Woody Allen’s longstanding accusations of molesting adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow when she was seven years old have only gotten more pronounced in the #MeToo era. Javier Bardem—who worked with Allen on Vicky Cristina Barcelona alongside wife Penelope Cruz—says he’s not convinced by the allegations. According to French newspaper Paris Match, Bardem is “absolutely not” ashamed to have worked with him, and is "shocked" by the public's treatment of Allen.
According to People, Bardem seems unwilling to consider the evidence unless a court of law officially decides them to be factual. “If there was evidence that Woody Allen was guilty, then yes, I would have stopped working with him, but I have my doubts,” he said. By prioritizing Allen’s potential innocence over the possibility he might be guilty, Bardem seems angrier at the allegations than he is about their potential validity. “I am very shocked by this sudden treatment,” he said. "Judgments in the states of New York and Connecticut found him innocent. The legal situation today is the same as in 2007.”
Bardem’s wife, Penelope Cruz, hasn’t commented on her husband’s recent statements. However, she made her position in the #MeToo movement clear in February when she told Net-A-Porter, “It has to change the rules of our industry and all the other industries in which women are being repressed in so many different ways. It cannot just be something that’s there to fill.”
While Bardem's legal claims may be true, it seems unnecessarily bold and careless to publicly dismiss Dylan Farrow’s highly probable allegations. Other actors seem to be erring on the side of caution, and gentle yet firm detachment from the director, while keeping the potential victims in mind. David Krumholtz, who worked with Allen on Wonder Wheel, for example, said he “deeply” regrets working with Allen, describing it as one of his “most heartbreaking mistakes.” Peter Sarsgaard, who starred in Blue Jasmine, said he wouldn’t accept an offer of Allen’s again. Greta Gerwig said she wouldn’t have collaborated with Allen either, had she known about the allegations. Bardem, however, remains staunchly defensive of his collaborator.
Bardem is now encamped alongside Alec Baldwin and Scarlett Johansson, who famously said about Allen, “It’s not like this is somebody that’s been prosecuted and found guilty of something, and you can then go, ‘I don’t support this lifestyle or whatever.’ I mean, it’s all guesswork.” Unfortunately, this implied guesswork is comprised of an allegation stemming from 1992 in which Allen’s adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow claimed her father molested her. How one so easily dismisses a child's claims of an adult molesting her is unclear, but Allen has always charmed and entranced young actors through his legendary status and the theories that Mia Farrow brainwashed her daughter.
Hollywood, even in the midst of a massive #MeToo movement, can’t seem to shake its adoration of Woody Allen. Actors simply continue to work with him, actresses being the most egregious ones in Farrow's mind. She published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times last December, blasting Kate Winslet, Blake Lively, and Greta Gerwig for continuing to work with Allen. Stay tuned, as we chronicle the consequences of Bardem’s recent comments and Woody Allen’s seemingly untenable position in Hollywood.
