Woody Allen Debuts Official Trailer for A Rainy Day in New York on Facebook – Great

Woody Allen, currently in a $68 million lawsuit against Amazon Studios, has released the trailer for his latest film A Rainy Day in New York on his own Facebook page. The trailer is slightly confusing, which is to the film’s benefit perhaps, since this has left many in the comments intrigued by the end product.

Screenrant reports that the film’s shelving is the result of Amazon Studios terminating the four-picture deal they had with Allen, due to rumours of his sexual misconduct with then 7 year old Dylan Farrow. Allen has continued to deny the claims, and proceeded to sue Amazon for breach of contract. Thus far, the tug of war still continues, which explains why Allen released the trailer via his Facebook page.

People reports that the film will be screened in France though, picked up by distribution company Mars Film, and will be in French cinemas come September 18, 2019. Variety reports of a Germany release date as well, picked up by FilmWelt/NFP, with head of distribution Christoph Ott stating that “[Allen] is for us one of the outstanding directors of our time.”

A Rainy Day in New York boasts the typical Allen formula: Young couple travels somewhere (obviously New York in this case) and are presented with obstacles to their relationship via temptations to cheat. The movie is bolstered by a star studded cast, with the likes of Elle Fanning, Timothée Chalamet, Diego Luna, Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Rebecca Hall and Griffin Newman. Chalamet, Hall and Newman are all donating their salaries from the film to charity. Chalamet mentioned on an Instagram post that he “didn’t want to profit from [his] work on the film.”

The issue is a complicated one, given that accusations surrounding Allen are not laced with certainty, especially since he was investigated in 1993 and no charges were brought. Yet we have Dylan Farrow’s searing account via The New York Times, with details of what Allen had done to her, and the reason as to why criminal charges were never brought against Allen. Her mother made the decision not to pursue the charges, to protect her from onslaught that would be leveled upon her.

Ronan Farrow, estranged son of Woody Allen, also known as the man who brought down Harvey Weinstein, criticized the media for being an enabler in his father’s misdeeds. In an article from The Guardian in May 2016, Farrow described “a culture of acquiescence” that supports famous and powered individuals like his father, covering and not giving voice to victims like his sister. Before she got her account published in The New York Times, she was turned down by other publications such as the Los Angeles Times.

Farrow’s words must have been laced with some prophetic potency, since now we have a media company like Amazon Studios who isn’t budging on their stance, and it is doubtful that another U.S distribution company would want to get involved in this mess. Guess it’s rainy weather for Allen, who might not recover the money he invested in the film, with uncertainty dancing around his plans for his three follow-up movies as well.