Unable To Escape ‘Cancelation’ After Abuse Allegations, Woody Allen May Retire After Struggling With New Film

Iconic director Woody Allen may retire from his career, noting that the film industry is not appealing to him anymore. 

“The business has changed, and not in an appealing way,” Allen told AirMail. All the romance of filmmaking is gone.”

Allen struggled to find a North American distributor for his most recent film, Coup de Chance. The French thriller/romance film, starring French actors Lou de Laâge and Melvil Poupaud, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in September 2023. 

On the red carpet, Allen was booed by people in attendance, including the press and fans. The film was not released in U.S. theaters after the HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow aired. The docuseries covers the numerous sexual abuse allegations against Allen, including the incident between Allen, ex-partner Mia Farrow and Farrow’s adoptive daughter Soon Yi Previn. 

Allen was also accused of sexual abuse by his stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow. Dyland claims that Allen touched her when she was 7 years old.

Allen had been in a relationship with Farrow for 13 years when Farrow discovered nude photographs of Previn, who was 21 at the time, in Allen’s residence. Allen and Previn married in 1997 when Previn was 27 years old.

Allen discussed distribution and audience reception changes in the film industry. He referenced his 1977 film, Annie Hall.

“Now distribution is two weeks in a cinema . . . and then that’s it. I mean, Annie Hall played in movie houses in New York for a little bit over a year.”

On Instagram Live with actor Alec Baldwin in 2022, Allen stated, “I will probably make one more movie, but a lot of the thrill is gone because it doesn’t have the whole cinema effect.”

“People love sitting at home and watching on their big screens … and they have good sound and a clear picture,” he said. “It’s not the same thing as when I went into the movie business, and so it’s not as enjoyable to me.”