I haven't spoken about Woody Allen in quite some time now. You know by now how I feel about the way the venerable writer-director has been treated on social media. All but shunned, with his future as a filmmaker now being questioned. The bad press he has gotten has resulted in his latest film, the Amazon-produced “A Rainy Day in New York,” being stuck in post-production limbo with no release date in sight.
I keep defending Allen and will continue to do so. I know it’s the unpopular thing to do, but I don't believe Mia and Ronan Farrow’s story one bit -- they took advantage of the #MeToo movement to exact the revenge they always wanted on Allen. They never forgave him for dating and eventually marrying Soon-yi. If Cannes head Thierry Fremaux wanted to make a statement, he'd have had Allen’s shelved “Rainy Day in New York” premiere at Cannes. I know a few people in the French media that would share my sentiments on this topic. It's a complete shame that there aren't many here in the U.S. that would do the same, even dare question Mia and Ronan’s true intentions. [More details at the bottom]
Allen is having issues finding funding for his next film, but, not only that, a new report from the New York Times, is now claiming that Allen has even been having a hard time finding a someone to publish his memoirs. He has been shopping the book around to some of the major NYC publishers. However, those publishers have not been interested, with the word “toxic” circulating the literary world in regards to Allen
The 82-year-old director has been releasing a new movie every year since 1982. That's 36 straight years with a movie crediting him as the main director. The last break for Allen, before last year’s forced sabbatical, was when he took a year off in between 1980's "Stardust Memories" and 1982's "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy." He was, probably still is, the hardest working director in Hollywood. "A Rainy Day in New York" was supposed to continue that 36-year-old streak but the film was shelved by Amazon due to the allegations.
Moses Farrow, the adopted son of Allen and Mia Farrow, has always shot down the claim that his sister Dylan was molested by Allen back in August 1992. In fact, he's accused his mother Mia of being a manipulative control freak when he and his siblings were just children. Moses doubled-down on Mia a few months back in an op-ed entitled “A Son Speaks Out.” In it, the most shocking claim, unsurprising to me, was that his mother abused he and his siblings.
Of note:
If you are the kind of person that is open-minded and would rather inform his or herself rather than be lazy and just trust fake news, then, please, by all means, read Robert Weide's excellent dissections of Allen vs Farrow which were posted on 12.13.17, 5.30.16, and, most recently, 1.14.18.