US director Woody Allen poses on May 11, 2016, during a photocall for the film “Cafe Society” ahead of the opening of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, southern France. Image: AFP/Alberto Pizzoli
Woody Allen’s latest film, which has been put on ice in the United States’ over decades-old sex abuse allegations against the director, will be released in France this year, a distributor said Tuesday, May 14.
“A Rainy Day in New York,” starring Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez and Jude Law, will hit French cinemas on Sept. 18, Mars Films said ahead of the opening of the Cannes film festival.
“The 50th feature film by Woody Allen… is a romantic comedy set in present-day New York City,” the company’s CEO Stephane Celerier said on Twitter.
In February, Allen filed a $68-million (60 million euros) suit against Amazon for breach of contract, accusing the streaming giant of canceling the film because of a “baseless” accusation that he sexually abused his daughter.
Allen has said Amazon sought to terminate the deal in June 2018, and has since refused to pay him $9 million in financing for “A Rainy Day in New York.”
The film has been completed but not released.
Earlier this month, Variety reported it would be released in Italy in October.
The movie was one of several to be produced with the Oscar-winning director under a series of agreements reached after Allen made the “Crisis in Six Scenes” program for Amazon.
Allen has been accused of molesting Dylan Farrow, his adopted daughter, when she was 7 years old in the early 1990s.
He was cleared of the charges, first leveled by his then-partner Mia Farrow, after two separate months-long investigations, and has steadfastly denied the abuse. But Dylan, now an adult, maintains she was molested.
Her brother Ronan Farrow revived the allegations on the day the Cannes film festival opened in 2016 with Allen’s “Cafe Society,” lashing out at the media for failing to ask hard questions about the director.
Amazon’s relationship with Allen began with “Cafe Society” (2016), to which the studio had purchased the rights before producing and distributing “Wonder Wheel” (2017), then committing to four additional films. HM /ra
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