Woody Allen Again Denies Abusing Daughter Dylan, Blames Mia Farrow’s ‘Ahab-Like Quest’ for Revenge
In new memoir dropped by Hachette, filmmaker also says his former publisher vowed to stick by him despite his “being a toxic pariah and menace to society”
Lindsey Ellefson | March 23, 2020 @ 10:27 AM
Last Updated: March 23, 2020 @ 10:32 AM
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In his just-published memoir “Apropos of Nothing,” Woody Allen once again denied accusations that he molested daughter Dylan Farrow in the early ’90s when she was 7 and said the accusations were part of his ex-partner Mia Farrow’s “Ahab-like quest” for revenge after he left her for Farrow’s daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
“I never laid a finger on Dylan, never did anything to her that could be even misconstrued as abusing her; it was a total fabrication from start to finish,” he writes in the new book, which was released Monday by Arcade Publishing after his previous publisher, Hachette, dropped it.
According to the Associated Press, which broke the news of the sudden publication, Allen recalled going to Mia Farrow’s cottage in 1992 and placing a hand in Dylan’s lap, but says, “I certainly didn’t do anything improper to her. I was in a room full of people watching TV mid-afternoon.”
Allen, who was never charged with a crime after two separate police investigations in the 1990s, calls the accusations a “total fabrication.” In the book, he also suggests the claims were borne of Farrow’s “Ahab-like quest” for revenge after she learned he had begun dating then 21-year-old Soon-Yi Previn, whom Farrow and previous husband André Previn had adopted in 1978.
According to the AP, Allen also describes Mia Farrow’s reaction to finding out about the relationship with Previn, writing about “her shock, her dismay, her rage, everything,” then calling it “the correct reaction.”
Reps for Mia Farrow and Dylan Farrow did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Still, Allen insists he would do it all over again. “Sometimes, when the going got rough and I was maligned everywhere, I was asked if I had known the outcome, do I ever wish I never took up with Soon-Yi? I always answered I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” he writes, according to the AP. The new book is dedicated to Soon-Yi Previn, whom he married in 1997 despite a three-decade age difference.
In a postscript to the book, Allen also tweaks Hachette’s decision to drop the memoir on March 6, one day after dozens of the company’s employees staged a walkout to protest the book’s acquisition. Allen’s son, Ronan Farrow, also criticized the publisher, which had released his own best-seller, “Catch and Kill,” under its Little, Brown imprint.
Allen said Hachette had previously promised to stand by its publishing plan despite his status as “a toxic pariah and menace to society” in the #MeToo era. “When actual flak did arrive they thoughtfully reassessed their position,” he wrote, and “dumped the book like it was a hunk of Xenon 135.”
All the Broadway Shows Killed (and Postponed) Due to Coronavirus Shutdown
When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed Broadway theaters on March 12, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York theater scene was heating up ahead of the Tony Awards -- with 31 shows playing and another eight scheduled to begin performances by mid-April. Now the theaters will remain dark until at least September -- and the Tony Awards have been postponed indefinitely. But the uncertainty of when theaters (and Broadway-bound tourists) might return has forced some producers to close shows early -- or push new productions to sometime in the future.
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Closed: "Hangmen"
Martin McDonagh’s new comedy, starring Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") and Mark Addy ("Game of Thrones"), announced March 20 it would not reopen after playing 13 preview performances ahead of an expected March 19 official opening.
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Closed: "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
The revival of Edward Albee's classic drama, starring Laurie Metcalf and Rupert Everett, had played just nine preview performances before Broadway went dark. With the scheduled April 9 official opening off the table, producers decided to close the show on March 21.
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Postponed: "Flying Over Sunset"
The new musical by composer Tom Kitt ("Next to Normal," pictured), lyricist Michael Korie ("Grey Gardens") and book writer James Lapine ("Into the Woods") was scheduled to begin performances on March 12 ahead of an official April 16 opening. On March 24, the Lincoln Center Theater announced the show's opening would be pushed to the fall -- and then in June pushed it back until spring 2021.
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Postponed: "Birthday Candles"
Noah Haidle's play, starring Debra Messing and Andre Braugher, was due to begin performances in early April. But on March 25, Roundabout Theatre Company announced it would open this fall instead.
Postponed: "Caroline, or Change"
Roundabout also delayed the opening of its revival of the Jeanine Tesori-Tony Kushner musical "Caroline, or Change," starring Sharon D. Clarke in an Olivier Award-winning performance. The show had been set for an April 7 opening at Studio 54.
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Postponed: "How I Learned to Drive"
Manhattan Theatre Club announced on April 7 it was postponing a Mary-Louise Parker-led revival of "How I Learned to Drive" to the 2020-21 season. The Pulitzer-winning drama, with David Morse as co-star, was due to open April 22, just before the cutoff for this year's Tony Awards.
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Closed: "Beetlejuice"
The Tony-nominated musical was being evicted from the Winter Garden Theatre on June 6 (even though ticket sales had dramatically improved over the fall and winter). Now producers are hoping to find a new theater when Broadway opens up, though there's no guarantee that will happen. The adaptation of Tim Burton's 1988 movie played played 27 previews and 366 regular performances.
Postponed: "Plaza Suite"
A new revival of Neil Simon's comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick will now play March 19, 2021 through July 18, 2021. The show had been expected to begin previews at the Hudson Theater on March 13, the day after theaters were shut down.
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Postponed: "MJ"
The new Michael Jackson musical, starring Tony nominee Ephraim Sykes as the late King of Pop, had been planning to begin performances in July for an August opening. But now it's pushed back its debut to next spring, with a new opening night set for April 15, 2021.
Closed: "Frozen"
Disney's stage version of the animated hit "Frozen" became the first long-running show to close due to the pandemic. The Tony-nominated show opened in March 2018 and played 825 performances and 26 previews.
Postponed: "The Music Man"
A new revival of the classic musical starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster was set to begin performances in September for an official opening on Oct. 15. But in June, the production announced that the opening night would be pushed back to
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Closed: "Mean Girls"
The musical, which Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond adapted from Fey's 2004 movie, opened in April 2018 and played 805 performances before the pandemic shut it down. On Jan. 7, 2011, producers announced the show would not reopen.
Photo: Joan Marcus
Postponed: The Tony Awards
Since there's no word yet on when Broadway performances might resume, the Broadway League on March 25 indefinitely postponed this year's Tony Awards, which had been scheduled for June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. Though nominations were announced in October 2020, no date has been set for the ceremony.
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“The Music Man” with Hugh Jackman and other shows won’t reopen until 2021
When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed Broadway theaters on March 12, 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York theater scene was heating up ahead of the Tony Awards -- with 31 shows playing and another eight scheduled to begin performances by mid-April. Now the theaters will remain dark until at least September -- and the Tony Awards have been postponed indefinitely. But the uncertainty of when theaters (and Broadway-bound tourists) might return has forced some producers to close shows early -- or push new productions to sometime in the future.
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