Category Archives: Ronan Farrow

Allen v Farrow is pure PR. Why else would it omit so much?

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The new HBO documentary in which Mia and Dylan Farrow revisit their 1992 allegation against Woody Allen claims to be an even-handed investigation. But its failure to present the facts makes it feel more like activism

“HBO Doc About Woody Allen & Mia Farrow Ignores Mia’s 3 Dead Kids, Her Child Molester Brother, Other Family Tragedies” was the headline on one US showbiz site, above its review of the four-part documentary, Allen v Farrow, about the continuing battle between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, now entering its fourth decade. But this review was very much an outlier. In the vast main, reaction to the strongly anti-Allen series has been overwhelmingly positive, with Buzzfeed describing it as a “nuanced reckoning” and Entertainment Weekly comparing it to the recent documentaries about Michael Jackson and Jeffrey Epstein. This reaction is more of a reflection of the public’s feelings towards Allen – particularly in the US – than of the documentary, which sets itself up as an investigation but much more resembles PR, as biased and partial as a political candidate’s advert vilifying an opponent in election season.

Related: Allen v Farrow review – effective docuseries on allegations of abuse

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Woody Allen denies claims in Allen v Farrow HBO documentary

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The film-maker and wife Soon-Yi Previn claim film is ‘hatchet job riddled with falsehoods’ on abuse allegations

Woody Allen has rebutted renewed allegations, in the HBO documentary Allen v Farrow, that he sexually assaulted his daughter Dylan in 1992, calling the series “a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods”.

In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, said that film-makers Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick had “spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods”.

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‘Do I really care?’ Woody Allen comes out fighting

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The 1992 accusation that the film-maker sexually assaulted his young daughter has made him a pariah, yet he was never charged. In this exclusive interview, he explains why he is done with treading carefully

When Woody Allen was 20, the writer Danny Simon taught him a few rules about comedy, the most important of which was this: always trust your own judgment, because external opinion is meaningless.

Allen recounts this tale in his recently published memoir, Apropos of Nothing. That this book exists at all is proof that he still adheres to that rule. These days, Allen’s name is mud, a fact made clear by the critics, who wrote their reviews with one hand while holding their noses with the other.The New York Times’ critic wrote: “Volunteering to review [this book], in our moral climate, is akin to volunteering for the 2021 Olympic javelin-catching team.” Another publication’s headline was: “I Read Woody Allen’s Memoir So You Don’t Have To.”

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Matt Lauer lashes out at Ronan Farrow in wake of New York Times critique

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Former Today show host accuses Farrow of shoddy journalism in his Catch and Kill book as journalist responds that Lauer is ‘just wrong’

Matt Lauer has accused Ronan Farrow of shoddy and biased journalism in his book Catch and Kill, which included a rape accusation against the former Today show host that Lauer claims is false.

Farrow, a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer at the New Yorker, said Lauer “is just wrong”.

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Ronan Farrow: master #MeToo reporter hit by surprise New York Times takedown

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Pulitzer-winning New Yorker journalist rejects claims from paper’s Ben Smith that work exhibits ‘shakiness at its foundations’

Ronan Farrow is no stranger to the rough and tumble of investigative journalism. His exposés on sexual abuse that helped to inspire the #MeToo movement have led to him to being trailed by private detectives employed by his most famous target – Harvey Weinstein – and to accusations from his former employer, NBC News, that he told “outright lies”.

Related: Shredded Trump documents and spy games: Ronan Farrow's biggest scoops

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Woody Allen: ‘I would welcome Dylan Farrow back with open arms’

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Director says in new memoir that not raising his adopted daughter after abuse allegations – which he denies – was ‘one of the saddest things’ of his life

Woody Allen has written that he “would welcome Dylan [Farrow] with open arms if she’d ever want to reach out”, in his recently published memoir Apropos of Nothing.

