Hollywood: Woody Allen says doc is ‘riddled with falsehoods’

Woody Allen and his wife Soon-Yi Previn have described a new documentary series about the US actor and director as a “hatchet job riddled with falsehoods”.

The first episode of Allen v Farrow aired on Sunday on HBO.

It shows Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Allen and his ex-partner Mia Farrow, speaking about the allegations of abuse she made against her father, which he denies.

Soon-Yi Previn gives rare interview to defend Woody Allen | Film | The  Guardian

The documentary suggests Allen groomed Farrow from a young age.

Farrow accused the Oscar-winner of sexually abusing her in 1992 when she was seven years old.

He has always denied the claim, which was investigated at the time but led to no criminal charges.

Allen said his daughter was coached by her mother to say he abused her after she discovered he was having an affair with another of her adoptive daughters, Soon-Yi Previn.

The new documentary, directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, uses testimony from the likes of Dylan and Mia Farrow, legal documents and archive footage to paint a damning picture of the New York film-maker.

“There’s so much misinformation… so many lies,” Dylan Farrow says in the series. “I’ve been subjected to every kind of doubt, every kind of scrutiny and every kind of humiliation,” she adds, claiming her father “was able to just run amok”.

The film also includes the claims that Allen had sexual relations with another of Mia Farrow’s adopted children, Soon-Yi when she was a minor. Allen’s wife, now 50, was 16 when she met the star, who is 35 years her senior.

It also implies that he might have successfully derailed two official investigations into the matter, neither of which resulted in any charges.

The feature suggests that, until the #MeToo movement gathered pace in 2017, the Manhattan, Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris director continued to enjoy the support of the industry, as Mia Farrow became persona non grata in Hollywood.

Allen and Soon-Yi, who has previously publicly defended her husband, do not appear in the series themselves to give their side of the story. Extracts from Allen’s 2020 autobiography, Apropos of Nothing, are read out in his stead.

Also notable by his absence is Moses Farrow, another of Allen and Farrow’s adopted children, who has previously defended his father – arguing that Dylan was indeed brainwashed by her mother.

Allen and Soon-Yi released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, claiming the series is a “shoddy hit piece”.

“These documentarians had no interest in the truth,” the statement read. “Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.

“Woody and Soon-Yi were approached less than two months ago and given only a matter of days ‘to respond’. Of course, they declined to do so.”

Soon-Yi and Woody Allen in 2018
Soon-Yi and Woody Allen (pictured in 2018) say the allegations are “categorically false”

It continued: “As has been known for decades, these allegations are categorically false. Multiple agencies investigated them at the time and found that, whatever Dylan Farrow may have been led to believe, absolutely no abuse had ever taken place.”

The statement said that the HBO network “has a standing production deal and business relationship with [Mia’s son] Ronan Farrow” – who is a prominent supporter of his sister’s claims and the #MeToo movement.

“While this shoddy hit piece may gain attention, it does not change the facts,” the statement concluded.

One of the film’s directors, Kirby Dick, said they intentionally focused on Dylan Farrow’s account because “Woody’s story is out there”.

“All the facts and the deeper dive, the real investigation that [lead investigator] Amy Herdy led and accomplished has yet to be out there, and that’s what this series is,” he told The Washington Post. “It’s really not about him.”

“It’s more about the systemic,” added co-director Amy Ziering. “This film is about complicity, the power of celebrity, the power of spin, how we all are viral and will believe something that’s repeated enough.”

Dick believes that many of Allen’s supporters will, after seeing the film, “either change their mind or examine things in a much different way”.