Alexander Payne denies Rose McGowan's assault allegations; McGowan says she will 'expose him'

Alexander Payne is denying Rose McGowan's accusations of sexual assault.

In a column for Deadline published Friday, Payne lauded McGowan's "commitment to activism and her voice in an important, historic movement," but challenged the actress's statutory rape allegations claiming he "groomed" her when she was 15.

"Rose is mistaken in saying we met when she was fifteen, in the late 1980s. I was a full-time film student at UCLA from 1984 until 1990, and I know that our paths never crossed," Payne wrote.

The actress and activist first accused the Oscar-winning director of sexual assault on Twitter Aug. 17.

"Alexander Payne. You sat me down & played a soft-core porn movie you directed for Showtime under a different name," McGowan, 46, tweeted. "I still remember your apartment in Silverlake. You are very well-endowed. You left me on a street corner afterwards. I was 15."

In another tweet, McGowan shared a picture of herself at age 15, writing, "I just want an acknowledgement and an apology. I do not want to destroy."

USA TODAY reached out to reps for McGowan and Payne.

In the column, Payne also denied having shown McGowan a "soft-core porn movie" he directed."

"This would have been impossible, since I had never directed anything professionally, lurid or otherwise. I have also never worked for Showtime or directed under any name other than my own," he wrote.

Payne added that he did meet McGowan in 1991 when she auditioned for a "comic short (he) was making for a Playboy Channel series." He said though she didn't get the part, she left a note at the "casting desk" asking for him to call her.

"I had no reason to question how old she was, since the role she read for required an actor who was of age. We later went out on a couple of dates and remained on friendly terms for years," Payne wrote. "While I cannot allow false statements about events twenty-nine years ago to go uncorrected, I will continue to wish only the best for Rose."

McGowan responded to Payne's column Friday in a statement made to Variety.

"I told Payne to acknowledge and apologize, he has not. I said I didn’t want to destroy, now I do. Why do these men always lie? I will now make it a mission to expose him. I am not the only one," she told the outlet.

McGowan continued: "I want people that have watched his films to know his morals are in your mind, his thoughts have become yours. Like in his ‘comedy’ ‘Election,’ where the middle-aged teacher that fantasizes having sex with his young student, Reese Witherspoon. I want people to know Hollywood perpetrators show you who they are, their skewed view normalized. Men like Predator Payne, who profited from working Weinstein, must be stopped from not only assaulting, but must also be prevented from infecting the masses with their propaganda."

Payne won two Oscars for best adapted screenplay for "Sideways" in 2005 and "The Descendants" in 2012. His directing credits include the films "Election," "About Schmidt," "Nebraska," and "Downsizing." In 2017, Metacritic ranked Payne as one of the Top 25 film directors of the 21st century.

McGowan followed up her accusations with an Instagram message, where she again accused Payneof grooming and sexual assault.

"For years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a sexual experience I had. I now know I was groomed," McGowan said. "I auditioned for him at 15. After my experience with him, I quit acting entirely until I was ‘discovered’ at 21."

The "Charmed" actress explained that she realized she was preyed upon after coming forward with allegations against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. McGowan, one of Weinstein's first public accusers, says he raped her at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. Her public acknowledgment two decades later helped fire up the #MeToo movement in October 2017.

"It wasn’t until three weeks after the Weinstein story broke that I re-evaluated the situation," McGowan said. "I feel badly about throwing a bomb into someone’s life and career, but I guess that’s social conditioning. I’m more sad than angry. Sad for 15 year-old me. Sad for the adult me that still thought it was a choice I made. Grooming is real."

Rose McGowan sues Harvey Weinstein, Lisa Bloom, more claiming 'diabolical' intimidation plot

McGowan said she was "mentally massaged into thinking it’s okay" when she was younger, an example of "deep societal programming" in Hollywood. As an adult, she says she now knows this is predatory behavior.

"If you are out there trying to have sex with an underage minor, you are committing a crime, even if the minor doesn’t know it," she wrote. "I was attracted to him, so I thought it was on me, but that’s not correct. I was not an adult."

The actress assured victims who experienced a similar situation that it's "not your fault."

"Please recognize that if this has happened to you, the shame is not yours, it’s theirs. Give it back," she said. "Groomers are skilled operators and at 15, I was not aware of the warning signs."

McGowan's claims are consistent with a February interview with journalist Ronan Farrow on his podcast "Catch and Kill." Although McGowan didn't name him at the time, she accused a "prominent director" of statutory rape when she was 15.

"I auditioned for him. And he took me back to his apartment in Silver Lake, played me a soft-porn movie he’d made for Showtime, under a different name. And then I slept with him and then he left me on the street corner next to Cafe Tropical on Sunset (Boulevard)," she told Farrow, nearly identical to her claims against Payne Monday.

Contributing: Maria Puente

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alexander Payne denies Rose McGowan's sexual assault allegations