In extracts published in the New York Times, Allen writes: “One of the saddest things of my life was that I was deprived of the years of raising Dylan and could only dream about showing her Manhattan and the joys of Paris and Rome. To this day, Soon-Yi [Previn] and I would welcome Dylan with open arms if she’d ever want to reach out to us as Moses [Farrow] did, but so far that’s still only a dream.”

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Woody Allen memoir published in US after protest stops first attempt

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The controversial film director’s autobiography Apropos of Nothing had been dropped by its original publisher

Woody Allen’s memoir, dropped by its original publisher after widespread criticism, has found a new home.

The 400-page book, still called Apropos of Nothing, was released on Monday by Arcade Publishing.

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Stephen King attacks axing of Woody Allen book

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Writer ‘uneasy’ over US publisher’s decision to drop director’s memoir

Author Stephen King has hit out at publisher Hachette over its decision to drop publication of Woody Allen’s memoir after a protest from his son, the author Ronan Farrow, prompted a walkout of staff at the publishing group’s New York office last Thursday.

“The Hachette decision to drop the Woody Allen book makes me very uneasy,” King, the horror writer, said on Twitter. “It’s not him; I don’t give a damn about Mr Allen. It’s who gets muzzled next that worries me.”

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Ronan Farrow condemns his publisher over Woody Allen memoir

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Writer known for #MeToo investigations – whose sister says Allen abused her – suggests he can no longer work with Hachette

Ronan Farrow has distanced himself from the publisher of his latest book after the company announced plans to publish a memoir by his father, Woody Allen, saying the move “shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse”.

The journalist, best known for his groundbreaking investigations into claims of sexual abuse and misconduct against powerful men, issued a scathing statement in response to Hachette’s announcement on Monday that it would release Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, on 7 April.

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Ronan Farrow reveals extreme measures Weinstein took to bury alleged crimes

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Farrow’s book Catch and Kill describes Harvey Weinstein’s efforts to silence alleged victims and put Farrow himself off the story

The combination of rage, threats, professional promises and vulnerability that Harvey Weinstein used to secure the silence of women he allegedly sexually attacked is described in a newly disclosed interview between one of his accusers and Ronan Farrow, the journalist who exposed the Hollywood mogul.

In his new book Catch and Kill chronicling his investigation into Weinstein, Farrow relates for the first time details of his conversation with a longtime former employee of the movie producer, Alexandra Canosa.

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Ronan Farrow book on sale in Australia despite legal threat from journalist Dylan Howard

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One online distributor has withdrawn the #MeToo memoir, but other stores have stocked it, and the publisher insists it will not be withdrawn

Ronan Farrow’s book on the #MeToo movement has been withdrawn from sale in Australia by one online bookseller but was available in bookstores on Tuesday despite a legal threat from an Australian journalist who Farrow has previously alleged helped to protect the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein from negative publicity.

The book, Catch and Kill, was released in Australia on Tuesday and was on sale in some shops, including Readings and WH Smith in Melbourne. But customers who ordered it from the online seller Booktopia were told it had been “withdrawn from sale” and had their payment refunded.

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The day I confronted Harvey Weinstein: ‘He said, “You think you can save everyone”’

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Long conference calls and bad-tempered threats: an exclusive extract from Ronan Farrow’s book Catch And Kill

By fall 2017, I had taken my story to the New Yorker. As the investigation moved closer to publication, I called the Weinstein Company for comment. Sounding nervous, an assistant said he’d check if the boss was available. And then there was Weinstein’s husky baritone. “Wow!” he said with mock excitement. “What do I owe this occasion to?” The writing about the man has seldom lingered on this quality: he was pretty funny. But he veered swiftly toward fury. Weinstein hung up on me several times that fall, including on that first day. I told him I wanted to be fair, to include anything he had to say, then asked if he was comfortable with me recording. He seemed to panic, and was gone with a click. The pattern repeated that afternoon. But when I got him to talk for a sustained time, he abandoned his initial caution and got sharply combative.

“How did you identify yourself to all these women?” he demanded. I was caught off balance. I had started reporting the story for NBC, before turning to the New Yorker.

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