Susan Sarandon — staunch Bernie Sanders supporter, Burning Man attendee and A$AP Rocky muse — is a hero to us all. She’s in Cannes right now to accept the Women in Motion award alongside her Thelma & Louise costar Geena Davis as the film enjoys its 25th anniversary.
Though Susan appears to be having the time of her life, the mood of the festival is heavy as Woody Allen’s past dominates conversation. His latest film, Café Society starring Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg and Blake Lively, premiered last week, reigniting a decades-long debate over his relationship with his daughter Dylan. She has alleged that her father inappropriately touched her in childhood and sexually assaulted her when she was seven-years-old.
Speaking to Variety, Kirsten Stewart explained she and Jesse did have a conversation about Woody’s past, but ultimately decided it wasn’t relevant to their project. “I was like, ‘What do you think? We don’t know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong.’ At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of shit that’s been said about us that’s not true, our lives would be over. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.”
Blake Lively has gone so far as to defend the director to the Los Angeles Times: “It’s very dangerous to factor in things you don’t know anything about. I could [only] know my experience. And my experience with Woody is he’s empowering to women.”
Just days before Blake’s comments went to press, Woody’s son Ronan Farrow — brother to Dylan Farrow — penned an essay for the Hollywood Reporter on the topic, writing: “I believe my sister. This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father’s strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumb — behavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations.”
With all this going on, inevitably when Susan received the Cannes Women in Motion award, the Woody Allen allegations came up. New York Magazine reports that when asked for her take on the situation, Susan’s response was blunt, in stark contrast to most Hollywood discussion:”I think he sexually assaulted a child and I don’t think that’s right.”
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Text Isabelle Hellyer
Image via @SusanSarandon