Michael Caine, who won an Oscar for his performance in Hannah and Her Sisters, is the latest actor rethinking his connection to the filmmaker.
In 1992, filmmaker Woody Allen was accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of molesting her. Dylan was 7 years old at the time; her adoptive mother, Mia Farrow, and Allen, who co-adopted Farrow’s children during their relationship, were about to commence what would turn out to be an acrimonious custody battle for their three children following the breakup of their long-term relationship. (The breakup followed Allen’s affair with Farrow’s daughter from an earlier marriage, Soon-Yi Previn; the two have been married since December 22,1997, and have two adopted daughters.)
Allen was never prosecuted for the molestation charge, which he strongly denies. But Dylan — along with her mother and her brother, investigative journalist Ronan Farrow — has maintained the veracity of her account, charges that she renewed in 2014. Meanwhile, Allen’s career has not been materially harmed by the allegations; he’s continued to make about one movie every year, working with stars such as Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Emma Stone, Colin Firth, Justin Timberlake, Owen Wilson, Colin Farrell, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, and many, many more.
But in October 2017, sexual assault allegations took down movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, followed by a cascading series of allegations against Hollywood figures like Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Louis C. K., James Toback, and more that started to cut into the careers of those powerful men. It seemed inevitable that Dylan’s accusation against Allen would resurface in this new climate and that his legacy would be reevaluated.
And that’s exactly what happened. Actors who had worked with Allen began to publicly voice regret for that work within weeks of the Weinstein story, beginning with Griffin Newman, who appeared in Allen’s upcoming film A Rainy Day in New York (which was shooting when the Weinstein allegations broke in early October 2017). Many of those who’ve spoken up have pledged their salaries from the Allen projects to organizations like RAINN (the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and Time’s Up, a movement of powerful Hollywood women working to fight sexual harassment in their industry and beyond.
Here is an alphabetical list of the actors who have publicly repudiated their work with Allen since October 2017.
This list will be updated as necessary. The most recent addition to the list is Michael Caine.
Atwell told the Guardian in an interview published on January 28 that she regretted working with Allen on his 2007 film Cassandra’s Dream:
Brosnahan, who recently won a Golden Globe for her starring role in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, said on the January 17,2018 episode of the Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast that she regretted appearing in Allen’s Amazon TV show Crisis in Six Scenes:
Caine won an Oscar for his performance in Allen’s 1986 film Hannah and Her Sisters, which also starred Mia Farrow. Allen also won an Oscar for the film’s screenplay, and Caine and Farrow’s co-star Dianne Wiest won Best Supporting Actress.
In an interview published on March 10, Caine told the Guardian:
The movie was released a year after Farrow adopted her daughter Dylan. Allen was in a relationship with Farrow at the time, and adopted Dylan in 1991. Dylan’s accusations against Allen came a year later.
The rising star of Call Me b y Your Name shot A Rainy Day in New York with Allen during summer 2017. In an Instagram post on January 15, he followed his co-stars Rebecca Hall and Griffin Newman in expressing regret for working on the film and pledging his salary to RAINN, Time’s Up, and the LGBT Center in New York:
Following Dylan Farrow’s January 18 televised interview about her allegation against her father, the British newspaper The Guardian asked Firth about his work with Allen.
“I wouldn’t work with him again,” Firth said in a statement to the paper .
At the Golden Globes in January, Lady Bird writer and director Greta Gerwig was questioned by a reporter about whether, given the night’s emphasis on honoring victims of sexual assault and calling for change in Hollywood, she regretted working with Allen. Gerwig’s response that night seemed a bit like a fumble: She said it was “something that I’ve thought deeply about and I care deeply about, and I haven’t even had an opportunity to have an in-depth discussion where I come down on one side or the other.”
Two days later, however, Gerwig gave a different response. Speaking with the New York Times’s Frank Bruni, she voiced regret:
Hall, who starred in Allen’s 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, shot A Rainy Day in New York with the director during summer 2017. In a statement on Instagram posted on January 13, Hall voiced her regret and pledged her salary to Time’s Up:
Krumholtz appeared in Allen’s Wonder Wheel, released at the end of 2017, but on January 5 he tweeted that he regretted working on the film. (When a commenter asked about donating his residuals, Krumholtz replied, “What residuals? Barely got paid. Woody doesn’t pay.”)
Newman, who stars in the amazon series The Tick, was the first actor to publicly repudiate his work with Allen following the Weinstein allegations. Newman donated his salary for Allen’s upcoming film A Rainy Day in New York to RAINN, and tweeted about his reasons:
Continuing the thread, Newman wrote, “I can’t keep professionally operating from a place of fear. It’s time to show a courage in my actions mirroring my words without concession.”
In a November 10,2017, Facebook post about her experiences with sexual harassment and assault, particularly at the hands of X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner, Page wrote more broadly about predators in Hollywood, and about her regrets for working with Allen:
During a Meet the Press Daily appearance on February 26, actors Peter Sarsgaard and Jeff Daniels were asked about whether they’d work with Allen again. Daniels fudged his answer, saying “the difficult decision would be to turn him down.” But Sarsgaard said that though he’d appeared in Blue Jasmine, he wouldn’t do another Allen film.
Sorvino won an Oscar for her role in Mighty Aphrodite, in which she plays a young prostitute and porn actress who turns out to be the mother of the adopted son of the film’s main character, Lenny, played by Allen.
