In her decades-long career, actress Anjelica Huston has been nominated for 3 Oscars (winning 1), 7 Golden Globes (1 win, as well), and tons of Emmys, BAFTAs, and other awards. Basically, the actress is Hollywood royalty at this point. And with that status, as well as age (she’s 67 years young), comes a bit of a “zero fucks” attitude. This carefree nature comes across clearly in a new interview with Vulture.
Over the course of the extensive interview, Huston covers her past love affairs, her entire career, her friendships that have come and gone, as well as the current state of Hollywood, particularly with #MeToo. It’s that last bit that really stands out, as the award-winning actress may surprise fans with her frank thoughts on some of the film icons that have been taken down because of resurfaced allegations.
And when you think of film icons that have recently been blacklisted, the name Roman Polanski springs to mind, doesn’t it? Polanski is an Oscar winner that has recently seen his status tumble in the eyes of fans and the industry, as his past crimes have come back to haunt him, where he was convicted of sexual assault against an underage girl decades ago. But for Huston, that’s not something that was entirely unheard of back in the day.
“Well, see, it’s a story that could’ve happened ten years before in England or France or Italy or Spain or Portugal, and no one would’ve heard anything about it,” said Huston. “And that’s how these guys enjoy their time.”
She continued, “It was a whole playboy movement in France when I was a young girl, 15, 16 years old, doing my first collections. You would go to Régine or Castel in Paris, and the older guys would all hit on you. Any club you cared to mention in Europe. It was de rigueur for most of those guys like Roman who had grown up with the European sensibility.”
As for whether or not the filmmaker should be forgiven for his crimes, Huston said, “My opinion is: He’s paid his price, and at the time that it happened, it was kind of unprecedented.”
She goes on to talk about an intimate affair she had at age 18 with a man that was 42 at the time. Huston says that this sort of thing happened more commonly back then.
Huston added, “He was way older than me. I mean, old enough to know better. But these things happen, that’s what I’m saying. These things weren’t judged on the same basis that they’re judged on now. So you can’t compare them.”
But the way that women have been treated by Hollywood types, and powerful men in general, has not changed in the decades since Polanski’s transgressions. Huston says that this “male imperative” is ingrained from a young age.
“And frankly, I think there’s a whole element of guys who will get up to what they want to get up to,” she explained. “I didn’t think Brett Kavanaugh was all that believable. And yet this whole thing continues to be whitewashed and whitewashed and whitewashed. On the other hand, there is a thing called a male imperative, and it is maybe stronger than any #MeToo movement, because it happens at birth.”
Huston then goes on to talk about her experiences with Woody Allen. After being asked if she’d work with the filmmaker again, after his past allegations of sexual abuse against a child resurfaced, the actress didn’t hesitate, and said, “Yeah, in a second.”
The interview covers all the #MeToo bases by also bringing up Jeffrey Tambor and the idea of inappropriate sexual advances and/or harassment on set. While Huston doesn’t deny things can be said or done on set that aren’t what many would consider acceptable, she believes that what happens on a set should stay on a set.
“I do think in this work we have to feel freedom. We have to feel as though we can say and do things that are not necessarily judged, particularly by the other people in the cast or crew,” Huston said.
Huston joins a variety of actors and filmmakers that have come forward defending Polanski, Allen, and others, by basically saying a variation of “boys will be boys” or “it was different back then.” However, those defenses don’t seem to be holding much water in the eyes of Hollywood, as Polanski, Allen, and Tambor, among others, have found it difficult to move on with their careers after recent headlines.
As for Huston, you can see her continue with her career in the upcoming “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.”
