Well, Ronan Farrow got exactly what he wanted. He successfully shamed international entertainment reporters into asking the difficult and uncomfortable questions about and to Woody Allen. Consider this: in the lead up to Café Society’s Cannes premiere, Woody did some press and he was not even asked any questions adjacent to Dylan Farrow’s accusations, much less direct questions about what Dylan has said all along. But after Ronan’s op-ed was published in the Hollywood Reporter, every reporter now has an opening to ask all of the questions they want. The questions seem to be along the lines of “Have you read Ronan Farrow’s op-ed? What did you think of it?” Blake Lively seemed unprepared for that line of questioning. But Woody was prepared. They started by asking Woody about the “rape joke” at the opening ceremony, and then everything went sideways from there. Some assorted quotes from Woody:

The “rape joke” at the opening ceremony: “I am completely in favor of comedians making any jokes they want. I am a non-judgmental or [non]-censorship person on jokes. I’m a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want… 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, half hour at the most. 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.”

Woody says he hasn’t read Ronan’s op-ed: “I never read anything about me, these interviews I do, anything. I said everything I had to say about that whole 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. I said everything I have to say about it.

Whether he’ll ever read Ronan’s op-ed: “I never read anything. 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….I’ve said all I have to say about it.”

On Dylan Farrow’s accusations: “I’ve said everything I have to say about the whole situation in The New York Times. I have so moved on. I never think about it. I work and do my movies.”

The complications of the modern family: “It’s just funny and the reality is that lots of families are complicated. If you think about it Mia would be my mother-in-law. But it’s not intentional that way.”

[From Variety & People]

Um, are we witnessing the last days of Woody Allen’s career? It feels that way, doesn’t it? It’s one thing to say clearly and simply, “I wrote about all of this in 2014, please feel free to revisit that piece.” Which is true, he did write about it in 2014 and he blamed everything on “crazy” Mia and seemed to dismiss Dylan out of hand. But Woody just kept on going at Cannes this week – everything from “Mia would be my mother-in-law” (barf) to “I have so moved on” (Valley Girl Woody) to comparing Ronan’s op-ed to a bad review of a film… just… NO. No no no no no.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.