Colin Firth says he will not work with Woody Allen again
Actor provides statement to Guardian on same day Dylan Farrow gives first televised interview accusing her adopted father of sexual assault
Sam Levin in San Francisco, Thu 18 Jan 2018 19.25 EST
Colin Firth is the latest actor to publicly rebuke Woody Allen, telling the Guardian he won’t do any projects with the director in the future.
“I wouldn’t work with him again,” Firth said in a statement late Thursday, the same day Dylan Farrow gave her first televised interview accusing her adopted father of sexually assaulting her when she was seven years old.
Firth acted in Allen’s film Magic in the Moonlight in 2013, before Farrow published an open letter the following year alleging that her father molested her in an attic and accusing Hollywood of turning a “blind eye”. Allen denied the accusation as “untrue and disgraceful” at the time and again rebutted the claims this week, accusing the Farrow family of “cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time’s Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation”.
The Time’s Up initiative launched this year in response to the reckoning around sexual abuse in Hollywood that began in the fall, stemming from sexual harassment and rape allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein. In December, Farrow wrote an op-ed repeating her claims and questioning why the movement against sexual violence had spared Allen and calling on other actors to support her.
Since then, many high-profile actors have publicly expressed empathy for Farrow and have said they regret working with Allen, including Mira Sorvino, Rachel Brosnahan, Greta Gerwig, Rebecca Hall and Timothée Chalamet. Hall and Chalamet, who have parts in in Allen’s next film, A Rainy Day in New York, which was scheduled to be released this year, said they would donate their salaries to charities.
Last year, Firth was outspoken about Weinstein, whose company produced The King’s Speech, a 2010 film that earned Firth an Oscar. Firth called Weinstein a “frightening man” and said he felt shame for not doing more when the actor Sophie Dix told him of “a distressing encounter” with Weinstein more than 25 years ago.
While a growing number of prominent women who collaborated with Allen have recently condemned the director, many powerful male actors have remained silent, sparking criticisms.
Alec Baldwin, however, has defended Allen and criticized the stars who have denounced the director.
