News Analysis India

Tag: Woody Allen

  • Mira Sorvino’s early career got ‘tainted’ by Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Actor Mira Sorvino recently reflected on her Oscar-winning performance in the 1995 film ‘Mighty Aphrodite’, which was directed by Woody Allen and produced by Harvey Weinstein.

    According to People magazine, during the Thursday episode of Marc Maron’s ‘WTF’ podcast, Sorvino said that the experience has “tainted” her early career. She had also won a Golden Globe for the role.

    “It’s so hard to talk about it now because I now have a very different opinion of Woody than I did then. And I blame myself for not investigating further into what happened with Dylan [Farrow],” said Sorvino.

    She was referring to the abuse Farrow had allegedly suffered by her adoptive father. 

    Sorvino continued, “It really, in a certain way, ruins ‘Mighty Aphrodite’ for me, ruins my Oscar performance, ruins that start of my career, because I treasured it for years and then it’s like, I should have denounced him and I should have known it then. I didn’t know it then but I didn’t look deep enough to actually educate myself to really make an educated opinion at the time. It’s not an excuse, I should have.”

    Sorvino was among the several women who came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein in 2017. Since then several directors have admitted to blacklisting her at Weinstein’s request.

    “It really taints it. And it’s so crazy that so much of my early career is tainted by [Allen] and by Harvey Weinstein. It’s sort of breathtaking,” Sorvino said.

    The actor revealed that she has been friends with Allen’s daughter Dylan after she penned her an open letter in 2018. “She’s an amazing person, and I have no doubt in my mind that [she] is telling the truth,” Sorvino said on the podcast.

    Dylan had claimed that Allen molested her when she was 7. However, Allen has long denied the allegations, which first surfaced during his explosive 1992 split from Mia.

    As per People magazine, he was not charged, though a Connecticut prosecutor said there was probable cause for a criminal case. In 2014, Dylan detailed her allegations in a newspaper’s op-ed. 

  • Drew Barrymore says she was ‘gaslit’ into working with Woody Allen

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Drew Barrymore has expressed regret over working with disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen, saying she was “gaslit into not looking at a narrative” beyond what she was told.

    The 46-year-old actor opened up on “The Drew Barrymore Show”, which she hosts, as she sat for an interview with writer and Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.

    The two discussed “Allen v Farrow”, the HBO documentary that looks into the story behind the sexual abuse allegations made by Dylan Farrow against the director when she was a child.

    The accusations, which Allen has repeatedly denied, caught steam once again in the wake of the #MeToo uprising.

    The embattled director has denounced the documentary as well.

    “I want to say, first out of the gate…that I would like to explain myself,” said Barrymore, who had worked with Allen on the 1996 musical comedy “Everyone Says I Love You”, a few years after the controversy died down.

    “This is not about me, but I wanted to have this type of candor. I worked with Woody Allen…and there was no higher career calling card than to work with Woody Allen,” the Golden Globe winner said.

    “Everyone Says I Love You” also starred Allen, Goldie Hawn, Natasha Lyonne, Julia Roberts, Edward Norton, Alan Alda and Tim Roth and was nominated for best motion picture – musical or comedy at the Golden Globes.

    “Then I had children. And it changed me because I realized that I was one of the people who was basically gaslit into not looking at a narrative beyond what I was being told,” Barrymore continued.

    Dylan Farrow said Barrymore’s remarks were “brave and generous”.

    “It is just so meaningful because it’s easy for me to say, ‘Of course you shouldn’t work with him he’s a jerk, he’s a monster.’ But I just find it incredibly brave and incredibly generous that you would say to me that my story and what I went through was important enough to you to reconsider that,” the 35-year-old actor said.

    “Allen v Farrow” is a four-part documentary that hails from investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy.

    It also features in-depth interviews with Dylan Farrow’s mother-actor Mia Farrow, her brother and investigative journalist Ronan Farrow, family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators, experts and other first-hand eyewitnesses many of them speaking publicly about the events for the first time.

    A representative for Allen did not immediately respond to People magazine’s request for comment.

  • HBO to release four-part docuseries on Woody Allen allegations

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: HBO has announced a documentary on filmmaker Woody Allen that will look into the story behind the sexual abuse allegations against him involving his daughter Dylan Farrow.

    Titled “Allen v Farrow”, the four-part documentary hails from investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy, HBO said in a statement.

    It will premiere on HBO on February 21.

    The documentary has been meticulously pieced together through intimate home movie footage, court documents, police evidence, revelatory videotape and never-before-heard audio tapes.

    It will also feature in-depth interviews with Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow, Ronan Farrow, family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators,experts and other first-hand eyewitnesses – many of them speaking publicly about the events for the first time.

      Dick, Ziering and Herdy are known for films such as “The Hunting Ground” and “On the Record”, which explored longstanding allegations of sexual assault against the hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

    “Allen v Farrow” has been directed by Dick and Ziering with Herdy producing it alongside Jamie Rogers.

    The series is presented by HBO Documentary Films in association with Impact Partners and Chicago Media Project, a Jane Doe Films Production.

    In the recent years, Allen has been a subject of discussion over the resurfacing of the sexual assault allegations against him by his step-daughter Dylan Farrow.

    The accusations, which Allen has repeatedly denied, caught steam in the wake of the #MeToo uprising.