Kate Winslet defends Woody Allen, Roman Polanski despite rape allegations: 'I had an extraordinary working experience'

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Kate Winslet talks fashion, fables and 'The Dressmaker'

Actress plays a fashion designer who returns to her small Australian hometown to investigate a tragedy from her past

Kate Winslet didn’t let the rape allegations against filmmakers Woody Allen and Roman Polanski prevent her from working with them.

Polanski, 84, was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles 40 years ago. Shortly after, the French-born Polish director fled to Europe and has avoided extradition.

Vanity Fair reported in April Polanski was trying to reopen the case so that he can return to the United States without facing prison time.

In 2014, Dylan Farrow, Woody Allen’s adopted daughter, published a detailed account of the alleged 1992 sexual abuse by the director in the New York Times.

The 41-year-old British actress recently worked with Allen, 81, in a film titled “Wonder Wheel,” which is slated to debut later this year. She previously worked with Polanski in a 2011 film titled “Carnage.”

Winslet told the New York Times that she reportedly didn’t know enough about the allegations or the two men personally.

“Of course one thinks about it,” she explained. “But at the same time, I didn’t know Woody and I don’t know anything about that family. As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don’t know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false. Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person. Woody Allen is an incredible director. So is Roman Polanski. I had an extraordinary working experience with both of those men, and that’s the truth.”

Winslet also added she wasn’t sure if she would ever get another opportunity to work with Allen.

“[And] it was an extraordinary part, that I could not believe he was asking me to play, so just the flattery of being offered the role was enough,” she said. “The only reason I wouldn’t have done it would have been fear, and that is no way to live a life, man. Plus I knew my parents would be incredibly proud of me working with Woody Allen.”

Winslet’s mother passed away in May.

“Every day I would call her home [from the set] and she wanted to know absolutely everything about the day,” she recalled. “It was a really big part of the last few months of her life. I feel grateful that I did it.”