Woody Allen memoir a tome too far: son severs ties with publisher
Ronan Farrow has cut ties with Hachette after it revealed plans to release an autobiography by his father, Woody Allen.
High-profile American journalist Ronan Farrow has cut ties with Hachette after the publisher revealed plans to release an autobiography by his estranged father, director Woody Allen.
In a spirited defence of his adopted sister Dylan, who has maintained for years that Allen molested her when she was seven, Farrow called Hachette “wildly unprofessional” for proceeding with the book.
The same publishing house was responsible for Farrow’s bestselling book Catch and Kill, released late last year, which detailed his long investigation into the sexual assault claims against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
“Obviously I can’t in good conscience work with you any more,” he wrote in an email to Hachette boss Michael Pietsch, an exchange that was leaked on Wednesday to The New York Times. “Imagine this were your sister.”
While the two books belong to different imprints within Hachette, Farrow said any sense of independence between the separate divisions did not relieve the publisher of its “moral and professional obligations”.
Later on Twitter, he accused the publisher of concealing the decision to publish Allen’s memoir from him while working on Catch and Kill. His was a book about “powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse”.
Hey, just wanted to share my thoughts on some recent news: pic.twitter.com/ovPczgx8pB
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) March 4, 2020
“Hachette did not fact-check the Woody Allen book,” he wrote. “My sister Dylan has never been contacted to respond to any denial or mischaracterisation of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Woody Allen — a credible allegation, maintained for almost three decades, backed up by contemporaneous accounts and evidence.
“It’s wildly unprofessional in multiple obvious directions for Hachette to behave this way. But it also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here.
“I’ve encouraged Hachette, out of respect for its readers, authors and reputation, to conduct a thorough fact-check of Woody Allen’s account, in particular any claim that implies my sister is not telling the truth. I’ve also told Hachette that a publisher that would conduct itself in this way is one I can’t work with in good conscience.”
Farrow’s comments came after Dylan Farrow released a statement on Monday, calling the decision to publish the book “deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother”.
She added: “This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money and notoriety affords. Hachette’s complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it.”
Rose McGowan, one of the first actresses to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, said the publisher had “profited greatly by publishing Catch and Kill, but that’s not enough for you. What an evil double cross.”
Allen’s book, Apropos of Nothing, is to be published next month by Grand Central Publishing, a Hachette imprint. On its website, the publisher describes it as a “comprehensive account of Woody Allen’s life, both personal and professional, and describes his work in films, theatre, television, nightclubs and print. Allen also writes of his relationships with family, friends, and the loves of his life.”
Allen has been celebrated as a filmmaker since Annie Hall, the 1977 film that won him two Academy awards.
But the atmosphere began to change in the early 1990s when Dylan Farrow accused Allen of sexually assaulting her at their home when she was a child.
Farrow wrote an open letter in 2014, shortly after Allen was nominated for another Academy award, describing what it was like to see Hollywood celebrate her father: “Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse.”
Allen has denied the claims, which had been aired during a custody dispute with his former partner Mia Farrow. But several actors have distanced themselves from the director in recent years.
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