Earlier this month, Mia Farrow’s daughter Dylan posted an open letter through The New York Times claiming her former adoptive father, Woody Allen, had sexually abused her as a child.
For the next week, a series of statements, articles, Tweets and commentary on the allegations would resurface as if it were exactly 22 years ago.
Mia and her son, Ronan (also Allen’s one biological child), already had been blasting Allen online since creating Twitter accounts. An old Vanity Fair article about the original accusations from Mia Farrow was republished last year, and Farrow family friend Jon Lovett posted old photocopies of the court’s original statements of the custody battle and molestation allegations.
Mia and Woody’s adopted son Moses came to the defense of his dad, as did Allen’s sister, lawyer and even ex-girlfriend Stacey Nelkin.
A lot of drama from Allen and Farrow’s original separation heavily focused on the other woman in the break-up – shockingly, that was Farrow’s 19-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. After years of trials and scandals, Soon-Yi would choose Woody, and Woody would be denied custody of Ronan, Dylan and Moses but was not charged with molestation.
The resurrection of these reports and accusations have brought on a sense of something between bewilderment and disgust toward the respected filmmaker from movie fans everywhere.
Those who were aware of the original charges probably gave him the benefit of the doubt until Dylan’s letter. Those who believed Mia back then haven’t seen a Woody movie since 1992.
His newfound haters aren’t being quiet about their distaste toward Allen, while some fans still aren’t convinced of his guilt because of the hectic “he said, she said” gossip around Woody and Mia’s relationship.
But what will become of Allen now, as an artist tainted anew with these old accusations? The man is nearly 80 years old but seems to have no interest in retirement. His next feature, “Magic in the Moonlight,” is set to come out this summer and could flop from the backlash.
No one in Hollywood seems to be commenting on the reopened allegations, but this isn’t the first time a moviemaker has been attached to a gross claim. As history has shown us, the movie business only cares if you can make a successful picture, despite what happens in your personal life:
Roman Polanski fled the country, skipping bail, after being found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl but won an Oscar 25 years later while living freely in Switzerland to avoid jail time in the U.S.
David O. Russell had the worst reputation in Hollywood for his nightmarish behavior and treatment of his colleagues on the sets of “Three Kings” (1999) and “I Heart Huckabees” (2004) before receiving tons of award nominations for “The Fighter” (2011) and “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012).
Classic beauty Brigitte Bardot has been guilty of numerous race-related hate crimes, yet she’s still considered a legend in pop culture.
For a lot of cinema lovers, the concept of separating the artist from the person is one that occurs oftentimes as a number of celebrities are unstable divas with dirty laundry.
Allen’s own “Husbands and Wives” was released right in the middle of the scandal in 1992 and received the biggest opening weekend in his career. Cate Blanchett still seems to be in the lead for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role in Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.
Chances are, Allen’s film legacy will be fine in the final analysis, but his name still will remain stained with his personal issues with the Farrows. Because of that, it might be a while before we see his next movie in production (if he chooses to continue), and fans may want to refrain from gushing about “Annie Hall” (1977) or “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986) – for the rest of the year, anyway.
mbianco@durangoherald.com. Megan Bianco is a movie reviewer and also contributes other entertainment related features and articles. She is a graduate of Cal State University, Northridge, where she studied film criticism and screenwriting.
