Despite a longstanding child sexual abuse allegation from his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, European movie industry professionals continue to embrace writer-director Woody Allen, even as their Hollywood counterparts increasingly cut ties with him.
The Spanish production company Mediapro, which confirmed in February that it is financing Allen’s next movie, announced Tuesday that Allen will begin filming the as-yet untitled project in Spain on July 10.
The company also announced the movie’s plot and cast, which includes Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel, Gina Gershon, Sergi López, Wally Shawn and Oscar winner Christoph Waltz.
According to the press release:
The film tells the story of a married American couple who go to the San Sebastian Film Festival. They get caught up in the magic of the festival, the beauty and charm of Spain and the fantasy of movies. She has an affair with a brilliant French movie director, and he falls in love with a beautiful Spanish woman who lives there. It is a comedy-romance that resolves itself in a funny but romantic way.
In February, when asked why it continues to support Allen, Mediapro cited its prior relationship with him, having worked on three previous Allen movies, including Oscar winners “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Midnight in Paris.”
“We have a 10-year relationship with Mr. Allen and, like all projects we produce, we judge the creator by its work,” the company said in a statement to The New York Times. “All of our projects have a unique personality, and we support all types of artistic voices and ideas and remain committed to producing well-defined and creative projects for audiences worldwide.”
On Tuesday, the company again stood by Allen.
“His films, like every project the group produces, have a unique personality,” Jaume Roures, the company’s founding partner, said in a press release. “This latest movie has all the ingredients to be right up there along with what we’ve become accustomed to from a director of Woody Allen’s talent: an intelligent script and a first-rate international cast.”
In recent years, the Me Too movement has brought renewed attention to Farrow’s claims that Allen sexually abused her in 1992 when she was 7 years old. This has led to some professional repercussions for Allen, though more so in the U.S. than Europe.
Several European distribution companies plan to release Allen’s movie “A Rainy Day in New York,” which he filmed in 2017. Amazon Studios produced the movie as part of a deal with Allen, but later shelved it.
Last year, the studio severed ties with Allen, citing the negative publicity generated by his dismissive comments about Me Too and his denials of Farrow’s sexual abuse allegation. Meanwhile, distributors in the U.S. have reportedly been reluctant to go near “Rainy Day.”
A number of actors have pledged not to work with Allen again, including Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Ellen Page, Greta Gerwig and Mira Sorvino.
But others continue to stand by him, including “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” star Javier Bardem.
“I don’t agree with the public lynching that he’s been receiving, and if Woody Allen called me to work with him again I’d be there tomorrow morning,” Bardem said last year. “He’s a genius.”
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.