Javier Bardem Again Defends Woody Allen, Calls Allegations 'Just Gossip' Until 'Legally Proven'

Javier Bardem continues to defend Woody Allen against the allegations of sexual assault made by Dylan Farrow.

Allen has long denied abusing his adopted daughter Dylan. The allegations, made by a then-7-year-old Dylan, were first reported during his 1992 split from actress Mia Farrow. Allen was not charged, though a Connecticut prosecutor said there was probable cause for a criminal case.

Although Allen has maintained his innocence over the years, Dylan's accusations resurfaced amid the #MeToo movement. The public has since held Allen to more scrutiny than ever before. A recent HBO docuseries titled Allen v. Farrow recounted the sexual abuse allegations, featuring interviews with Dylan, who is now 36, and more involved.

"It's so preposterous, and yet the smear has remained," Allen, now 86, said in a 2020 interview that was released on Paramount+ in March. "And they still prefer to cling to if not the notion that I molested Dylan, the possibility that I molested her. Nothing that I ever did with Dylan in my life could be misconstrued as that."

Bardem, 52, worked with Allen on the 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which also starred Bardem's eventual wife Penélope Cruz (she won an Oscar for her performance). Bardem has previously defended "genius" Allen on the basis that he was never convicted — and in a new interview with The Guardian, he doubles down on that perspective.

"Pointing fingers at someone is very dangerous if it hasn't been legally proven. Beyond that, it's just gossip," the Being the Ricardos actor told the outlet when asked about the subject.

He added, "I try to go where logic dictates, which is: Let's follow the rules that exist to establish whether someone is guilty or innocent. If the case re-opens and he is proven to be guilty, I will be the first to say, 'What a horrible thing.' But so far, I haven't seen that."

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Rebecca Hall starred in Vicky Cristina Barcelona as well, and in 2018, she expressed "regret" in working with Allen again on A Rainy Day in New York. After reading Dylan's statements about Allen, Hall said at the time that she came to understand "that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and dismissed."

When asked by The Guardian if Bardem has spoken with Hall, 39, about their differing stances on Allen, he said, "No, I haven't seen Rebecca in many, many years. To tell you the truth, I don't follow any of that, what people said."

Other actors who've previously worked with Allen and have since spoken out against him include Kate Winslet, Selena Gomez, Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Rachel Brosnahan and Colin Firth.

Cruz, 47, who shares two kids with Bardem, told Vanity Fair in 2018: "The only answer that I can give you with common sense that is not about a headline is, the case has to be looked at again."

"The important thing is, if there is a case anywhere in the world that isn't clear, then why not look at it again? I am in favor of that," she added at the time. "... We're supposed to believe in justice, and this was looked at years ago, and it's not clear. It should be looked at again, and then I can give an answer."

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Scarlett Johansson, another cast member of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, came under fire for her past defense of Allen. "How do I feel about Woody Allen? I love Woody," she told The Hollywood Reporter back in August 2019. "I believe him, and I would work with him anytime."

She added at the time, "I see Woody whenever I can, and I have had a lot of conversations with him about it. I have been very direct with him, and he's very direct with me. He maintains his innocence, and I believe him."

Dylan appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show earlier this year to discuss her allegations with Barrymore, who acted in Allen's 1996 film Everyone Says I Love You. Barrymore, 46, explained that she was "basically gaslit into not looking at a narrative beyond what I was being told" when she took the role.

"It is just so meaningful because it's easy for me to say, 'Of course you shouldn't work with him, he's a jerk, he's a monster,' " Dylan told Barrymore in the interview. "But I just find it incredibly brave and incredibly generous that you would say to me that my story and what I went through was important enough to you to reconsider that."