Hachette has dropped plans to publish a memoir by Woody Allen, the Oscar-winning film director who has been accused of sexually abusing his daughter.
“We take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly,” the publishing company said in a statement.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Oscar-nominated character actor made his breakthrough in Moonstruck and appeared in The Godfather Part II
Danny Aiello, the veteran character actor best known for roles in The Purple Rose of Cairo, Do the Right Thing and Moonstruck, has died aged 86. According to TMZ, his family confirmed Aiello had died in hospital on 12 December after an infection.
Born in 1933, Aiello grew up in the south Bronx, living with his five siblings and mother after his father had left the family. After serving in the army, working as a bus driver and a nightclub bouncer, Aiello turned to acting in his mid-30s, with his first significant role, as a New Jersey barman in Louis LaRusso’s 1975 play Lamppost Reunion.
Continue reading...The former M*A*S*H star has Parkinson’s disease – but remains optimistic. He talks about his new film, Marriage Story, how actors can help heal political division and working with Woody Allen
‘Would you like a beer?” asks Alan Alda, tall and elegant in black raincoat, grey jacket and blue jeans as he walks through his offices near the Lincoln Center in New York. The actor, director and science communicator warmly greets Einstein, a female half bernese mountain dog, half border collie. “Smartest dog I ever met,” Alda’s assistant later observes.
The urbane 83-year-old star of M*A*S*H, The West Wing and The Aviator settles in a glass-walled meeting room, acknowledges that we are here to talk about his new film, Marriage Story, but says he is happy to talk about anything. Over the next hour, he will discuss God, mortality, his mother, podcasting, science, Woody Allen and how he is, so far, unbowed by Parkinson’s disease.
Continue reading...Allen says at Spanish press conference to launch production on his new film, starring Christoph Waltz, that he’ll ‘probably die’ on set
Woody Allen has no plans to give up film-making despite the years of controversy that has dogged his directing career. “I never think of retiring. It’s not just something that has occurred to me,” Allen said at a press conference in San Sebastian to launch production on his new film, which is set in Spain and funded by the Spanish media giant Mediapro. It stars Christoph Waltz, Gina Gershon and Elena Anaya, and is informally known as Rifkin’s Festival – though is still officially called Woody Allen Summer Project 2019.
Allen said: “My philosophy, since I started many years ago in show business, is that no matter what happens is to focus on my work … No matter what happens in my life with my wife, children, current events, politics or illness, I focus on my work, and that’s all that really absorbs my time and effort seven days a week.
Continue reading...Actor says she would work with Allen again ‘in a second’ and that Polanski had ‘paid his price’ for his behaviour
Actor Anjelica Huston has come out in defence of under-fire film-maker Woody Allen, and expressed sympathy for other controversial entertainment industry figures including Roman Polanski and Jeffrey Tambor.
In an outspoken and wide-ranging interview published in New York magazine, Huston was asked for her thoughts on Allen, with whom she worked on his acclaimed 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors. Huston said she would work with him in again “in a second”, noting that “two states investigated him, and neither of them prosecuted him”. Allen is currently in a legal dispute with Amazon, which cancelled its four-film agreement with him in the wake of his daughter Dylan’s allegations of sexual abuse and his response to the #MeToo campaign.
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