On Wednesday, Allen’s son Ronan Farrow tore into the media for shielding his father from accusations that he “groomed” and molested Farrow’s sister (and Allen’s daughter) Dylan. In a column in The Hollywood Reporter, Farrow makes an explicit connection between the rape allegations against Bill Cosby and those against Allen and argues that the powerful PR firm working with his father uses its other A-list clients as a carrot and a stick to protect him from criticism.
Farrow’s op-ed appeared the morning that Allen’s newest film Cafe Society premiered at Cannes and, as Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan reports, he was asked about Farrow’s piece at a luncheon promoting the film. Allen said he hadn’t read the article, and then he said this:
“I never read anything,” he said again. “I never read what you say about me, or the reviews of my films. I made the decision 35 years ago to never read a review of my movies, never read an interview, never read anything. Because you could easily become obsessed with yourself ... I’ve been very productive over the years by not thinking about myself, and not obsessing over myself.”
“But this isn’t a critic,” said Setoodeh. “It’s your son.”
Allen shrugged. “I’ve said all I have to say about it.”
It’s clear that Allen is hoping that he can maintain the strategy of silence that’s allowed him to largely escape the kind of scrutiny and criticism faced by Cosby. (Also, this is far less important, but Allen congratulating himself for not being neurotic is absurd.) Whether Allen, or the actors who appear in Cafe Society, will continue to be asked about the sexual assault allegations is anyone’s guess, but Farrow’s op-ed has had an effect outside of Cannes. A puff piece about Allen that appeared in The Los Angeles Times on Monday included this editor’s note: “This interview was conducted before Ronan Farrow’s essay in The Hollywood Reporter—in which he holds the media partially responsible for concealing what he says is Allen’s history of sexual abuse—was published.”