Woody Allen has released his memoir, Apropos of Nothing, after landing a new publisher.
The US filmmaker, 84, saw his book dropped by publishing company the Hachette Book Group, earlier this month, ahead of its April release date.
Staff had staged a walkout in protest of publishing Allen’s memoir and the company released a statement explaining they had made the ‘difficult’ decision to drop the memoir after ‘extensive conversations with staff and others’.
‘The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one. At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly,’ it read.
‘After listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.’
Allen’s book has since been scooped up by Arcade Publishing, who released Apropos of Nothing on Monday, after acquiring the rights to the memoir.
According to Vanity Fair, a press release for the book read: ‘The book is a candid and comprehensive personal account by Woody Allen of his life, ranging from his childhood in Brooklyn through his acclaimed career in film, theater, television, print and standup comedy, as well as exploring his relationships with family and friends.’
It comes after Hachette faced backlash for its plans to publish Allen’s memoir, especially from his children Ronan and Dylan Farrow, who have accused Allen of sexually abusing Dylan when she was a child – claims he has repeatedly denied.
Dylan claimed she was abused by her director father, then the partner of her mum Mia Farrow, in August of 1992 when she was seven years old, alleging she was taken to an ‘attic crawl space’ in her mother’s country house and ‘instructed to lie on her stomach and play with her brother’s toy set’ before Allen allegedly ‘touched her labia and vulva’.
During the investigation into Dylan’s allegations against Allen in 1993, Mia was accused of ‘planting’ the story in her daughter’s head in revenge for Allen having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi.
No charges were pressed against Allen, and he always denied the claims.
According to AP, Allen discusses the claims in his memoir. He writes: ‘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.’
Dylan’s brother Ronan, meanwhile, had spoken out against Allen’s memoir, after Hachette acquired the rights.
The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist wrote: ‘I was disappointed to learn through press reports that Hachette, my publisher, acquired Woody Allen’s memoir after other major publishers refused to do so and concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on Catch and Kill – a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse.
‘Hachette did not fact check the Woody Allen book. My sister Dylan has never been contacted to respond to any denial or mischaracterisation of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Woody Allen – a credible allegation, maintained for almost three decades, backed up by contemporaneous accounts and evidence.’
Farrow continued: ‘It’s wildly unprofessional in multiple obvious directions for Hachette to behave this way. But it also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here.’
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