Woody Allen ‘sabotaged’ Amazon four-picture deal with #MeToo remarks

Amazon have responded to Woody Allen’s £52 million ($68 million) lawsuit against the studio, claiming that the director sabotaged their four picture deal with his remarks about the #MeTo movement.

Allen originally made a complaint against the studio earlier this year, which noted that Amazon already knew about the sex assault allegations against the director, which were made by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow back in 1992 and Allen insists are false.

Ahead of the release of Allen’s A Rainy Day In New York for Amazon several of its stars, including Timothee Chalamet, Griffin Newman, Rebecca Hall, and Selena Gomez, said they regretted starring in the film and donated their salaries to a number of charities.

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“Understood in the broader context, Allen’s actions and their cascading consequences ensured that Amazon could never possibly receive the benefit of its four-picture agreement, despite already having paid Allen a $10 million advance upon signing,” Amazon say in their complaint.

They also insist that Allen’s comments about the Harvey Weinstein scandal just before promotion on A Rainy Day In New York was about to commence completely sabotaged “those efforts,” too.

“The whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved,” remarked Allen at the time. “Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that his life is so messed up.”

Allen also declared, “I should be the poster boy for the #MeToo movement … I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses and not a single one – big ones, famous ones, ones starting out – have ever, ever suggested any kind of impropriety at all.”

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In Amazon’s statement they insist that “the response from the film industry” to Allen’s remarks “was swift and damning. Scores of actors and actresses expressed profound regret for having worked with Allen in the past, and many declared publicly that they would never work with him in the future.”

Amazon ultimately shelved A Rainy Day In New York indefinitely, which meant that 2018 was the first year since 1981 when Allen had’t released a film. However, he is now working in Spain on a new project that Amazon are not involved with.