Kate Winslet didn’t mention Wonder Wheel director Woody Allen by name while accepting an award at the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday, but it sounded like she was distancing herself from the auteur she recently praised, Vulture reports.
“I wouldn’t be able to stand here this evening, and keep to myself some bitter regrets that I have at poor decisions to work with individuals with whom I wish I had not,” Winslet said, before letting out a labored sigh. “It has become clear to me that by not saying anything, I might be adding to the anguish of many courageous women and men. Sexual abuse is a crime. While it rests with the rule of law to pass judgment, it lies with all of us to listen to the smallest of voices and to never stop listening.”
Part of Kate’s statement: pic.twitter.com/UKVkeErtK3
— Laura Kramer (@Laura_Kramer) January 28, 2018
In a Los Angeles Times op-ed published in December, Allen’s estranged daughter Dylan Farrow called Winslet out on the hypocrisy of speaking out against disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein while working with and praising the filmmaker Farrow says molested her when she was seven. In September, when Winslet was asked by the New York Times about the allegations against Allen, she responded: “Of course one thinks about it. But at the same time, I didn’t know Woody and I don’t know anything about that family. As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don’t know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false. Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person.” By the time Variety interviewed her in October, Winslet was notably less secure in that position.
“It’s just a difficult discussion. I’d rather respectfully not enter it today,” Winslet told Variety of her decision to work with Allen despite child molestation accusations. She added, “We’re always as actors going to say the wrong thing. I think it’s better to respectfully step away from the discussion.”
Winslet echoed her fear of saying “the wrong thing” during Sunday’s speech.
“Those who do have a voice are becoming afraid to say anything, because of intense scrutiny and criticism,” Winslet said Sunday. “Nobody should be exempt from having a right to speak in support of vulnerable people. There are those who can speak so powerfully for those who are not able to do so themselves, and let us please not make this about which people express public regret.”
Winslet’s apparent change of heart comes weeks after fellow Allen collaborators Greta Gerwig, Griffin Newman, Rebecca Hall, and Timothee Chalamet spoke out on their regrets in regards to working with Allen.
