Rebecca Hall Walks Back Woody Allen Apology: 'I Don't Regret Working With Him'
Rebecca Hall says she doesn't regret working with Woody Allen despite him being famously accused by ex-wife Mia Farrow of sexually abusing their adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow , when she was a child.
Hall starred in Allen's " Vicky Cristina Barcelona " (2008) and " A Rainy Day in New York " (2019), which hit theaters when former collaborators started speaking out against him for the alleged abuse.
At the time, Hall not only pledged her "Rainy Day" salary to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund to support victims of sexual abuse in Hollywood but also publicly shared how "profoundly sorry" she was to have worked with Allen. But now she is reneging on the statement.
"I struggle with this one," Hall told The Guardian in an interview published Sunday , referring to her decision to speak out against Allen. "It's very unlike me to make a public statement about anything. 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."
"And, I kind of regret making that statement, because I don't think it's the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation," she continued.
She then reflected on what led to her making the statement, recalling how the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke while she was filming a scene for "Rainy Day."
"I was outside, shooting a street scene with Jude Law where, literally, my dialogue was, 'You've got to stop sleeping with these fucking 15-year-olds,'" Hall said. "And that day, the 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."
This, paired with being emotionally affected by Allen's abuse allegations and the Me Too movement in full swing, led to Hall wanting to do "something definitive."
"But it just became, 'another person denounces Woody Allen and regrets working with him,' which is not what I actually said," she told The Guardian in regard to her statement. "I don't regret working with him. He gave me a great job opportunity and he was kind to me. ... I don't talk to him any more, but I don't think that we should be the ones who are doing judge and jury on this."
Mia Farrow first publicly accused Allen of sexually abusing Dylan Farrow in a 1992 Vanity Fair , long before their adoptive daughter reiterated the allegations in 2013 and in the 2021 documentary " Allen v. Farrow ." Allen has always denied sexually abusing Dylan Farrow and was never charged with a crime.
The director was notably welcomed with a standing ovation as recently as 2017, when he took the stage to present Diane Keaton with the 45th annual AFI Life Achievement Award, but has since kept a lower profile in favor of European award ceremonies .
When asked how she would react to the backlash against Allen if it had happened now, Hall defended her latest stance without qualms.
"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."
