PEOPLE LOSING THEIR CAREERS BASED ON INNUENDO OR ACCUSATION IS TROUBLING.

independent or edgy or that the content was risky or provocative. It was more that it was independent of paying people what the studios had to pay them. And so it became this way of making films on the cheap and not committing full studio resources into those kinds of films.”

Robbins remembers that when Weinstein asked him to star in an indie called Smoke, shortly after the producer had sold Miramax to Disney for some $60 million, the actor confronted him, saying: “‘Harvey, the talent made your company, and you’ve been paying them scale for years. And you just put a fortune in your pocket. When are we going to see some of that?’ ”

Robbins, who loves old Hollywood, is rueful about the dearth of great movies: a decay in Hollywood standards that gave Weinstein power, and cover, for a long time.

“Since I won the Oscar for Mystic River in 2004, I think I’ve worked in one studio film as a lead actor, which was Catch a Fire at Universal,” Robbins says. “But I’m not broke. I have been wise with my money. I don’t need to be an über-rich person. I’m happy where I am.”

He agrees with the philosophy of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who explained recently why charitable contributions matter: “Because we’re rich as hell, and we don’t need it all, and

Asked about the tectonic shift for women in Hollywood, Robbins says he is happy “the incredibly libidinous atmosphere in Hollywood is changing” so that men will be more afraid “to intimidate women into compliance in horrible, rapey ways.”

“Everybody knew,” he says in a disgusted whisper, about Weinstein. “Everybody knew.”

He thinks there might actually be a fundamental shift, “not just on the manwoman thing but the malemale thing, too. That’s been happening for a long time.”

He knows this is a supercharged moment, given the opprobrium that has descended on stars such as Matt Damon, who said people should acknowledge “a spectrum” of bad behaviour among men.

“It’s really, really important that women have the floor now to talk about this, because it has been so pervasive throughout every industry as long as I’ve been alive,” Robbins says. But, he adds, “I don’t trust mobs of any kind, even when they’re advocating for things I support. People losing their careers based on innuendo or accusation is troubling for me. There is a process for this: a legal system. Convicting someone on an accusation is really dangerous territory to be living in.”

He worries about overreach. “Is it possible for me to do a feminist film or a film about race and speak with any authority, or am I limited to telling stories about white men?”

When he started his career, Robbins was offered a lot of roles as psycho killers.