In a rare media appearance, Oscar-winning filmmaker Woody Allen sat down for an interview with actor Alec Baldwin on Instagram Live on Tuesday, reflecting on the highlights of his artistic career without addressing the sexual abuse allegation that has trailed him for decades.
Allen, 86, speaking from his home in New York, discussed his nonfiction writing, his memoir, his abandoned plans to write a novel, the state of Broadway theater and his disinterest in social media platforms such as Instagram, which Baldwin described as the “Radio City Music Hall of the millennial generation.”
The director, who is promoting a book, said he might make “at least one more movie” but “a lot of the thrill is gone.”
“When I used to do a film, it’d go into a movie house all across the country. Now you do a movie and you get a couple weeks in a movie house. Maybe six weeks or four weeks, and then it goes right to streaming or pay-per-view,” Allen said. “It’s not the same … It’s not as enjoyable to me.”
The live interview drew roughly 2,600 viewers, and it was occasionally interrupted by tech glitches. Allen’s video connection dropped out three times, and at one point Baldwin shouted at someone off-screen in Spanish.
Baldwin, 64, who has defended Allen on multiple occasions, appeared in three films from the director: “Alice” (1990), “To Rome with Love” (2012) and “Blue Jasmine” (2013). In the interview, he did not comment on the fatal shooting on the set of his Western film "Rust."
The actor announced the interview in a video posted on his Instagram account Sunday, writing in the caption: “Let me preface this by stating that I have ZERO INTEREST in anyone’s judgments and sanctimonious posts here.
“I am OBVIOUSLY someone who has my own set of beliefs and COULD NOT CARE LESS about anyone else’s speculation,” the actor added. “If you believe that a trial should be conducted by way of an HBO documentary, that’s your issue.”
He was referring to “Allen v. Farrow,” a four-part documentary series that aired on HBO in early 2021. The series, co-directed by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, chronicled Allen’s relationship with actor (and onetime creative collaborator) Mia Farrow and examined the sexual assault allegation leveled against him by their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
Dylan Farrow has alleged that Allen molested her in an attic in 1992, when she was 7 years old. She first publicly discussed the allegation in a 2014 open letter published in The New York Times, writing in part: “Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse.”
Allen has vehemently denied the accusations, and he has not been criminally charged. He has claimed that Mia Farrow encouraged Dylan to make the allegation because she was upset over Allen’s affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, who is now the filmmaker’s wife.
Baldwin has spent recent months entangled in the aftermath of the fatal shooting on the set of the Western film “Rust.” The actor and producer was rehearsing a scene when a prop gun he was holding went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing. Hutchins’ family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Baldwin and the “Rust” production crew in February, alleging that reckless behavior and cost-cutting measures led to her death.
Baldwin, for his part, told ABC News in early December that he did not feel guilt about the fatal shooting, saying in part: “I feel that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can’t say who that is. But I know it’s not me.”
The actor has previously come to Allen’s defense. In early 2018, after Dylan Farrow discussed her allegation in an on-camera interview with CBS News, Baldwin tweeted: “The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But it’s unfair and sad to me. I worked w WA 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career.
“Is it possible to support survivors of pedophilia and sexual assault/abuse and also believe that WA is innocent? I think so,” he added in a subsequent tweet. “The intention is not to dismiss or ignore such complaints. But accusing ppl of such crimes should be treated carefully. On behalf of the victims, as well.” (The tweets have since been removed.)
