Actor Wallace Shawn is defending his decision to work with Woody Allen, saying that he had "great respect" and "great affection" for the disgraced filmmaker.
Shawn's remarks made as a guest blogger for TheWrap are in stark contrast to the general view Hollywood holds of Allen, who fell from grace after his now-grown daughter Dylan Farrow accused him of child sexual abuse. Her allegations received renewed attention at the height of the #MeToo movement. Shawn did not dismiss the weight of Farrow's words but did not shun Allen either.
"By the time of this open letter, I had appeared in five films directed by Woody Allen," Shawn wrote. "These had been wonderful experiences for me, and I was thrilled to have participated in the work of such a marvelous filmmaker. And although I certainly couldn’t have claimed to have had more than the briefest chats with him on the set, I had a sense of him. I felt a great respect for him — and a great affection."
On the opposite end of the spectrum, several Hollywood stars have expressed regret at having worked with Allen. Among them is Drew Barrymore, who revealed earlier this year during an interview with Farrow that she had been "gaslit" into denying claims that Allen had sexually abused Farrow when she was 7 years old.
Having children of her own opened her eyes to what was being said about Allen, Barrymore admitted during an episode of "The Drew Barrymore Show."
"I worked with Woody Allen. I did a film with him in 1996 called, 'Everyone Says I Love You', and there was no higher career calling-card than to work with Woody Allen," she told Farrow, according to Celebretainment.com.
"Then I had children and it changed me because 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 is happening in the industry now and that is because of you making that brave choice. So thank you for that," she said to Farrow.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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