At a lunch on Thursday, Woody Allen spoke out about a controversial rape joke made last night at the opening ceremony at the 69th Cannes Film Fest.
In Favor of Comedians Making Jokes
“I am completely in favor of comedians making any jokes they want,” Allen said. “I am a non-judgmental and non-censorship person on jokes. I’m a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want.”
Master of ceremonies Laurent Lafitte shocked the audience when he said: “It’s very nice that you’ve been shooting so many movies in Europe, even if you are not being convicted for rape in the U.S.” The joke drew gasps from the audience. Viewers wondered whether Allen and/or Roman Polanski were the targets.
But Allen wasn’t upset: “It would take a lot to offend me. What bothered me most last night was the length of the show before the movie. I’m sitting there. I know I have a movie that’s an hour and a half, I would like the introduction ceremony to be 20 minutes. I don’t want you to spend an hour on the show. By the time my movie comes around at the end, you’re antsy in your seat. To me, that is the mistake of the show. It goes on for too long. Cut that down.”
Asked about the Ronan Farrow guest column published in the Hollywood Reporter yesterday, about how the media didn’t take seriously the rape allegations of his sister Dylan Farrow against their father. Allen said he hadn’t read the piece.
Never read anything about me
“I never read anything about me, these interviews I do, anything,” Allen said. “I said everything I had to say about that issue in The New York Times. I have moved so far past it. I never think about it. I work. I said I was never going to comment on it again.
Asked if he’ll ever read the piece, Allen responded: “I never read what you say about me or the reviews of my film. I made the decision I think five years ago never to read a review of my movie. Never read an interview. Never read anything, because you can easily become obsessed with yourself. It’s a bad idea to consume yourself with this stuff. You should do your work, not call up and find out how the grosses are, how is the film doing, how are the reviews. Forget about all that. Just work. It’s worked for me. I’ve been very productive over the years by not thinking about myself. I don’t like to hear that a critic thinks my film is a masterpiece and I don’t like to hear that a critic thinks my film misses.”
