Actress Blythe Danner opened up about her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in the #MeToo movement — specifically criticism that the Oscar winner waited too long to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
Speaking with TheWrap at Acura Studios during the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, Danner discussed a blunt op-ed she wrote for the New York Times in response to a piece by Maureen Dowd.
The columnist asserted that Paltrow ignored Weinstein’s behavior to become the “queen of Miramax,” referencing her 1999 Best Actress Academy Award for Weinstein’s film “Shakespeare in Love.” Danner balked at the notion.
“It’s so easy to put people down for not speaking quickly enough. I mean everyone has to do it in their own way,” Danner told TheWrap.
“She was a tough cookie with the powers that were. He’ll go unnamed,” Danner said.
Her “What They Had” co-stars Hilary Swank and Michael Shannon agreed. Shannon offered his thoughts on why abuse is so rampant in Hollywood, which includes indie cinema as we know it. Weinstein was an architect of that culture after all, Shannon said.
“A lot of that behavior is the Hollywood culture of entitlement and people in positions of power feeling that their appetites are justified because they’re powerful. When you’re on a film like this, there’s nobody in that position. It’s just people trying to do good work and tell the story,” Shannon said.
“What They Had” was written and directed by debut filmmaker Elizabeth Chomko, the recipient of the esteemed Academy Nicholl Fellowship for screenwriting. It also stars Taissa Farmiga.
Watch the full interview above.