Woody Allen's book released in Italy in a world preview: "Mia Farrow plagiarized my children"

2020-03-24T10:21:51.147Z

"I'm sorry I had to devote so many pages to the false accusation that I was subjected to, but it brought water to the writer's mill, adding a suggestive dramatic element to an otherwise fairly banal life." With his usual humor, Woody Allen explains, at the end of his autobiography About Nothing, released in digital format in a world preview for The ship of Theseus, because a good part of the book is dedicated to replicating the accusations of harassment brought against him by Mia Farrow and from daughter Dylan. The other son of the couple (only natural), Ronan Satchel Farrow, journalist and champion of the MeToo movement, became Allen's great accuser, managing to block the publication of the autobiography (and self-defense) by the Hachette Group. Now another publisher - whose name is not known - has taken over the US and the director will have a voice over there too. Meanwhile, he 'speaks' in Italy. And it does so with a book as always very acute and full of anecdotes, where the part dedicated to self-defense is consistent and significant. It is the first time that Woody Allen has spoken extensively and in detail about allegations of harassment and defends himself by accusing. Obviously Mia Farrow, guilty in her claim of having plagiarized two young children - 7 year old Dylan, convincing her that she had been molested by her foster father, and 5 year old Ronan who had "brainwashed" him by convincing him that the father was an ogre - who wanted to avenge Allen's betrayal with his adopted daughter Soon-Yi. "People believe in what they need to believe, for reasons they sometimes don't realize," writes Woody Allen then quotes Alan Dershowitz who in his book Guilt by Accusation claims that "it is enough to be accused to be found guilty" . "If I wrote about it - explains the director in About nothing - it's only because in my life it has had such a dramatic part. I hope it will give courage to honest people who made the right choice by taking the side of truth". He then explains why, although being attacked, he seldom replied or seemed too upset. "Well, if the universe is an evil and senseless chaos - he writes - what importance can a small, false accusation have in the order of things? Secondly, being a misanthrope has its advantages - people can never disappoint you. Finally, if you are innocent, you have a very different perspective on how you would see things if you were guilty. Instead of being afraid of investigations, you can't wait for them to be done, because you have nothing to hide. You are very happy to take the car test of truth rather than avoid it. " Then he adds, bringing out that comic wit that made him famous, "having never been interested in what will come after me, what can I say? I am eighty-four years old; I have almost reached the middle of my life. At my age , now I have little to lose. Not believing in an afterlife, I don't see what will change if I will be remembered as a director or as a pedophile. I only ask - adds in perfect Woody Allen style - that my ashes are scattered near a pharmacy ". In the autobiography Allen never takes it out on children. Indeed, it justifies them. Dylan, she writes, "grew up with the absurd belief that she had been a victim of harassment. And the same happened to Satchel. Children of seven and five years, easily suggestible and dependent solely on a manipulative mother". Then she quotes Dylan's 'open letter' in which she claimed that her adoptive father had molested her. A letter written, according to Allen, for the sole purpose of throwing mud on him as per the indoctrination of the mother. Trouble for Woody Allen started from that letter. "With the advent of the #MeToo era, the letter could be passed off as an example of 'woman who makes her voice heard', taking advantage of a completely legitimate movement - writes the director -. The fact that a false accusation backlash against the really harassed women seemed to be secondary. " What about Ronan Satchel Farrow? "He has always been a champion of women's right to make their voices heard - he writes - but when Soon-Yi (stepsister and wife of Woody Allen for over 20 years, editor's note) told his own version of the facts, he didn't he liked what he heard. Of course, it's okay for women to tell the truth, as long as it's the truth approved by the mother. " The self-defense part is detailed and rigorous (even with many quotes from the trial and psychiatric reports), and Woody Allen does not fail to make a bitter consideration: "Many, in the world of entertainment, said in private, to me and to my friends, to be appalled by the unjust and disgusting treatment that I received from the media, and who were on my side; but when they were asked why they were silent, they admitted that they feared repercussions at work ". "Ironically - the director comments bitterly - it was the same reason why women for years had not denounced those who harassed them: the fear that their careers would be damaged". And he thanks those who have not been afraid to defend him: among them Alec Baldwin, Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Diane Keton, Ray Liotta, Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling, Jude Law, Isabelle Huppert, Pedro Almodo'var, Alan Alda. A separate thought for Timothée Chalamet, protagonist of 'A rainy day in New York' (film released in Italy with Lucky Red, but never released in the US): "He expressed regret at having appeared in my film and the I intend to pay his cachet to charity - Allen writes - but he swore to my sister that he had to do it because he was vying for the Oscar with 'Call me by your name', and he and his agent thought they had a better chance to win by distancing myself from me. " Although the part dedicated to his self-defense is full-bodied, the volume of over 400 pages contains much more and is full of personal anecdotes and lightning jokes. Allen talks about his life, his loves, how his films are born, the relationship with his phobias that then become the comic key of his films. He talks about his love for Soon-Yi to whom he dedicates the book ("To Soon-Yi, the best. It hung from my lips and then he had me in hand"), their two adopted daughters and draws up a balance of his life by concluding in his own way: "How to sum up my life? So many stupid mistakes made up for by luck. My biggest regret? That I had millions to make films in total freedom and I never shot a masterpiece". Speaking of nothing, which Teseo's ship has made available for sale on all authorized platforms since Monday, it should arrive in stores in paper version by April 9 - if the government's provisions on coronavirus allow it.