News

Russell Simmons has sued HBO and the filmmakers who made the Max original documentary “On the Record,” which examines the sexual assault allegations against the hip-hop and business mogul.

The lawsuit, which demands $20 million in damages and has been obtained by TheWrap, claims the doc defamed him and disregarded evidence he and his legal team presented to the entertainment company — proof he said supports his side of the alleged incidents. The film from Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick premiered on HBO’s streaming platform in 2020.

On Tuesday, Simmons’ lawyer, Imran Ansari, filed a four-page summons in New York’s Supreme Court. In the document, Ansari wrote that Ziering and Dick “disregard and/or suppressed” details of the alleged incidents. His team stated that these details were offered to then-WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey and chairman/CEO of HBO and Max Content Casey Bloys, as well as the company’s board members.

Update: A lot of time has passed since Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s documentary expose of Russell Simmons and allegations of sexual assault by the famed music executive aired on HBO Max, over five years.

Today, with court filings certain to follow, it didn’t take Warner Bros Discovery that long at all to respond to Simmons’ $20 million defamation suit against On the Record – and give no quarter.

“We dispute Mr. Simmons’ allegations, stand by the filmmakers and their process, and will vigorously defend ourselves against these unfounded allegations, a Wbd spokesperson told Deadline this morning, as a new round of layoffs hit the company’s cable TV units.

Maybe the Bali-residing Simmons will even show up in court to press his own case vigorously against that vigorous defense.

Previously, 10:59 Am: With Oprah Winfrey very publicly exiting as a producer, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s documentary On the Record,...

Warner Bros. Discovery has been sued by Russell Simmons, who alleges that the filmmakers behind On the Record defamed him by turning a blind eye to evidence disputing accusations that he sexually assaulted women in his orbit.

In a lawsuit filed in New York state court on Tuesday, Simmons brings claims for defamation, invasion of privacy and false advertising, among others. He seeks $20 million and a court order that would force Wbd to remove the title from its platforms.

On the Record tells the stories of Simmons’ accusers — including former Def Jam executive Drew Dixon, domestic violence awareness activist Sil Lai Abrams and screenwriter Jenny Lumet — as they decide to go public with allegations of sexual assault. It was produced by Oscar-nominated directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering via their production banner Jane Doe Films, all of whom are named in the complaint, with Dan Cogan for Impact Partners.

A...

Russell Simmons has filed a lawsuit against HBO as well as Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, creators of the 2020 documentary film On the Record, which explored allegations of sexual assault and harassment from multiple women against the music mogul. The legal filing submitted in civil court in Manhattan alleges defamation and the dismissal of evidence provided by his representatives, per Variety, and seeks $20 million in damages.

In a statement, Simmons’ lawyer, Imran Ansari, and co-counsel Carla Dimare stated, “Despite voluminous support for Mr. Simmons in the form of credible information,...

Russell Simmons is suing HBO and the filmmakers behind the “On the Record” documentary for $20 million, alleging they defamed him and ignored evidence that supported his version of events.

The documentary, by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, centered on sexual assault and misconduct allegations against the hip-hop mogul from numerous women. It was distributed by HBO Max in 2020.

Simmons’ lawyer, Imran Ansari, filed a summons in civil court in Manhattan on Tuesday, alleging that the filmmakers “disregard and/or suppressed” information provided by Simmons’ representatives.

“Despite voluminous support for Mr. Simmons in the form of credible information, persuasive evidence, witness statements, and calls for further investigation by notable members of the media, politics, and the civil rights movement, the defendants simply disregarded it, and released, and continue to re-release globally, a film that tremendously disparaged and damaged Mr. Simmons with salacious and defamatory accusations that he vehemently denies,” Ansari and...

An elderly woman turns to a camera over her shoulder and, staring into the lens, says without self-pity, “I’m dying.” Incarcerated men, unaccustomed to wearing suits and ties, anxiously adjust their attire in preparation for a daddy-daughter dance behind bars. A drag performance artist walks through Moscow streets, duct-taped in the colors of the Russian flag. Argentinian gauchos traverse a landscape at thrilling speed, photographed in black and white. A histrionic Nikita Khruschev bangs his shoe on a desk, synched to a jazz rhythm.

These are some of the startling images that remain with me as I think back on the year in documentary film. Despite the sluggish acquisition market, nonfiction filmmakers continued to unveil remarkable work, whether they landed distribution or not.

