Woody Allen: the publication of his autobiography is canceled

03/06/2020 - 19:46

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The Hachette editorial group announced Friday that it has decided to cancel the publication of Woody Allen's memoirs, after receiving harsh criticism for giving voice to the filmmaker, accused of sexual abuse .

The reverse of the company comes only four days after the publication of the work , scheduled for April 7, was announced .

Hachette, in a statement distributed to several media, said that it is a "difficult decision" and implied that it was the unusual pressure of the employees of the publishing house that led to this measure.

According to the company, after holding discussions with the staff, the leadership concluded that "it was not possible to move forward with the publication . "

Hachette employees complained in recent days about the decision to publish Allen's book and did so with a symbolic strike at the editorial offices in New York .

Hachette's decision also takes place after the public demand of the filmmaker's only biological son, journalist and writer Ronan Farrow , who is convinced that his father sexually abused his sister Dylan in the early 1990s.

Dylan Farrow on CBS. The actor's daughter accused him of sexual abuse.

"Hachette Book Group has decided that it will not publish the memoirs of Woody Allen Apropos of Nothing , which was scheduled for launch within a month, and " will return all rights to its author, "he said. Sophie Cottrell, spokeswoman for the publisher, in an email sent to the AFP agency.

It should be remembered that Allen's former partner, actress Mia Farrow , was the one who reported the alleged abuse of their adopted daughter , Dylan Farrow, in the middle of a legal dispute with the filmmaker.

Ronan Farrow is one of the promoters of the #MeToo movement and was very disappointed with Hachette, who also publishes his books. Moreover, Ronan threatened to leave the publishing house because he had hidden his plans to publish Allen's work. And for his lack of compassion with the victims of sexual abuse.

Ronan Farrow, also son of Allen, was upset with the Hachette publishing house for having hidden that they were going to publish his father's book.

In his statement, Hachette stressed that he never cancels books lightly, since he takes his relationship with the authors very seriously and always seeks to hear " different voices and conflicting views."

The publisher, which had acquired worldwide rights to the manuscript, said it will return them immediately.

The filmmaker, actor, producer and writer, according to various media, had knocked on the doors of several publishers without curiously arousing interest in any of the important labels.

His bad streak has a sad cinematic correlate, since he never found, in his native country, a distributor to release his film A Rainy Day in New York (2019), nor did he get it for his next feature film, Rifkin's Festival , a Hispanic comedy -American who has the performance of Elena Anaya and Sergi López , which was filmed last year in San Sebastián.

The justice investigated the allegations against Allen for months, but found no evidence to judge the film director for abuse of a minor.

The great director of Annie Hall and Manhattan , 84, always flatly denied the accusations, but after the birth of the #MeToo movement, Dylan insisted again that she was abused by her father .

EFE and AFP sources

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