Kate Winslet Quick to Denounce Weinstein But Refuses to Discuss Woody Allen

Kate Winslet was asked, once again, about sexual assault allegations against Woody Allen. And once again, the actress—who stars in Allen's upcoming film, Wonder Wheel—has sidestepped the conversation.

In an interview with Variety, she was asked point-blank whether she factored Allen's molestation accusations into her decision to work with him. Winslet paused, asserted that the discussion was "difficult" and then flatly refused to have it. "I'd rather respectfully not enter it today," she said.

In response to recent social media backlash to her praise for Allen, Winslow said, "I don't read how people respond to things. We're always as actors going to say the wrong thing. I think it's better to respectfully step away from the discussion."

It's pretty clear Winslet will not be giving Allen the same treatment she gave Harvey Weinstein—at least not anytime soon. A little more than a week ago, the Titanic star spoke with the Los Angeles Times. After revealing that she purposefully didn't thank the producer when she won the Oscar for his company's 2008 film, The Reader, Winslet condemned his "disgraceful, despicable" actions.

"I hope that Harvey Weinstein absolutely is punished within the fullest extent of the law should that be the case," Winslet said.

Many in Hollywood have said the very same thing, but Winslet was one of the first, slamming her former collaborator in a statement that came out a day before the bombshell New Yorker story, accusing Weinstein of assault, was published. "The fact that I'm never going to have to deal with Harvey Weinstein again as long as I live is one of the best things that's ever happened," she said, "and I'm sure the feeling is universal."

Winslet has worked with another sexual harasser, this one convicted: Roman Polanski directed the actress in 2011's Carnage. For Winslet, it seems, public reputation sometimes comes before questionable private actions.

"It was Woody Allen, so that's going to come around once—if ever," Winslet said of deciding to star in Wonder Wheel. She went on to tell Variety about a previous role she was offered, in Allen's 2005 film Match Point, which she turned down to take care of her newborn son, Jack. "It would have been too much of a compromise to the rhythm of my life and my new baby. I just couldn't do it."

In her original statement about Weinstein, Winslet wrote, "I unequivocally support this level of very necessary exposure of someone who has behaved in reprehensible and disgusting ways." That exposure is all thanks to the "difficult discussions" that have to happen about sexual assault in Hollywood. Winslet can't have it both ways, but it seems she is going to try.