Woody Allen
- Amazon has returned the domestic rights of Woody Allen’s "A Rainy Day in New York" to the director, Variety reported. Allen can now seek a new US distributor.
- Amazon backed out of a four-movie deal with Allen last year after sexual-misconduct allegations against him resurfaced.
- Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, renewed her accusations against Allen last year that he abused her at a young age.
- Allen filed a $68 million lawsuit against Amazon in February for breaking the deal. Amazon’s returning the rights to the movie doesn’t affect the legal fight, Variety said.
- "A Rainy Day in New York" has found distributors outside the US and is set to be released in October in Italy and Spain.
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Director Woody Allen’s next movie, "A Rainy Day in New York," has been in limbo since Amazon Studios decided not to release the film after sexual-misconduct allegations against Allen resurfaced.
But the movie has jumped an important hurdle on its way to release: Amazon has returned the domestic rights to the movie to Allen, who can now seek another option for distribution in the US, Variety reported on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.
Amazon Studios did not immediately return a request for comment.
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Allen sued Amazon in February for $68 million after it backed out of a four-movie contract in June over the allegations. Amazon struck the deal in 2014 and has previously released two movies directed by Allen, "Café Society" in 2016 and "Wonder Wheel" in 2017. Amazon’s returning the rights does not affect the lawsuit, according to Variety.
Allen’s adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, renewed accusations against Allen in January that he had molested her when she was 7 years old (she first publicly spoke out against Allen in 2014, but the allegations against him have existed since the 1990s). Allen has denied the allegations.
Allen sparked confusion on the internet last week when he released the trailer for "A Rainy Day in New York" on his official Facebook page. One of the movie’s stars, Timothée Chalamet, said last year that he would donate his earnings from the movie to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, the LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN, an anti-sexual-assault nonprofit.
"I don’t want to profit from my work on the film," Chalamet said. "I want to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve."
While the movie’s US release is up in the air, Allen is finding success elsewhere. "A Rainy Day in New York" will debut on October 3 in Italy and on October 4 in Spain.
"The film is so good that we feel it deserves to arrive to a wide audience," Adolfo Blanco, head of the movie’s distributor in Spain, A Contracorriente Films, told The New York Times. "Having a film by one of the best directors in history is a reason to be proud."
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Source: Business Insider – tclark@businessinsider.com (Travis Clark)