Ellen Barkin hits back at Terry Gilliam over #MeToo comments

The actress Ellen Barkin has hit back at Hollywood director Terry Gilliam after he said the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault has morphed into "mob rule."

"My hard-won advice: never get into an elevator alone with Terry Gilliam," the American actress, 63, tweeted over the weekend.

Barkin worked with Gilliam in the 1998 film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas".

On Monday, she wrote on Twitter that according to Gilliam, Harvey Weinstein was exposed as an alleged serial sexual predator "'because he is an asshole and made a lot of enemies,' not because he molested or raped over 80" women.

"What is it you are defending when you attack a movement whose goal is to keep women safe?" Barkin wrote.

On Friday, Gilliam raised eyebrows by saying in an interview with AFP that the reaction against the wave of sexual abuse and harassment revelations had become ugly and "simplistic... people are frightened to say things, to think things."

He added: "I know enough girls who were in Harvey's suites who were not victims and walked out."

"It's like when mob rule takes over," Gilliam said.

Barkin reacted with a series of angry tweets against Gilliam but did not give any details about her allusion to "hard-won advice" about not riding alone in an elevator with the director.