Woody Allen believes he could ‘never’ have worked with convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein as they would have likely clashed creatively.
The Midnight In Paris director has this week released his book, Apropos of Nothing, despite being dropped by publisher Hachette Book Group after staff protested over the sexual abuse allegations against Woody, claims of which he has denied.
In the memoir excerpted by AP, the filmmaker opens up about his professional relationship with Weinstein and clarifies how their partnership worked.
‘Despite what was printed in the newspapers, Harvey never produced any movies of mine. Never backed me,’ Woody writes.
‘He only distributed a few already completed films and distributed them well.’
Woody, 84, seems to admire Weinstein’s achievements as a movie producer and continues: ‘In addition to Harvey’s skill at distributing, he had an eye for offbeat, artsy movies and presented a number of them.’
However, he states: ‘Still, I would never have allowed Harvey to back or produce a film of mine because he was a hands-on producer who changed and recut a director’s movie. We never could have worked together.’
In February, Weinstein was found guilty of criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree of two women.
He was later sentenced to 23 years in prison but is currently said to be fighting coronavirus in hospital.
The multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement in 2017.
Woody also found himself at the centre of the campaign against sexual assault due to allegations that he sexually abused his daughter Dylan when she was a child – claims he has repeatedly denied.
During the investigation into Dylan’s allegations against the director in 1993, his ex-wife Mia Farrow was accused of ‘planting’ the story in her daughter’s head in revenge for Allen having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi.
No charges were pressed against Woody, and he always denied the claims.
Woody reportedly speaks highly of Dylan and expressed his hopes for a reconciliation.
‘One of the saddest things of my life was that I was deprived of the years of raising Dylan and could only dream about showing her Manhattan and the joys of Paris and Rome,’ he writes.
‘To this day, Soon-Yi and I would welcome Dylan with open arms if she’d ever want to reach out to us as Moses (Farrow) did, but so far that’s still only a dream.’
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