If we were to compile a list of directors most likely to make a cinematic response to post-Harvey Weinstein, post-#MeToo Hollywood, Brian De Palma probably wouldn't be particularly close to the top of it.

However, the Scarface, Carrie and Blow Out director says he's working on a horror film script inspired by the scandal and is working with a French producer on it.

"My character won’t be named Harvey Weinstein, but it will be a horror film, with a sexual aggressor, and it will take place in the film industry," he told La Parisien.

He went on to say that he welcomes the shift in perspective which would accompany a rise in the numbers of female directors, writers and producers.

"It will be interesting to see when women start controlling the aesthetic, what is going to happen," he said. "It would be interesting to see if their gaze is so much different than ours. Because a lot of movies are about the male gaze, what the male see."

De Palma said that he had been aware of the allegation of sexual harrassment and abuse by prominent men in Hollywood. "I know a lot of the people involved, I've heard stories over the years", he told AFP.