Woody Allen defends work in light of #MeToo and renewed backlash

By Michael Rothman

Days after actress Scarlett Johansson defended beleaguered director Woody Allen, the man himself commented in a new interview on his self-reported track record employing women and about being dropped by actors and studios in recent years.

While promoting his new movie, "A Rainy Day in New York," Allen responded to a question about why his movie isn't being promoted in the United States and if he cares if he never works in Hollywood again.

"I couldn't care less," he said to France24. "I've never worked in Hollywood, I always work in New York and it doesn't matter to me for a second."

He added that if in the future no one financed his films, he would still write and create stories on his own.

Earlier this week -- Johansson, who has worked with Allen on three films -- said if given the opportunity, she'd collaborate with him again, despite recent renewed backlash against the director regarding a continuing allegation of sexual molestation against him, which he has denied.

Stating that she has had "a lot of conversations with him about [the allegations]," Johansson said. "He maintains his innocence and I believe him."

"I have been very direct with him, and he's very direct with me," she said. "I love Woody. ... I believe him, and I would work with him anytime."

In the new interview with France24, Allen didn't talk about a specific allegation, but defended his record on employing and directing actresses.

"I've worked with hundreds of actresses, not one of them has ever complained about me, not a single complaint," he said. "I've worked with, employed women in the top capacities, in every capacity for years, and we've always paid them exactly the equal of men. I've done everything that the #MeToo movement would love to achieve with everybody.”

In 2014, The New York Times published an open letter from Dylan Farrow, Allen's adoptive daughter with his ex-partner, Mia Farrow, in which Farrow accused the director of molesting her in 1992, when she was a child. Allen had been investigated on child molestation claims in Connecticut in the early '90s, but prosecutors decided not to charge him.

Allen responded in 2014 by denying the allegation, as he always has. He also accused Mia Farrow of coaching Farrow as revenge for his romantic relationship with her elder adoptive daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

"Of course, I did not molest Dylan," he said. "I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being."

But since then, actors like Timothee Chalamet, Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon and Mira Sorvino have distanced themselves from Allen. Amazon Studios has also broken ties with Allen, for which he later filed suit.

"I’m with Natalie. I believe you, Dylan," Witherspoon tweeted last year after an interview Portman gave sharing the same sentiments.