Woody Allen at the presentation of “Lucky Stroke” in Venice. (Portal/Guglielmo Mangiapane)
A few years ago, all the actresses in Hollywood wanted to work with them Woody Allen, they were raffled off for appearances in their films. Scarlett Johansson, Penelope CruzNaomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Cate BlanchettEmma Stone, Kristen StewartKate Winslet Greta Gerwig. Anyone give more? Few directors have worked with such a spectacular list of female actors in the current star system.
But from 2018 everything collapsed. It was a strange moment since the allegations against the New York director had been known for decades and related to alleged abuse of his daughter. Dylan Farrow. In fact, it was a case very similar to that Roman Polanski, which faced more serious allegations, including a specific complaint that required him to leave the United States, which no one seemed to care about as he continued to make films and win Oscars without anyone saying anything about it. But Me too it changed everything.
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In 2014, Woody Allen’s adopted daughter wrote a letter to The New York Times recalling the events of her childhood. The filmmaker always denied this and referred to his ex-wife. Mia Farrow, as the instigator of the conspiracy. At this time, the director released one of the films that had the greatest impact in the final phase of his career before its collapse. Blue jasminethanks to which Cate Blanchett got this Oscar for best actresswhich would follow Magic in the Moonlight with Emma Stone.
The case was forgotten until the allegations were made against him Harvey Weinstein and Dylan Farrow returned to the fight. At the time, Allen had signed a multimillion-dollar deal Amazon Prime to make his next films. And then everything exploded. At that time, some celebrities sided with Dylan Farrow, such as Oprah Winfrey and also Ronan Farrowhis brother and one of the architects of Me Too, who received one Pulitzer Prize for his investigative article for the New York Times. From then on, in the face of growing media pressure in the United States, Woody Allen was officially censored.
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All of this would coincide with the film’s premiere Rainy day in New Yorkwho played the main role Timothée Chalametwho publicly accused the director and decided to donate the salary he received to a charity. Kate Winslet He did the same and disowned Allen and Polanski, with whom he also worked.
Woody Allen with Valerie Lemercier and Lou de Laage at the Venice Film Festival presents “Luck of Luck” Portal/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Many voices at the time pointed out that it was a strategy to whitewash their respective public figures in the Oscar race. Because the truth is that while Hollywood is vindictive, it also contains a lot of hypocrisy. Without going any further, Gary Oldman He won an Oscar in 2018 for “The Darkest Hour” when he was accused of abuse by his ex-wife domestic violence. No one was responsible for remembering his past, his figure remained flawless and he continued to act in films. One wonders why some and others not?
Recently, the controversy has remained open. The documentary was released in 2021 Allen v. Farrow, in which Mia and Dylan Farrow contributed their version of events. It was called sensationalist and only provided a biased view of the story because it clarified absolutely nothing.
Allen countered with his memoirs, About nothingalthough his original publisher, Hachette, refused to publish them (here they are published by Alianza Editorial), and in them he spoke from his childhood to his dismissal case and defended himself against the accusations.
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The filmmaker no longer worked in Hollywood. His most recent works were filmed in Spain and France. The first of them, Rifkin’s Festival was produced by Mediapro Studios, or what is the same thing, by Jaume Rouresand was starred by the Spaniards Elena Anaya and Sergi Lopez, Enrique Arce and Nathalie Poza also performed. The second, which will soon be released in Spain, is stroke of luck and is part of the Parisian setting, with Lou de Lâage, Válerie Lemercier, Melvin Poupaud and Niels Schneider in the main roles. As he passed through Venice FestivalThe controversy rocked Allen again with her statements about the Rubiales case and her refusal to talk about all the maelstrom in which she was immersed in the latter part of her career.