Typically, I can tell within the first minute or less if I’m in the hands of a filmmaker with the confidence and skill to create...

Mia Farrow doesn’t want to tell fellow actors whom they should or “shouldn’t” work with, even if it’s a matter of working with her former partner Woody Allen, who was accused by Farrow’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow of molestation.

The allegations against writer/director Allen were made public in 1992. Allen went on to later marry Farrow’s other adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn. His career has been marred by the allegations; however, Allen has continued to helm features that starred notable actors in the years since the controversy.

Farrow recently said during “CBS Sunday Morning” that she does not hold actors’ decisions to work with Allen against them.

“I completely understand if an actor decides to work with him,” Farrow said. “I’m not one who’d say, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t.’”

Allen confirmed in 2022 that he was not retiring anytime soon, and was helming his 50th film.

September. Labor Day, come and gone. Fall… theoretically. Back to school, back to theaters. That’s right: despite Hollywood’s ongoing labor shutdown, new product continues to leech out from the national Don’t-Miss Indies reserves, spilling its way onto screens in art houses cinemas worldwide. And yeah, a piping hot pumpkin-spice latte probably sounds like the last thing you want to consume after a long, hot day on the picket line. But you gotta admit: it’s nice to have the option.

Scouts Honor: The Secret Files Of The Scouts Of America

When You Can Watch: September 6

Where You Can Watch: Netflix

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Executive Producers: Diane Becker, Nan Goldin, Amy Ziering

Why We’re Excited: “The length certain people were going to [in order to] try and get you to shut up got me the angriest.” So says one of the 80,000+ documented survivors embroiled in the Boy Scouts of America...

Gael García Bernal first confronted the challenge of playing a queer character more than 20 years ago, when he and Diego Luna established themselves as the co-stars of Alfonso Cuarón’s “Y Tu Mama Tambien.” That movie revolves around two close friends whose seemingly platonic bond leads to an erotic climax.

“There was this thing that we kept saying,” García said in a recent phone interview. “If you scratch the surface, what’s really behind the macho guy? A man that loves other men.”

The 44-year-old actor confronts that duality from a new perspective in “Cassandro,” the performance name of real-life gay Lucha libre wrestler Saúl Armendáriz. The El Paso native became a cultural phenomenon in the ’80s when he constructed the persona of Cassandro, a variation of a flamboyant luchador. Known as exóticos in the world of the ring, these characters reduced their sexuality to a villainous cartoon — but Cassandro flaunted his.

Equality Now (En), the leading international women’s rights organization that uses the law to protect and promote women’s and girls’ rights, will hold its 30th Anniversary Gala in New York on November 15.

The evening will celebrate the organization’s three decades of gender equality work and the En 30 for 30 list of artists, activists, and advocates (previously announced), and will feature inspiring performances of music, drama, and comedy with art and advocacy supporting equality for women and girls

The gala will celebrate the Equality Now 30 for 30 women and changemakers:

Alanis Morissette, Amandla Stenberg, Amy Ziering, Annie Lennox, Asma Jahangir (posthumously), Ayesha Malik, Brisa De Angulo, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Drew Dixon, Elizabeth Evatt, Gloria Steinem, Hibaaq Osman, Jaha Dukureh, Jane Fonda, Judith Bruce, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Linda Perry, Margaret Atwood, Meaza Ashenafi, Nadeen Ashraf, Paola Mendoza, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (posthumously), Salma Hayek, Sanna Marin, Sapana Pradhan Malla, Sarah Sophie Flicker,...

Click here to read the full article.

Oprah Winfrey and Apple TV+ are ending their multiyear content deal, which was announced in 2018, sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sources said Winfrey and Apple TV+ will continue to work together but on a project-by-project basis.

The news comes a couple days after the debut of the documentary Sidney, a collaboration between Winfrey and Apple TV+ focusing on the life of Sidney Poitier. Reginald Hudlin directed the doc, which debuted Friday on the streaming service.

Additionally, the pair will continue their collaboration on Oprah’s Book Club, which is available on Apple Books as well as OprahDaily.com.

However, two of Winfrey’s most recent high-profile programs — her exclusive interviews with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and with Adele — aired on CBS.

When the deal was signed in 2018, sources told THR that the pact encompassed film, TV, applications, books and other content...

