Actress Samantha Morton (“Morvern Callar,” “Minority Report”) has been nominated for two acting Oscars, including a Supporting Actress nod for 1999’s Woody Allen-directed “Sweet and Lowdown.” Speaking to Vanity Fair, Morton mentions that her time shooting “Sweet and Lowdown” with Allen was a memory she will always cherish.
When asked about the #MeToo controversy surrounding Allen, Morton refused to condemn the legendary writer-director. Unlike Timothee Chalamet and Greta Gerwig, Morton, a victim of sexual abuse herself, said that she is actually grateful of her time spent working with Allen:
“I don’t have any regrets,” the actress said. “I’m terribly sorry for the situation that is publicly known. It’s heartbreaking. I was sexually abused. Some of the people that hurt me can’t be brought to justice for complications of time. I have full sympathy for anybody who says that happens to them, and it needs to be taken incredibly seriously.”
She continued, “But if I look back at the situation that I was in, where I was working for a director who was kind, funny, and wonderful to work with, it changed my life. And I’m forever grateful for that…I can’t now go back [and change anything].”
On 5.3.19 I wrote Allen and the #MeToo allegations:
“The 82-year-old director has been releasing a new movie every year since 1982. That's 36 straight years with a movie crediting him as the main director. The last break for Allen, before last year’s forced #MeToo sabbatical, was when he took a year off in between 1980's "Stardust Memories" and 1982's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy." He was, probably still is, the hardest working director in Hollywood. "A Rainy Day in New York" was supposed to continue that 36-year-old streak but the film was shelved by Amazon due to the allegations.”
“Moses Farrow, the adopted son of Allen and Mia Farrow, has always shot down the claim that his sister Dylan was molested by Allen back in August 1992. In fact, he's accused his mother Mia of being a manipulative control freak when he and his siblings were just children. Moses doubled-down on Mia a few months back in an op-ed entitled “A Son Speaks Out.” In it, the most shocking claim, unsurprising to me, was that his mother abused he and his siblings.”
Of note:
If you are the kind of person that is open-minded and would rather inform his or herself rather than be lazy and just trust fake news, then, please, by all means, read Robert Weide's excellent dissections of Allen vs Farrow which were posted on 12.13.17, 5.30.16, and, most recently, 1.14.18.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.