In 2017, Dylan Farrow re-stated allegations of sexual abuse against her father,
Woody Allen. While Allen was cleared of assault charges in 1993, many stars have
since turned their backs on the director and instead shown their support for his daughter.
In 1996, Woody Allen ditched his usual film format of couples in New York chatting and
arguing in favor of couples in New York, Paris, and Venice singing and dancing.
"Everyone Says I Love You" was a musical, with a cast packed with big stars, many of whom weren't
trained vocalists, including Drew Barrymore, whose singing voice was dubbed by Olivia Hayman.
On a May 2021 episode of her daytime talk show, Barrymore discussed "Everyone Says I Love You."
"There was no higher career calling card than to work with Woody Allen. And then I had children."
Thanking her guest, Dylan Farrow, Allen's adoptive daughter and assault accuser, Barrymore explained,
"I realized that I was one of the people who was basically gaslit
into not looking at a narrative beyond what I was being told."
"And I see what's happening in the industry now,
and that is because of you making that brave choice."
Farrow expressed her gratitude that Barrymore was willing to speak out against working with Allen.
A seven-time Academy Award nominee, Kate Winslet has made a lot of great movies and
worked with some of the best filmmakers of the 20th and 21st centuries. However,
in 2020, Winslet expressed an opinion of perplexed
self-criticism for making the film "Wonder Wheel" with Woody Allen. She told Vanity Fair,
"It's like, what [...] was I doing working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? It's
unbelievable to me now how those men were held in such high regard, so widely in the
film industry and for as long as they were [...] And I have to take responsibility for the fact
that I worked with them both. I can't turn back the clock. I'm grappling with those regrets."
Woody Allen joined the streaming revolution in 2016 with the six-part limited series "Crisis
in Six Scenes" on Amazon. The story of a family in comedically amusing turmoil in the mid-20th
century, the cast included Rachel Brosnahan, who, shortly after "Crisis in Six Scenes,"
would go on to win all kinds of awards for her performance as a standup comedian who turns
her family upside-down in Amazon Studios' "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." However, making a project
with Allen is not something that Brosnahan will likely do ever again, not after he was accused
of assault by Dylan Farrow. Brosnahan told The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast,
"Look, I had a great experience working on that project. But I do have to take this
opportunity to say that, for me, I have really struggled with the decision to do that project
for a long time. Honestly, it's the decision that I have made in my life that is the most
inconsistent with everything I stand for and believe in, both publicly and privately."
By the end of the 2010s, Greta Gerwig had established herself as the visionary director
of "Lady Bird" and "Little Women." After earning two Academy Award nominations for screenwriting,
and one for directing, Gerwig scaled back on what had initially made her famous,
and that was acting in small and independent movies like "Greenberg," "20th Century Women,"
and "To Rome with Love," Woody Allen's 2012 Italian-set romantic ensemble comedy.
After Dylan Farrow's reports and allegations of assault against Woody Allen came to light
in 2017, Gerwig spoke out against the writer-director and in support of Farrow.
Gerwig wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times,
"If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film. I have not worked for him
again, and I will not work for him again. Dylan Farrow’s two different pieces made me realize
that I increased another woman’s pain, and I was heartbroken by that realization. [...] I
cannot change that fact now, but I can make different decisions moving forward."
Mira Sorvino had paid her dues in Hollywood with small roles in movies and on soap operas
in the early '90s. But it was a role in a Woody Allen film that made her
the toast of Hollywood. In the 1995 movie "Mighty Aphrodite," Allen played Lenny,
the adoptive father of a genius who tracks down the child's birth mother,
played so well by Sorvino that it won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
"He had been my hero since I was a child."
In January 2018, Sorvino published an open letter
to Dylan Farrow in the form of an essay for HuffPost. Sorvino wrote,
"I confess that at the time I worked for Woody Allen I was a naive young actress.
I swallowed the media’s portrayal of your abuse allegations against your father
as an outgrowth of a twisted custody battle between Mia Farrow and him,
and did not look further into the situation, for which I am terribly sorry. For this I also
owe an apology to Mia."
Woody Allen was held in such high esteem as a writer and director that being cast
in one of his films became an unofficial rite of passage for emerging young actors. In 2017,
Timothée Chalamet, one of the hottest new performers in Hollywood, got his number called,
with Allen bringing him on board for the light and fluffy rom-com "A Rainy Day in New York."
Shortly after that film wrapped production and awaited release,
Dylan Farrow's allegations of abuse re-emerged, leading reporters to ask actors how they could
justify working with the filmmaker. Chalamet wrote in an Instagram post in January 2018,
"I have been asked in a few recent interviews about my decision to work on a film with Woody
Allen last summer. I'm not able to answer the question directly because of contractual
obligations. But what I can say is this: I don't want to profit from my work on the film."
Chalamet pledged to hand over his acting fees from "A Rainy Day in New York" to Time's Up,
the LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network.
