Woody Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York” starring Timotheé Chalamet and Elle Fanning, which had its American release cancelled by Amazon Studios, is set to open the Deauville American Film Festival taking place in France, the festival announced Wednesday.
The festival takes place between Sept. 6 -15, and the film will serve as the opening night movie before opening in theaters on Sept. 18.
Olivier Assayas’s “Wasp Network” is closing the festival.
Seven of Allen’s previous films have opened the Deauville Festival, most recently 2014’s “Magic in the Moonlight.” But “A Rainy Day in New York” will be presented at the Deauville Festival in preview of the film’s French release from Mars Distribution. Fanning was also awarded the New Hollywood prize at the festival last year.
“A Rainy Day in New York” stars Fanning and Chalamet as a couple who go to Manhattan for the weekend so Fanning’s character can meet one of her icons. There, they are met with extremely bad weather and their weekend quickly goes haywire, especially when she breaks up with him for a movie star.
Selena Gomez, Jude Law, Rebecca Hall and Diego Luna also star in the film, that was written and directed by Allen. Both Chalamet and Hall however agreed to donate their salaries from the film to Time’s Up and LGBT charities.
Allen’s film was blocked for release in the U.S. after distributor Amazon Studios terminated its four-picture deal with the director after the resurfacing of old accusations that Allen inappropriately touched Dylan Farrow, his then-seven-year-old daughter. (Investigators found no evidence of abuse and Allen has repeatedly denied the accusations.)
In February, Allen filed a $68 million lawsuit against Amazon, claiming breach of contract. In April, Amazon pushed back and said it was “justified” in terminating the contract, and in July Allen faced a legal setback when a judge dismissed four of Allen’s claims.
However, “A Rainy Day in New York” was picked up for distribution in multiple European, South American and Asian territories — but so far there are no U.S. release plans for the film.
Allen just recently wrapped shooting his next film, his 51st, in San Sebastian, Spain under the working title of “Rifkin’s Festival.” The film stars Christoph Waltz, Wallace Shawn, Gina Gershon, Elena Anaya, Louis Garrel and Sergi López. The film is a co-production of The MediaPro Studio.
The press conference for the 45th Deauville American Film Festival will be held on Thursday, Aug. 22.