“I Have Been Shocked By The Wave Of Hate”: French Distributor Defends Woody Allen

Woody Allen is facing an uncertain future in Hollywood. The ongoing #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, coupled with Dylan Farrow‘s allegation of sexual assault, have seen countless former collaborators of the director express their regret about having worked with him. Amazon Studios is currently considering what they’re going to do with Allen’s next picture, “A Rainy Day In New York,” which has seen the film’s stars Rebecca Hall and Timothée Chalamet distancing themselves from the movie. However, Allen has seen some support, namely from Alec Baldwin and Diane Keaton. Now, another industry player is standing up for the director.

Stéphane Célérier, the head of Mars Films, France’s longtime distributor Allen’s pictures, defended the director in an editorial for the French weekly news magazine Le Point. In the piece, the executive reveals that he has looked closely at the facts surrounding Allen’s allegation, and decries what he believes in a witchhunt atmosphere in Hollywood.

“I have been shocked by the wave of hate provoked by the Woody Allen affair, particularly in the United States and on the social networks, and by the lack of rigor by certain media outlets and the pack which condemns without looking into the full facts,”Célérier wrote.“That is the approach I have decided to take. Simply to get to the bottom of the truth, to understand whether I’ve been working closely with a paedophile all these years.”

The distributor and producer says what’s happening around Allen at the moment is  “a settling of family accounts” adding, “This affair makes me think of the case of the Witches of Salem which Arthur Miller used so expertly in his play [‘The Crucible‘] as an allegory for McCarthyism,” wrote Célérier.

Célérier believes Allen is innocent, and moreover says, “It seems clear to me that Woody Allen should not be classified in the same category as the sexual predators recently denounced by Hollywood and end his days as a pariah whose work should be burned.”

The executive bemoans that it’s “complicated today, impossible even, to stand-up for Woody Allen’s innocence” without being seen as someone who also believes in women’s rights.

As some have suggest, it would appear that even if Allen becomes persona non grata in Hollywood, he could likely continue his career abroad. [Screen Daily]