Scarlett Johansson says that her mother taught her to stand up for her beliefs, and she apparently believes that Woody Allen can do no wrong. Maybe she should take the time to listen to the “lessons” that the Farrow children learned from their ex-father.
For as long as powerful, celebrated and massively wealthy film directors have been lusting after young women, stars like Johansson have been urging the public to withhold their judgement and look the other way on a few personal indiscretions here and there. Johansson, who starred in three of Allen’s films in the mid-2000s, Matchpoint, Scoop and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, has long been one of Allen’s most proud defenders, even in the wake of the #MeToo movement when renewed fury over the 1992 sexual abuse allegations against Allen caused many of his past collaborators to distance themselves from him.
During a recent interview with The Telegraph, Johansson doubled down on her 2019 defense of Allen, when she declared to The Hollywood Reporter, “I love Woody. I believe him, and I would work with him anytime.”
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When The Telegraph asked Johansson if her public support for the director has caused her any personal or professional problems, Johansson answered, “I guess it’s hard to know. You never know what the domino effect is, exactly. But my mom always encouraged me to be myself, (to see) that it’s important to have integrity, and stand up for what you believe in.”
For decades, Dylan Farrow, Allen’s former adopted daughter, has insisted that the director molested her when she was seven years old. Allen’s biological child, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, corroborates his sister’s claims. While Allen has vehemently denied the accusations and no charges were ever filed against him, his long-time romantic relationship with the Farrows’ adoptive sister Soon-Yi Previn certainly hasn’t helped his public image.
Ronan's spectacular exposé on serial Hollywood rapist Harvey Weinstein for The New Yorker in 2017 knocked down a literally and symbolically massive domino in the campaign to hold powerful predators in the entertainment industry accountable and helped lead to Weinstein's incarceration. But when Ronan's efforts to expose sexual abusers in show business revived interest in the allegations against his father, Johansson sprung to Allen's defense, telling THR of the Farrows' accusations against her director, “I see Woody whenever I can, and I have had a lot of conversations with him about it. I have been very direct with him, and he’s very direct with me. He maintains his innocence, and I believe him.”
Johansson further opined of the #MeToo movement, “It’s hard because it’s a time where people are very fired up, and understandably. Things needed to be stirred up, and so people have a lot of passion and a lot of strong feelings and are angry, and rightfully so. It’s an intense time.”
While Johansson certainly hasn't walked back any of her public declarations implying that Dylan Farrow has spent the last 33 years of her life lying about horrific sexual trauma, in the new Telegraph interview, Johansson did admit that the timing of her THR comments could have been better. "I think it’s also important to know when it’s not your turn,” Johansson reflected. “I don’t mean that you should silence yourself. I mean sometimes it’s just not your time. And that’s something I’ve understood more as I’ve matured.”
Still, Johansson insists that her choice to aid the public image of a powerful accused abuser comes from her matrilineal moral backbone. As sickening as this sophistry may be to anyone who respects Johansson's work, I suggest that we count ourselves lucky that she's not out here calling all of Weinstein's accusers liars – his company produced Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and he could have very well professed his innocence to her in between takes.
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