Kristen Stewart And Blake Lively Defend Woody Allen At Cannes

Days before Woody Allen’s newest project “Cafe Society” opened the 69th Cannes Film Festival, Kristen Stewart sat down with Variety to defend her decision to work with the legendary director despite allegations of sexual assault brought forth by his daughter Dylan.

After being cast in Allen’s latest masterpiece, Stewart had a conversation with her former and current co-star Jesse Eisenberg about the controversy they were both bound to face. “I was like, ‘What do you think? We don’t know any of these people involved. I can personalise 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,” Stewart said. “The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.”

The 26-year-old actress, Louis C.K., and Miley Cyrus were recently criticised by Allen’s son, Ronan Farrow, for ignoring the serious allegations made public in an essay published in The New York Times.

“The old-school media’s slow evolution has helped to create a culture of impunity and silence. Amazon paid millions to work with Woody Allen, bankrolling a new series and film. Actors, including some I admire greatly, continue to line up to star in his movies,” he wrote. “‘It’s not personal’ one once told me. But it hurts my sister every time one of her heroes like Louis C.K., or a star her age, like Miley Cyrus, works with Woody Allen.”

He added, “personal is exactly what it is — for my sister, and for women everywhere with allegations of sexual assault that have never been vindicated by a conviction.”

Though Eisenberg failed to recall the alleged conversation with Stewart, he did go on to credit the star for her resilience. “If I were to become president of the United States, I would only have an inkling of the scrutiny that she experiences,” he said. “I have the exact same three people interested in me; I’m related to them. She has helicopters following her.”

Another “Cafe Society” star came to Allen’s defence on Thursday after an insensitive rape joke was made at the director’s expense during the Cannes film festival opening night gala.

Blake Lively expressed her dismay over the careless bit of comedy, telling Variety, “I think any jokes about rape, homophobia or Hitler is not a joke.”;

She continued, “I think that was a hard thing swallow in 30 seconds. Film festivals are such a beautiful, respectful festivals of film and artists and to have that, it felt like it wouldn’t have happened if it was in the 1940s. I can’t imagine Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby going out and doing that. It was more disappointing for the artists in the room that someone was going up there making jokes about something that wasn’t funny.”

The star also addressed Farrow’s essay published in The Hollywood Reporter this week, admitting to the magazine that she has yet to read the piece. “I haven’t been in it, so I don’t want to speak on something I haven’t read. I think that’s dangerous,” she explained. “It’s definitely something that being at the festival, the media these days, you come to a film festival about film and people talk about all different types of things. You know? That can be definitely tricky to navigate, I’m sure. I don’t want to speak about something I haven’t read.”

Catch highlights from the festival’s opening night below.