Woody Allen May Be Toast After This Documentary On Abusing His Daughter Airs

It’s interesting how journalist Ronan Farrow has crusaded as part of the #MeToo movement. A new documentary about his father indicates that the subject matter is central to what Farrow grew up with — and to what his father, Woody Allen, and other wealthy men of stature have gotten away with routinely in their lives. The jig may well be up for Woody Allen. This Sunday, a four part docuseries, “Allen v. Farrow” begins airing. Los Angeles Times:

HBO’s powerful four-part series “Allen v. Farrow,” from investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, is a comprehensive, convincing and ultimately devastating documentary that threatens to burn what’s left of his [Allen’s] career and legacy to the ground. And Dylan, now 35, is here to tell her side of the story.

The filmmaker first faced the accusation that he’d sexually abused 7-year-old Dylan, whom he’d adopted as a baby with his longtime partner Mia, in 1992. As part of his public defense, Allen, who has repeatedly denied the allegation, admitted to having an “affair” with Soon-Yi, Mia’s adopted daughter from her previous marriage to composer André Previn. (At the time, Allen was 57, Soon-Yi was 21.) Mia was a scorned girlfriend, he said, and she coerced false claims out of Dylan. A media frenzy ensued, and as twisted as his defense was, Allen largely won that skirmish in the court of public opinion.

Even after he lost his battle for custody of Dylan, with an appellate court concluding that “the testimony given at trial suggests the abuse did occur,” Allen remained New York City’s hometown hero and a “genius” filmmaker who attracted Hollywood’s bold-faced names for his films: Robin Williams, Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone among them. As for the pre-#MeToo culture of showbiz, the industry’s permissiveness around men it deems too talented to touch is briefly explored here via Oscar-winning predator Roman Polanski. […]

Allen, by his own admission in both old television interviews and a recent audiobook, had no interest in becoming a father. He and Mia were together for 12 years, but they lived in separate homes so he could focus on making films and she on raising the kids. Extensive interviews with Dylan, her mother and her younger brother, journalist Ronan Farrow, describe a different Allen from the genial neurotic that became familiar to cinemagoers and late-night TV viewers in the 1970s and 1980s, as do sit-downs with several of Mia’s other children. Together they reveal how Allen changed around Dylan. How he showed an “obsessive” interest in her, to the point where her school and family friends weighed in with concerns. Interviews with former babysitters, law enforcement, prosecutors, child welfare workers, reporters and others who were involved in the case offer detailed allegations of a pattern of inappropriate behavior with the child and of efforts to cover up evidence.

This is some chilling content here. This may just burn Woody Allen to the ground and he may deserve it. You know the old expression, where there’s smoke there’s fire, and allegations against Allen and this issue have circulated for decades now. Maybe this will finally bring an end to at least one storied pedophile’s career.

Premieres this Sunday on HBO.