Click here to read the full article.

Woody Allen is weighing his future in filmmaking.

The Oscar-winning director and screenwriter told Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia in an interview published Saturday that he intends for his next film to be his last, and that he’ll then focus more on writing, as he would like to work on a novel. He said his 50th and final film, one which he previously has said will shoot in France later this year, will be similar in tone to his 2005 thriller Match Point.

“My idea, in principle, is not to make more movies and focus on writing,” Allen, 86, told the publication.

However, in a statement released to IndieWire the following day, Allen’s rep said in a statement that the director may still make more movies but that he doesn’t enjoy when his films quickly go to streaming.

“Woody Allen never said he was retiring,...

Variety has promoted Elsa Keslassy to senior international film editor.

In her new role, Keslassy will continue to be based out of Paris, where she will cover the entertainment industry spanning film, TV and streamers across France, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and Israel.

She previously served as Variety‘s international correspondent. Since joining Variety in 2007, Keslassy has distinguished herself with coverage of major festivals and film markets, including Cannes, Venice, Berlin, the AFM, Mipcom, Canneseries and Series Mania. She is known for her deep industry sources and for her ability to break news. Keslassy has written investigative stories on prominent European companies such as EuropaCorp, Wild Bunch and Vivendi, as well as trend stories and analysis pieces with a particular focus on film financing and distribution. She has interviewed leading auteurs and actors such as David Cronenberg, Ruben Ostlund, Juliette Binoche and Catherine Deneuve. She has also been moderating roundtables and keynotes at Mipcom,...

Click here to read the full article.

Woody Allen says he’s no longer much interested in making movies in the streaming era.

“I will probably make one more movie, but a lot of the thrill is gone because it doesn’t have the whole cinema effect. When I started, you would do a film and it would go to movie houses all over the country and people would come,” the filmmaker told Alec Baldwin during an appearance on Instagram Live on Tuesday to tout his latest collection of humor stories, Zero Gravity.

“Now you do a movie and you get a couple of weeks in a movie house, maybe six weeks or four weeks and then it goes right to streaming or to pay per view. People love sitting at home and watching on their big screens and watching it on their television sets and they have good sound and a clear picture.

Click here to read the full article.

Alec Baldwin is set to interview scandal-plagued filmmaker Woody Allen.

Baldwin made the announcement on his Instagram, revealing that he will conduct an Instagram Live interview with Allen on Tuesday morning. In a caption to his post, the actor anticipated the criticism he will face by writing, “Let me preface this by stating that I have Zero Interest in anyone’s judgments and sanctimonious posts here.”

He continued, “I am Obviously someone who has my own set of beliefs and Could Not Care Less about anyone else’s speculation. If you believe that a trial should be conducted by way of an HBO documentary, that’s your issue,”

Baldwin’s message was in reference to Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering’s HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow, which explores an allegation of sexual abuse made against Allen in 1992 by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow,...

Alec Baldwin, no stranger to controversy, doesn’t seem to have a problem courting those on the fringe of public opinion.

Baldwin announced that embattled director Woody Allen is coming onto his Instagram account for a live interview this Tuesday at 10:30 Am Est.

“This coming Tuesday. The 28th. I’m going to be doing an Instagram Live with,” Baldwin trails offs, displays the cover and back of Allen’s recent book of short humor, then whispers into camera, “Woody Allen.”

“Who I love. I love you, Woody,” Baldwin continues.

The actor has worked with Allen on multiple films, Alice (1990), To Rome With Love (2012) and Blue Jasmine (2013).

Allen was recently the subject of an HBO documentary by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering titled, Allen v. Farrow, which explored the sexual abuse allegations against Allen made by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.

Baldwin seems to brush off any preoccupation with Allen...

The documentary, which premiered at Sundance, has also scored international deals.

Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Nina Menkes documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power and is teaming with library streaming platform Kanopy to release the film.

Billed as an “interrogation of the male gaze in cinema,” Brainwashed will be released theatrically in the US and Canada this autumn, with an educational streaming launch exclusively on Kanopy to follow.

Cinephil is handling international sales at the Cannes Marche and has secured deals for UK/Ireland with the BFI, for the Nordics and Baltics with Non Stop Entertainment, for Poland with New Horizons,...

