During their appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” actors Peter Sarsgaard and Jeff Daniels, both of whom have worked with Woody Allen in the past, were asked if they would do another movie with the director in light of the sexual abuse allegations made against him. Their answers were quite different.
While Sarsgaard and Daniels each said they believed Dylan Farrow’s accusations against her adoptive father. Sarsgaard — who appeared in Allen’s 2013 film “Blue Jasmine” — said he wouldn’t work with Allen again, but Daniels, who starred in “Purple Rose of Cairo” in 1985, was more noncommittal in his response.
“It’s a difficult decision because of ‘Purple Rose of Cairo.’ That movie will always be a great experience, a great movie for me, and he will always be a great American filmmaker. I got to work with him at the age of 30, and it changed my life,” Daniels said. “I believe Dylan Farrow. Would I do another one with Woody? The difficult decision would be to turn him down.”
Allen has been surrounded by abuse allegations for over 20 years now, but has been faced by increased scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement and increased demands for a zero-tolerance policy against sexual harassment in Hollywood.
Several actors in Allen’s next movie, “Rainy Day in New York,” including Rebecca Hall and Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet, have announced that they will be donating their salary from the film to “Time’s Up,” the new Hollywood movement spearheading reform in the entertainment industry regarding policies to prevent and report harassment. Only a small handful of actors, including Alec Baldwin and Diane Keaton, have come to Allen’s defense.
Both Daniels and Sarsgaard star in the new Hulu drama “The Looming Tower,” based on the Pulitzer-prize-winning book of the same name, which premieres on Wednesday.
Watch the interview in the clip above.