In 2017, Elliot Page wrote a public Facebook post in which he called out inappropriate
conduct on the set of "X-Men: The Last Stand" by director Brett Ratner, and also shared his
lingering negative feelings about acting in "To Rome With Love." Page explained,
"I did a Woody Allen movie and it is the biggest regret of my career. I am ashamed
I did this. I had yet to find my voice and was not who I am now and felt pressured,
because 'of course you have to say yes to this Woody Allen film.' Ultimately, however,
it is my choice what films I decide to do and I made the wrong choice. I made an awful mistake."
British heartthrob Colin Firth scored a role as an illusionist in Woody Allen's 1920s period piece
"Magic in the Moonlight." That 2014 film, which would otherwise be a career milestone for Firth,
will likely be the only time the actor works with Allen.
On the same day that Dylan Farrow gave a TV interview accusing Allen of sexual assault,
Firth disavowed the filmmaker and according to The Guardian, he said,
"I wouldn't work with him again."
Hayley Atwell will forever be a part of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe as 1940s-era agent Peggy Carter. However,
Atwell's very first big-screen role was in Woody Allen's 2007 crime drama "Cassandra's
Dream," but it's a role she'd come to regret a decade later. Atwell told The Guardian in 2018,
"It was my first film and I didn't feel directed
by him at all. I didn't have any kind of relationship with him. And that was fine
but bizarre [...] I didn't know back then what I know now. Would I work with him now?
No. And I stand in solidarity with his daughter and offer an apology to her if my contribution
to his work has caused her suffering or made her feel dismissed in any way."
Rebecca Hall played the role of Vicky in Woody Allen's 2008 movie "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."
About a decade later, she collaborated with Allen again, taking on the small role of Connie in "A
Rainy Day in New York." In light of Dylan Farrow's statements about Allen, Hall was
publicly and emphatically contrite for having acted in both movies. She wrote on Instagram
"After reading and re-reading Dylan Farrow’s statements [...] I see, not
only how complicated this matter is, but that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and
dismissed [...] That is not something that sits easily with me [...] and I am profoundly sorry.”
Hall also revealed that she would donate her
salary from "A Rainy Day in New York" to the Time's Up movement.
Michael Caine is one of the most respected and lauded actors of his
generation. The British film icon has been nominated for an Academy Award six times,
winning his first of two for his role in the 1986 Woody Allen movie "Hannah and Her Sisters," which
co-starred Mia Farrow. When Mia's daughter, Dylan Farrow, re-alleged Allen of assault,
Caine had a lot of very powerful feelings about his old collaborator, and told The Guardian,
"I am so stunned [...] I don't regret working with him, which I did in complete innocence;
but I wouldn't work with him again."
David Krumholtz has been acting since the early 1990s when he was a child,
churning out memorable performances in "Addams Family Values" and "The Santa Clause." In 2017,
Krumholtz had a supporting role in "Wonder Wheel," Woody Allen's 1950s romantic drama period piece
set amidst New York City's Coney Island amusements.
In January 2018, shortly after the movie hit art house movie theaters around the United States,
Krumholtz took to Twitter to express some very intense second thoughts about his involvement.
Krumholtz wrote in a tweet he later deleted,
"I deeply regret working with Woody Allen on 'Wonder Wheel.' It's one of my
most heartbreaking mistakes. We can no longer let these men represent us in entertainment,
politics, or any other realm. They are beneath real men."
Woody Allen's romantic comedy "A Rainy Day in New York," starring Elle Fanning,
Selena Gomez, and Timothee Chalamet, was filmed in 2017, but a planned 2018
American release was pushed back after Dylan Farrow's allegations resurfaced.
Shortly after production ended, "The Tick" actor Griffin Newman, who had a small role in the film,
publicly wrestled with his guilt and unease over working with Allen. Newman tweeted,
"I need to get this off my chest. I worked on Woody Allen's next movie.
I believe he is guilty. I donated my entire salary to RAINN."
As for why he didn't drop out of the movie, Griffin also shared,
"Why didn’t I quit? My parents were incredibly proud. I felt there [were] things to be gained
from the experience on that set. I was a coward. [...] It was an educational experience for all
the wrong reasons. I learned conclusively that I cannot put my career over my morals again."
After receiving a barrage of comments on social media
regarding his decision to share his regret about working with Allen, Newman tweeted,
"To anyone who thinks I took the easy way out by taking the job THEN denouncing it,
I assure you that is the worst combination of choices."
One of Natalie Portman's very first roles was Laura in Woody Allen's 1996 romantic musical
"Everyone Says I Love You." However, appearing in a movie by the filmmaker is a choice Portman
likely will not make again. In January 2018, in a panel event about the aims and
effects of the Time's Up movement, Portman brought up Farrow's allegations and said,
"I believe you, Dylan. I want to say that. I believe you, Dylan."
When asked by Buzzfeed if she thought Allen's time as a powerful Hollywood filmmaker was over
after Farrow's allegations, Portman framed the topic in the bigger picture and said,
"There's so much art that's being lost by not giving opportunities to
women and people of color. Let's not talk about what man's career is over.
Let's talk about the vast art trove we've lost by not giving women,
people of color, people with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community opportunities [...] I don't
want to talk about 'Isn't it sad that this person who's made 500 movies can't make movies anymore?'"
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape,
Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE
(4673).