Woody Allen
Woody Allen

Woody Allen says he's 'done everything the #MeToo movement would love to achieve'

ANI | Updated: Sep 07, 2019 06:53 IST

Washington D.C. [USA], Sept 7 (ANI): Days after actor Scarlett Johansson defended Woody Allen, the filmmaker opened up about the #MeToo movement.
The director maintained that he is a self-proclaimed "poster boy" for the movement and said that he doesn't care that parts of Hollywood and the film industry have shunned him, reported Fox News.
The 83-year-old filmmaker explained in a recent interview that he doesn't understand why he's not being championed by proponents of the viral movement.
"I've worked with hundreds of actresses and not one of them has ever complained about me, not a single complaint. I've worked with, employed women in the top capacity, in every capacity, for years and we've always paid them exactly the equal of men," he said in an interview with France24.
"I've done everything that the #MeToo movement would love to achieve," the filmmaker added.
On being asked if he regretted calling himself a "poster boy" for the #MeToo movement in an earlier interview, the filmmaker stood by the statement, saying, "I should be."
Allen also opened up about whether he was afraid of being blacklisted in the industry like so many other men who have had similar allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against them.
"I couldn't care less," he said.
"I've never worked in Hollywood. I've always worked in New York and it doesn't matter to me for a second. If tomorrow nobody would finance my films and nobody would finance my theater plays or nobody would publish my books, I'd still get up and write because that's what I do. So I will always work. What happens to it commercially is another matter," he added.
The director also spoke about his future plans and said that he has no plans of retiring yet.
He said, "I haven't thought of retiring. I don't have to make movies, if people didn't want to finance my movies I would be very happy working in the theater, or writing books, but I like to get up and write. I don't like to get up and do nothing."
Allen was swept up in the movement when his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, renewed her claims that he molested her when she was 7 years old. Allen has repeatedly denied all the allegations levelled against him since they first surfaced in 2014.
Allen's comments came shortly after Farrow took to Twitter to slam Johansson, who defended him for maintaining his innocence. Johansson has collaborated with Allen on films like 'Match Point', 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' and 'Scoop' in the past.
"Because if we've learned anything from the past two years it's that you definitely should believe male predators who 'maintain their innocence' without question," Farrow wrote on Twitter.
"Scarlett has a long way to go in understanding the issue she claims to champion," Farrow added.
Following the accusations, several actors who worked with Allen in the past have said they would not be interested in working with him again. (ANI)