- Rebecca Hall told The Guardian in a new interview that she “kind of regret(s)” apologizing for working with Woody Allen in 2018
- The actress has appeared in two of Allen’s movies: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and A Rainy Day in New York (2019)
- She said in 2018 that she donated her salaries from the films to the Time’s Up movement, after reading Dylan Farrow’s allegations against Allen
Rebecca Hall is reconsidering her previous statement about being “profoundly sorry” for working with Woody Allen.
The actress, 42, has collaborated with Allen, 88, twice: first on his 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona and, later, for 2019’s A Rainy Day in New York. But in 2018, she issued a statement expressing regret for working with him, amid the filmmaker’s controversies and the Time’s Up movement.
In a new interview with The Guardian published Sunday, Nov. 17, Hall admitted that she “struggle(s)” with the statement today, explaining, “I kind of regret making that statement, because I don’t think it’s the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation.”
The actress went on to say “it’s very unlike” her “to make a public statement about anything.” Instead, she added, “I make the stuff; that’s how I am political. I don’t think of myself as an ‘actor-vist’; I’m not that person.”
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The controversy surrounding Allen includes having married ex Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, as well as having been accused of sexual abuse by another one of Farrow’s daughters, Dylan Farrow, who alleged that he molested her when she was 7 years old. Allen has long denied the claims, and was never formally charged.
Back in 2018, Hall said she had donated her salary from her movies with Allen to the Time’s Up movement, making the emotional announcement on Instagram and saying that reading statements from Dylan, 39, helped her realize that working with the controversial director was a mistake.
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.”
She added in part, “That is not something that sits easily with me in the current or indeed any moment, and I am profoundly sorry. I regret this decision and wouldn’t make the same one today.”
In her new interview with The Guardian, Hall recalled working on A Rainy Day in New York with Jude Law on a scene in which her character says, ” ‘You’ve got to stop sleeping with these f—ing 15-year-olds.’ And that day, the [Harvey] Weinstein scandal breaks. There’s a bank of journalists and paparazzi right there, because Weinstein’s a producer on it, and they’re all listening to me say this.”
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She said she felt “in a tangle” in the time following, and that “in this moment, it’s the most important thing to believe the women. Yes, of course, there’s going to be complications and nuances in these stories, but we’re redressing a balance here. So I felt like I wanted to do something definitive.”
That led her to make the statement, she said. “But it just became, ‘Another person denounces Woody Allen and regrets working with him,’ ” which is not what I said actually,” she added. “I don’t regret working with him. He gave me a great job opportunity and he was kind to me.”
While she doesn’t “talk to” Allen “anymore,” Hall clarified, “I don’t think that we should be the ones who are doing judge and jury on this.”
And if she was in the same position today, “I wouldn’t say anything — my policy actually is to be an artist,” she told The Guardian. “Don’t come out and state your stuff so much. I don’t think that makes me apathetic or not engaged. I just think it’s my job.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
