Kate Winslet’s regret over working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski

Actress Kate Winslet has defended her belated change of heart over working with directors Woody Allen and Roman Polanski.

John C Reilly, Jodie Foster, Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet in Roman Polanski’s 2011 film Carnage.

Actress Kate Winslet has defended her belated change of heart over working with directors Woody Allen and Roman Polanski long after they were accused of sexually assaulting children.

“We learn, we grow, we change,” the actress said in an ­online appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival, where her film Ammonite is a contender for the People’s Choice award.

“I think we should all be ­allowed to say, ‘Look, I shouldn’t have done that’.”

In the interview with Variety for the festival, Winslet, 44, added: “I think this is a huge, seismic time for all of us, where we’re aware of how many planes we take, for ­example, or things we have done in the past — or would go back and wish to do differently. And I just want to lead with a bit of ­integrity … I do regret it (working with Allen and Polanski).”

Three years ago, Winslet praised the directors while promoting Wonder Wheel, an Allen film. Speaking then about the allegations against him, she said: “Woody Allen is an incredible ­director. So is Roman Polanski.”

In 2018, Winslet spoke of her “bitter regrets” at working with certain “men of power” in Hollywood.

She starred in Polanski’s 2011 drama Carnage. Both films were made decades after separate allegations were first made against the two men. Allen, 84, was ­accused in 1992 by his former partner Mia Farrow of sexually abusing her seven-year-old daughter Dylan, a claim he has consistently denied and never faced criminal charges over. The claims against Allen are unsubstantiated.

Polanski, 87, fled the US in 1978 to avoid jail after he pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles.

He has ­remained a fugitive from US ­justice.

The Times