Greta Gerwig says she regrets working with Woody Allen and won't again

Hanna Flint
·Contributor
Greta Gerwig makes up her mind on working with Woody Allen (Reuters)
Greta Gerwig makes up her mind on working with Woody Allen (Reuters)

When asked about Woody Allen at the Golden Globes, Greta Gerwig gave a non-committal answer but now the actress-turned-director has given a firmer response.

Gerwig worked with the controversial director on the 2012 film, To Rome With Love, despite the fact that he had long been accused of sexually abusing his then seven-year-old adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in the Nineties.

Now she says she regrets working with him and is adamant she will never do so again, after being criticised for not denouncing the alleged sex offender while wearing a black dress at the awards show on Sunday night.

Black dresses were an emblem of the Time’s Up movement that stands in solidarity for victims of sexual harassment, assault and abuse and critics felt that it was hypocritical for Gerwig to wear one if she was not going to speak out against Allen.

Greta Gerwig starred opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page in Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love in 2012
Greta Gerwig starred opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Ellen Page in Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love in 2012

“If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film,” the Lady Bird director told the New York Times two days later. “I have not worked for him again, and I will not work for him again.

“Dylan Farrow’s two different pieces made me realize that I increased another woman’s pain, and I was heartbroken by that realization. I grew up on his movies, and they have informed me as an artist, and I cannot change that fact now, but I can make different decisions moving forward.”

Gerwig joins a list of Woody Allen stars who have condemned the director including her To Rome With Love co-star Ellen Page.

“I did a Woody Allen movie and it is the biggest regret of my career. I am ashamed I did this,” she said in a Facebook post last November.

“I had yet to find my voice and was not who I am now and felt pressured, because ‘of course you have to say yes to this Woody Allen film.’ Ultimately, however, it is my choice what films I decide to do and I made the wrong choice. I made an awful mistake.”

Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut Lady Bird is in UK cinemas from February 16

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