Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Woody Allen’s Long-Shelved Movie To Be Released Overseas

Woody Allen’s “A Rainy Day In New York,” shelved by Amazon Studios, will have a European audience.

Allen’s latest will be released in Europe this October, Variety reported. The movie, which was completed in 2018, will reach Italian audiences and will likely later be distributed in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, thanks to pre-existing distribution agreements. Amazon Studios still has no plans to release the movie domestically.

Amazon severed ties with Allen at the height of the #MeToo movement, as allegations resurfaced that Allen molested his daughter Dylan Farrow almost thirty years ago. Allen has since sued the media company’s film division for $68 million for breaking his contract to distribute this film as well as to produce others by the prolific filmmaker. Amazon has stated that Allen’s public comments about the #MeToo movement justified their decision to cut ties.

The ensemble romantic comedy boasts an all-star cast — Timothee Chalamet, Elle Fanning, Selena Gomez and Jude Law — and reportedly follows people coming together over a weekend in New York. Little else from the plot has been revealed to the public, though Page Six reported that a storyline will include an older male character (Law) sleeping with young actresses and models (including Fanning.) Fanning is twenty-five years Law’s junior, and was 19 at the time of the filming.

Timothee Chalamet and Selena Gomez take direction from Woody Allen on the set of “A Rainy Day in New York.” Image by Getty Images

Some of the movie’s cast, including Chalamet and Gomez, apologized for working with the director and have since donated their salaries for the film to various organizations, including Time’s Up, RAINN and the LGBT Center of New York.

“I have been asked in a few recent interviews about my decision to work on a film with Woody Allen,” Chalamet wrote on Instagram at the time. “What I can say is this: I don’t want to profit from my work on the film.” He further emphasized that he wanted “to be worthy of standing shoulder to shoulder with the brave artists who are fighting for all people to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.”

“A Rainy Day in New York” is Allen’s 48th film.

Adrianna Chaviva Freedman is the Social Media Intern for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @ac_freedman

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.