The Woody Allen scandal will again be brought into the spotlight, this time in a new four-part documentary series coming to HBO later this month called “Allen v. Farrow.”
Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the documentarians behind the Russell Simmons exposé “On the Record,” will direct the docuseries along with producer Amy Herdy. The series aims to examine the private story behind the accusations of sexual abuse against the Oscar-winning filmmaker involving his daughter Dylan Farrow, his then 7-year-old child with his ex, actress Mia Farrow.
A teaser for the series (above) shows the filmmakers sitting down with Mia Farrow alongside archival clips and photos of the family and the revelation of Allen’s relationship and marriage to Soon-Yi Previn, whom Farrow had adopted with her previous husband André Previn in 1978.
“Who on Earth could believe that about Woody Allen?” Farrow says in the trailer for “Allen v. Farrow.” “I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.”
Allen, who was never charged with a crime after two separate police investigations, has repeatedly denied Dylan’s accusations that he molested her in the early ’90s when she was 7, and in his memoir “Apropos of Nothing,” he said that Farrow had an “Ahab-like quest” for revenge after he left her for Previn. Though Allen has been shunned from Hollywood in the wake of the #MeToo movement and Dylan’s renewed accusations, he has continued making films, including his most recent movie that debuted in Europe at the San Sebastian Film Festival, “Rifkin’s Festival.”
“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,” he wrote in his book published last March. “I certainly didn’t do anything improper to her. I was in a room full of people watching TV mid-afternoon.”
“Allen v. Farrow” promises new video and audio tapes along with intimate home movie footage, court documents, police evidence and in-depth interviews. Some of those who sat down for the documentary include Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow, Ronan Farrow, family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators, experts and other first-hand eyewitnesses — many of them speaking publicly about the events for the first time.
The series also includes prominent cultural voices exploring Allen’s body of work in a broader context and reflecting on how public revelations about the personal lives of artists can lead to re-evaluations of their work. And “Allen v. Farrow” is described as something that explores the “shattering effects of trauma on a family and is a haunting depiction of the skepticism and backlash that can result from an accusation.”
“Allen v. Farrow” will debut on HBO on February 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with new episodes airing subsequent Sundays, and the series will be available to stream on HBO Max.
“Allen v. Farrow” is presented by HBO Documentary Films in association with Impact Partners and Chicago Media Project and is a Jane Doe Films Production. Dick and Ziering directed the series, and it is produced by Amy Herdy and Jamie Rogers and executive produced by Dick, Ziering, Dan Cogan, Tara Lynda Guber, Artemis Rising Foundation, Maiken Baird, Ian Darling, Steve Cohen & Paula Froehle, The Lozen Foundation, Debbie L. McLeod, Jenny Raskin and Geralyn White Dreyfous. The film is edited by Mikaela Shwer and Parker Laramie with music by Michael Abels. For HBO, the senior producer is Sara Rodriguez and the executive producers are Lisa Heller and Nancy Abraham.
Watch the trailer here and above.