Terry Gilliam: 'The #MeToo movement has become mob rule'

Filmmaker Terry Gilliam has slammed Hollywood's #MeToo movement, insisting the movie industry "is a world of victims".

The anti-harassment initiative was sparked by the women who accused disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct late last year (17), and it spawned the Time's Up movement, launched at the beginning of the year by some of Hollywood's leading ladies.

But former Monty Python star Gilliam is not a fan, because he believes the movement has turned into "mob rule".

"People are frightened to say things, to think things," he tells AFP. "It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didn't. The ones who did knew what they were doing. These are adults, we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition."

"Harvey opened the door for a few people. A night with Harvey - that's the price you pay," he adds. "Some people paid the price, other people suffered from it."

The director feels bad for his The Brothers Grimm star Matt Damon, who found himself under attack in December (17) after attempting to argue that inappropriate behaviour should be tackled according to its level of severity.

"He came out and said all men are not rapists, and he got beaten to death," he says. "Come on, this is crazy! No intelligence anymore."

"I know enough girls who were in Harvey's suites who were not victims and walked out," he adds. "It's crazy how simplified things are becoming. There is no intelligence anymore and people seem to be frightened to say what they really think. Now I am told, even by my wife, to keep my head a bit low. It's like when mob rule takes over, the mob is out there, they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankenstein's castle."