film role in 1979’s Manhattan, came to Allen’s defense in an op-ed published February 16, 2014 in the Los Angeles Times.
Shawn criticized speculative “Internet commentary” that demonized Allen and expressed his own doubts about Farrow’s allegations:
…like so many of those who have worked with [Woody Allen] repeatedly over the decades, I’ve found him to be not merely thoughtful, serious and honest, but extraordinary and even inspiring in his thoughtfulness, seriousness and honesty. Of the people I’ve known, he’s one of those I’ve respected most. And for that reason, I personally would have to say that it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that he had sexually abused a child, just as it would take overwhelming evidence to convince me that Desmond Tutu, Franklin D. Roosevelt or Doris Lessing had sexually abused a child.
Diane Keaton
Public stance on allegations: Supports Woody Allen
Keaton accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of Woody Allen at the Golden Globes in January 2014. Less than a month later, Dylan Farrow addressed the actress directly in her New York Times open letter, writing, “You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?” In a May 2014 Guardian interview, Woody Allen’s former romantic partner—and the Oscar-winning star of and possible inspiration for Annie Hall (1977)—was asked about Farrow’s accusations.
“I have nothing to say about that,” Keaton responded. “Except: I believe my friend.”
Louis CK
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
The standup comedian was called out first in Dylan Farrow’s open letter, and then again in Ronan Farrow’s THR op-ed, which identified CK as “one of [Dylan’s] heroes.”
In May 2014, the star and creator of Louie told Charlie Rose that he “loved” working with Allen and described the experience of costarring in 2013’s Blue Jasmine:
I like being a spectator—I like going to a Woody Allen movie. But that’s about as front row seat as you can get. You’re in it! You’re actually on the set. It’s like a floor seat at the Celtics or Knicks game, but I get to be in the game.
Scarlett Johansson
Public stance on allegations: Neutral
Johansson—who appeared in Allen’s Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006), and as Cristina in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)—was also mentioned by name by Dylan Farrow. The actress called Farrow’s letter “irresponsible” in The Guardian in March 2014: “I think it’s irresponsible to take a bunch of actors that will have a Google alert on and to suddenly throw their name into a situation that none of us could possibly knowingly comment on. That just feels irresponsible to me.”
Her own relationship with Allen, she said, had not changed: “It would be ridiculous for me to make any kind of assumption one way or the other.”
Marcia Gay Harden
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
“It’s a bucket list thing to be in a Woody Allen film, to see how he works, how he will use you,” the Magic in the Moonlight (2014) actress told Spry Living in 2014.
Colin Firth
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
In July 2014, the British actor explained to Indiewire that accepting his role in Magic in the Moonlight was a no-brainer. “I don’t have to think too hard about working with Woody Allen,” Firth said.
Jacki Weaver
Public stance on allegations: Neutral
Australia’s Herald Sun asked native daughter (and Magic in the Moonlight star) Jacki Weaver about the molestation allegations in August 2014. “I don’t think it’s my place to think about that. It’s none of my business,” she said.
Eileen Atkins
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
Dame Eileen Atkins, seen in Magic in the Moonlight, shared her thoughts on Allen with The Guardian in 2014. “I think Woody Allen’s like me. We all know the serious streak in him… He wants sometimes to do something that is just flibbertigibbet, just fun,” she said.
In an odd coincidence, the same Q&A finds Atkins reminiscing about a childhood spent dancing at “working men’s clubs.” On that topic, she shares her thoughts on accusations of pedophilia, unrelated to the controversy surrounding Allen: “My God, if all of us who were touched up complained, the whole country would rise up. I certainly was fiddled about with. It was quite normal then. People liked patting your bottom, some men drew you on to their lap.”
Mariel Hemingway
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
As a teenager, Mariel Hemingway played Woody Allen’s character’s girlfriend in Manhattan (1979). The actress’ 2015 memoir Out Came the Sun recounts how, when she turned 18, the then-44-year-old director flew to her parents’ house and asked her to accompany him to Paris, but she declined when she realized he intended to seduce her.
Then again, she told the New York Daily News, “The whole point of telling that story is not to say isn’t Woody Allen creepy.”
Emma Stone
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
“What if it had been you, Emma Stone?” Farrow asked in her 2014 open letter. Stone has appeared in two Woody Allen films, Magic in the Moonlight (2014) and Irrational Man (2015).
“I can certainly tick [making movies with Allen] off on my bucket list and the experience of working with him couldn’t have gone better,” she said in a 2015 interview. On Conan, she shared an anecdote about teaching the director how to use Twitter.
Joaquin Phoenix
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
In September, the Irrational Man star told Time Out London, “I always liked Woody as an actor, actually,” expressing his particular fondness for Allen’s performance in Manhattan. “I wanted to be around him and to understand how you can do that,” Phoenix said.
Parker Posey
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
The so-called Queen of the Indies, who most recently appeared in Café Society, spoke to The Independent last fall about how pleased she was to be cast in Irrational Man.
“You feel rescued… You read 20 pages of a Woody Allen movie, and it’s a relief,” she said. “It was a dream come true to work with him, which is surreal.”
Anna Camp
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
Camp, best known for Pitch Perfect, has a small part in Café Society. Last November, she told After Ellen the story of how she first met Woody Allen: “Somehow I end up telling him I’m from Queens, and he finds that really funny and is laughing. He can’t believe that I live in Queens, I guess!”
Miley Cyrus
Public stance on allegations: Has said nothing (that we could find)
Miley Cyrus was name-checked in Ronan Farrow’s recent THR op-ed, in which he explained that it “hurts [his] sister” when stars like Cyrus work with Allen. The musician and actress has a role in the director’s upcoming ’60s-set Amazon series. In January, she announced she was joining the still-untitled show by sharing a photo of a portrait of Allen she keeps by her bedside on Instagram.
Kristen Stewart (and Jesse Eisenberg?)
Public stance on allegations: Neutral
A May 9 Variety profile describes Kristen Stewart’s initial “concerns” about joining the cast of Allen’s Café Society, in light of Dylan Farrow’s allegations. But she eventually came around, she said, after conferring with costar Jesse Eisenberg:
I was like, “What do you think? We don’t know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong.” At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of shit that’s been said about us that’s not true, our lives would be over. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.
Eisenberg, for his part, told the magazine that he “doesn’t recall the conversation.”
Blake Lively
Public stance on allegations: [???]
Before the premiere of Allen’s new movie Café Society at Cannes on Wednesday, French comedian Laurent Lafitte made a controversial joke that referenced the director’s alleged history of child abuse. “You’ve shot so many of your films here in Europe, and yet in the U.S. you haven’t even been convicted of rape,” Lafitte said during the film festival’s opening ceremony.
Café Society star Blake Lively did not find this amusing. As she told Variety:
I think any jokes about rape, homophobia or Hitler is not a joke. I think that was a hard thing to swallow in 30 seconds. Film festivals are such a beautiful, respectful festivals of film and artists and to have that, it felt like it wouldn’t have happened if it was in the 1940s. I can’t imagine Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby going out and doing that. It was more disappointing for the artists in the room that someone was going up there making jokes about something that wasn’t funny.
Variety also reports that Lively declined to make a statement on Ronan Farrow’s Hollywood Reporter op-ed: “…I don’t want to speak on something I haven’t read. I think that’s dangerous.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the actress said that, in her experience, Woody Allen is “empowering to women.”
Molly Fitzpatrick is senior editor of Fusion’s Pop & Culture section. Her interests include movies about movies, TV shows about TV shows, and movies about TV shows, but not so much TV shows about movies.