Rebecca Hall regrets apologising for appearing in Woody Allen film
Rebecca Hall has stated that she regrets making a public apology for working with the director Woody Allen.
The actor appeared in Allen’s 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona as Vicky, one of two American women to ignite a romance with an artist while staying for a summer in the Catalan city.
She then reunited with the director for 2019’s A Rainy Day In New York, which was filmed during a period in which there was pressure on many of his collaborators to speak out against Allen, in light of allegations against him in the age of the #MeToo movement.
At the time, Hall said that she was “profoundly sorry” for her decision to accept a role in the latter film, after reading a statement from Allen’s adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, and donated her fee for the film to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund.
Dylan Farrow has accused Allen of sexual assault when she was 7 years old in 1993. He has vehemently denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime in the case.
Now, however, Hall has said she wishes she had not made the apology and stated that she does not believe actors should be pressured into taking a stance on such matters.
In an interview with The Observer, she has explained that at the time she issued that statement, she was pregnant and in an emotional “tangle”, and in an effort to meet the moment and believe women, “I felt like I wanted to do something definitive”.
“It is very unlike me to make a public statement about anything,” she added. “I don’t think of myself as an actor-vist. I’m not that person.”
She went on to explain that she does not “think it’s the responsibility of his actors to speak to that situation”, adding: “I don’t regret working with him. He gave me a great job opportunity and he was kind to me.”
“I don’t think that we should be the ones who are doing judge and jury on this,” she added, going on to say that her choice now is “to be an artist. I don’t think that makes me apathetic or not engaged. I just think it’s my job.”
Allen, a four-time Oscar winner known for writing and directing acclaimed films such as Annie Hall, Manhattan and Midnight In Paris, had the Venice Film Festival premiere for his latest film Coup De Chance last year interrupted by protesters, who urged the festival to “turn the spotlight off on rapists”.
Hall stars in the BBC drama The Listeners, which airs on Tuesday (November 19).
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Max Pilley
NME
