Director Woody Allen talks on May 11, 2016 during a press conference for the film “Cafe Society” ahead of the opening of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. “I’m a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want”, he said explaining he wasn’t upset by the comment, and in fact, “It would take a lot to offend me”.
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At Wednesday’s opening night screening of “Café Society”, master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte shocked the audience when he said: “It’s very nice that you’ve been shooting so many movies in Europe, even if you are not being convicted for rape in the U.S”.
The Allen comment, which referenced filmmaker Roman Polanski’s exile from the USA, drew gasps from the audience, which included Allen’s Café Society stars Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg and Blake Lively. It’s a storm in a tea cup, and it’s a shame, because I tried as much as I could to write something amusing every 20 seconds.
The actresses were joined at the event by their co-stars Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stoll, as well as director Woody Allen.
“But it wasn’t just Woody”, Lively said of the material.
The director told Vanity Fair he hasn’t read the Hollywood Reporter essay. I made the decision I think five years ago never to read a review of my movie.
“I never read anything about me, these interviews I do, anything.”
“I think it’s all silly”, he added. “As another comedian, I never pass judgment”. “I am completely in favor of comedians making any jokes they want”, he told Variety.
The son of Allen and actress Mia Farrow rebuked the media industry for not pressing his “predator” dad on the claims of a sexual crime.
When asked why, Dart responded: “It’s only natural that I would show displeasure when the press, in this case The Hollywood Reporter, goes out of its way to be harmful to my client”. You know? That can be definitely tricky to navigate, I’m sure. He later called out Allen’s young collaborators including Lively, Stewart, and Miley Cyrus.
Ronan said the time had come to “ask some hard questions”, and more work needs to be done to build a culture where women like his sister were no longer treated “as if they are invisible”.
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The scandal took on a new scale in 2014 when Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan, 30, published an open letter in the New York Times outlining her father’s alleged abuse.
