NEW YORK • Timothee Chalamet, the breakout star of the movie Call Me By Your Name, has become the latest actor to distance himself from Woody Allen, announcing that he is donating the salary from his role in the director's latest film to charities fighting sexual abuse and harassment.
In a post on his Instagram account, Chalamet said he is giving his wages from his work on Allen's A Rainy Day In New York to Hollywood-backed initiative Time's Up; the LGBT Centre in New York; and RAINN, an organisation that supports victims of sexual violence.
He also sought to explain his previous reticence about his decision to appear in a film directed by Allen, who faces accusations dating back to 1993 that he sexually abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. Allen has denied the accusations. Chalamet said that, owing to "contractual obligations", he had been unable to answer questions posed by reporters and critics on the subject.
"I don't want to profit from my work on the film," he said. "I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve."
The move comes on the heels of other actors having distanced themselves from Allen.
Last Friday, Chalamet's co-star, Rebecca Hall, announced on Instagram that she was donating her wages from A Rainy Day In New York to Time's Up.
Hall, who also starred in Allen's 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, said she had been affected by public statements made by Farrow regarding Allen.
"I see not only how complicated this matter is, but that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and dismissed," she said.
In October last year, days after the Harvey Weinstein harassment scandal broke, another of Chalamet's co-stars, Griffin Newman, donated his entire salary from a one-scene role in A Rainy Day In New York to RAINN.
Chalamet and Hall's statements came one month after Farrow questioned in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times why Allen had been spared similar scrutiny of his past actions.
In 2014, she had spoken out publicly for the first time about the 1993 allegations in an open letter published in The New York Times.
In an open letter to Farrow published on Jan 10, Mira Sorvino apologised for the delay in publicly supporting her and for not initially believing her story. The actress worked with Allen on the 1995 comedy Mighty Aphrodite and won an Oscar for her performance.
She was one of many women to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault in a story published by The New Yorker in October last year. Ronan Farrow, Dylan's brother, reported the piece.
Sorvino's letter came a day after Greta Gerwig, who performed in Allen's 2012 movie To Rome With Love, told The New York Times that she, too, would not work with Allen in future.
But some of Allen's collaborators have avoided criticising him. Justin Timberlake and Kate Winslet starred in his 2017 film Wonder Wheel and Dylan Farrow has criticised the two for speaking in favour of the #metoo movement and Time's Up, but not against Allen.
Alec Baldwin, a three-time Allen collaborator, defended the director on Twitter on Tuesday.
"The renunciation of (Allen) and his work, no doubt, has some purpose," he wrote. "But it's unfair and sad to me."
Selena Gomez, who stars in A Rainy Day In New York as Chalamet's love interest, has been criticised for accepting the role, for which she auditioned five times, according to an interview with IndieWire. A fan commented on a photo posted on Monday by the star's mother, Mandy Teefey, suggesting she make her daughter apologise for working with Allen.
Teefey responded: "Sorry, no one can make Selena do anything she doesn't want to. I had a long talk with her about not working with him and it didn't click."
NYTIMES, WASHINGTON POST
