Dylan Farrow says publishing her father Woody Allens memoir is an utter betrayal of brother Ronan

Dylan Farrow, the estranged daughter of filmmaker Woody Allen has said the publication of her father’s memoir is both ‘deeply upsetting’ and an ‘utter betrayal’ to her brother Ronan Farrow.

In a statement posted to her Twitter account on Monday, Farrow said she had not been contacted by any fact checkers to verify her father’s memoir, while her accusations against him have faced intense scrutiny.

Farrow is also angry that Allen’s book is being published by Hachette – the same publishers who released her brother Ronan Farrow’s book ‘Catch and Kill’ which documented his investigation into serial abusers in the media world. 

‘This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money, and notoriety affords,’ Farrow wrote. ‘Hachette’s complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it.’ 

Ronan won a Pulitzer Prize for his #MeToo reporting on producer Harvey Weinstein, and for years has been estranged from his father, as is Ronan’s mother, Mia Farrow, who starred in ‘The Purple Rose of Cairo,’ ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’ and other Allen movies. 

Her father, 84-year-old Allen, is an Oscar-winning filmmaker, known for such works as ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘Deconstructing Harry’ is among the most influential comedians of his time. 

But allegations by daughter Dylan that he molested her as a child in the early 1990s effectively idled his movie career in the U.S.

Allen has long denied any wrongdoing, and he was never charged after two separate investigations in the 1990s. But Farrow’s allegations have since received new attention in the #MeToo era.  

Allen’s memoir, rumored for years and once thought unpublishable in the #MeToo era, is coming out next month.

The announcement of the release angered many on social media with some posting scathing comments in relation to the news. 

‘#HatchettBookGroup has got to be the most disgustingly hypocritical & morally bankrupt book publishing company on this side of paradise. They publish #RonanFarrow’s #CatchandKIll book, but also publish #WoodyAllen’s memoir as if this is some sort of debate. You sold your souls,’ wrote Jennifer Brigitte.

‘#WoodyAllen is releasing a memoir. Can’t he just release an obituary instead?’ asked another displeased Twitter user. 

‘Wait, so then when the @NYTimes reported last year that #WoodyAllen couldn’t find a publisher for his memoirs, they didn’t know what the f*** they were talking about? Their reporting on Allen was actually… inaccurate?? Huh. Imagine that,’ wrote the director of Curb Your Enthusiams, Bob Weide.

‘Woody Allen’s memoir is being published by the same company that put out Ronan Farrow’s book. Talk about a successful family! Congratulations all around,’ wrote Will Sloan, firmly tongue-in-cheek. 

Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette, announced that the book is called ‘Apropos of Nothing’ and will be released April 7.

‘The book is a comprehensive account of his life, both personal and professional, and describes his work in films, theater, television, nightclubs, and print,’ according to Grand Central. 

Allen also writes of his relationships with family, friends, and the loves of his life.

Financial terms were not disclosed for the book, which Grand Central quietly acquired a year ago, and a spokesman declined to provide further details about the book’s contents.

In addition to the U.S., ‘Apropos of Nothing’ will be released in Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Spain, followed by releases in ‘countries around the world.’ Allen will do ‘several interviews’ for the book, Grand Central announced.

An Allen memoir nearly came out more than a decade ago. He had reportedly reached a multimillion-dollar deal with Penguin in 2003, but changed his mind.

In 2018-2019, several publishers, citing #MeToo concerns, reportedly rebuffed an Allen representative who was seeking a deal for his memoir. 

In 2018-19, several publishers, citing #MeToo concerns, reportedly rebuffed an Allen representative who was seeking a deal for his memoir. 

In May 2019, the New York Times reported: ‘In the last year, Allen quietly tried to sell a memoir, according to executives at four major publishing houses, only to be met with indifference or hard passes.’ 

But according to a Grand Central spokesman, a deal was reached in March 2019 after Publisher and Senior Vice President Ben Sevier read a completed draft of the book.

An Allen memoir once seemed the most obvious of publications. He has had a celebrated career as a performer and director, and is known for wordplay and one-liners. 

He has won three Academy awards for his screenplays and has been a published writer for decades, his comic essays appearing in The New Yorker and elsewhere. His previous books include the essay collections ‘Without Feathers’ and ‘Getting Even.’

But rumors of abuse against his daughter wouldn’t go away and Amazon Studios ended up backing out of a production and distribution deal with Allen, while numerous actors have said they won’t work with him anymore. 

His ‘A Rainy Day In New York’ was released in Europe last year but not in the United States.

 His current production, ‘Rifkin’s Festival,’ starring Christoph Waltz and Gina Gershon, was shot last summer and is still seeking distribution. 

Allen’s personal life has been heavily criticized.

His wife Soon-Yi Previn was 21 when she began a relationship with Allen, who was then 56 years old. 

Soon-Yi was the adopted daughter of Allen’s former partner, actress Mia Farrow. The news of their relationship in 1992 shocked the entertainment world and they married in 1997. 

Dylan Farrow wrote a highly-publicized open letter in The New York Times in 2014, reiterating that the abuse took place. She continues to stand by her allegations.

As a result, Allen’s career has slowed in recent years, with several actors who had appeared in his films saying they would not work with him again. This includes Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig and Natalie Portman.

Evan Rachel Wood pointed out in 2016 that she worked with Allen ‘years before I read Dylan’s letter. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I would again’. 

But Scarlett Johansson says she has no regrets about working with Allen on three movies in the mid-2000s – Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008).

Jeff Goldblum has also said he would work with Woody Allen again.  

Allen has won three Academy awards for his screenplays and has been a published writer for decades, his comic essays appearing in The New Yorker and elsewhere.  

This fall, a division of Macmillan will publish Dylan Farrow’s debut novel, ‘Hush,’ billed as a ‘powerful feminist fantasy full of surprising insights.’