Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Scarlett Johansson, a star of the Marvel movies, will soon be fronting her own Black Widow film

Scarlett Johansson has spoken out in support of Woody Allen, saying she "loved" the film-maker and "believed" he is innocent of abuse accusations.

"I see Woody whenever I can, and I have had a lot of conversations with him about it. He maintains his innocence, and I believe him." the Avengers star told the Hollywood Reporter .

Allen has been accused by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow of molesting her, allegations first made in 1992.

The director denies the claims.

Johansson has worked with Allen on the films Match Point, Scoop and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Scarlett Johansson worked with Woody Allen several times

Her defence of the film-maker is in contrast to stars who have distanced themselves from him, such as Greta Gerwig, Colin Firth and Mira Sorvino, who said they regret having worked with Allen.

Timothee Chalamet and Rebecca Hall both said last year they would donate their wages from working with him to charity.

However Allen has received support from the actress Diane Keaton, who won an Oscar for her role in his 1977 film Annie Hall.

Allen's son Moses has also disputed the allegations against his father, claiming his sister was coached by their mother Mia Farrow.

In the interview, Johansson continued: "I have been very direct with him, and he's very direct with me."

The actress acknowledged it was "hard" to express her support of Allen in the post-#MeToo climate.

"It's a time where people are very fired up, and understandably," she added.

"Things needed to be stirred up, and so people have a lot of passion and a lot of strong feelings and are angry, and rightfully so. It's an intense time."

Allen has previously called the allegations against him "baseless" and has never been charged in relation to any accusations made.

As well as losing the backing of some actors, Allen has felt a backlash from film industry bodies.

He is currently in a legal dispute with Amazon, after they ended a four-film agreement with him

Amazon terminated their association with him, citing his comments about the #MeToo movement.

Allen has since been unable to find a US distributor for his movies, which is currently affecting his most recent production A Rainy Day in New York, which is yet to secure US or UK distributors.

Allen is however now working on a film called Rivkin's Festival starring Christoph Waltz and Gina Gershon.

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