Last week seemed like something of a lull; there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of terrific new television. That was a fluke. We’re back in full force. This we’ve got a genre-bending new series starring Josh Brolin (it only looks like a western), a documentary about the potential dangers of the beauty industry, and we say goodbye to “Killing Eve” while welcoming back “The Kardashians.” There is a season turn, turn, turn!

On with the television!

“Outer Range”

Friday, April 15, Prime Video

Prime Video

Sure, “Outer Range” looks like a straight up Xerox of Paramount’s rough-and-tumble hit “Yellowstone” (you can practically imagine the board meeting where the edict was forged). But “Outer Range” is considerably weirder and more mysterious. In fact, it might be your new Wtf-worthy obsession, along the lines of “Lost” or (more recently) “Severance.” Josh Brolin stars as Royal Abbott, a gruff rancher trying...

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

It seems like the Covid-induced fallow period in which there wasn’t enough new movies or TV shows to watch has truly ended. It would probably be impossible to keep up with everything coming out in April, which includes everything from a Covid-themed comedy to a tale of Mormons and murder. It also includes a new film from one of Texas’s greatest filmmakers. Let’s start with that.

Actress Karen Sharpe and Hope Holiday have accused comedian-actor-director Jerry Lewis of sexual assault, harassment and misconduct in a new short documentary and expose published by Vanity Fair. The interviews of Karen and Hope were conducted by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the duo who had earlier handled Mia Farrow’s allegations against Woody Allen in […]...

In a feature — and accompanying short film — for Vanity Fair‘s annual “Hollywood Issue,” a number of Jerry Lewis’ leading ladies, female co-stars and many other aspiring, talented women allege that the so-called King of Comedy sexually harassed and, in at least one case, sexually assaulted them.

The story and film are based in part on interviews conducted by Emmy-winning Allen v. Farrow filmmakers Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick who, in 2017, began investigating Hollywood’s long history of abuse. They found that some of the most severe accusations involved Lewis.

Among those interviewed for the piece are Hope Holiday, who appeared in The Ladies Man with Lewis the year after she broke out in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment; Jill St. John, who starred opposite the comedian in Who’s Minding the Store?; Anna Maria Alberghetti, who worked with him on Cinderfella; Karen Sharpe, who played the star’s love interest in The Disorderly Orderly,...

Two actresses who appeared on screen with movie icon and comedian Jerry Lewis have accused him of sexual harassment and assault, including claims that he fondled one of the women and began masturbating in front of the other.

Karen Sharpe (now Karen Kramer), who starred with Lewis in “The Disorderly Order” (1964), and Hope Holiday, who starred with Lewis in “The Ladies Man” (1961) and is known for parts in “The Apartment,” each accused Lewis of misconduct as part of a documentary short film published in Vanity Fair. The interviews with both women were conducted by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, the directors of “Allen v. Farrow,” in conjunction with Vanity Fair.

Lewis died in 2017 at the age of 91.

Sharpe said in the documentary short that she was invited to Lewis’ dressing room to discuss a scene and the outfit she would wear in the film when she says, “Before I knew it,...

Two former co-stars of Jerry Lewis, actresses Karen Sharpe and Hope Holiday, have accused the late comic legend and actor of sexual assault and harassment in a new feature published by Vanity Fair. The interviews were conducted by documentarians Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, the filmmakers who tackled sexual abuse allegations against Woody Allen in the HBO documentary series “Allen v. Farrow,” and who also received an Oscar nomination for examining the prevalence of campus rape in the documentary film “The Hunting Ground.”

Lewis, who died in 2017, was known as the “King of Comedy,” and made his professional debut as part of the iconic duo Martin and Lewis alongside Dean Martin, kicking off an eight-decade career that included hits like “The Nutty Professor,” “The Bellboy,” “The Patsy,” and “The Ladies Man.”

As detailed in the Vanity Fair piece, Sharpe met Lewis on the set of 1964’s “The Disorderly Orderly.” In the film,...

A new short documentary and exposé published by Vanity Fair accuses Jerry Lewis of sexual harassment and assault. The interviews with actresses such as Karen Sharpe and Hope Holiday were conducted by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the duo who tackled Mia Farrow’s allegations against Woody Allen in the HBO documentary series “Allen v Farrow” and the directors of the Oscar-nominated “The Hunting Ground.” Lewis was one of the most popular performers in the world in the 1950s and ’60s, first as part of a comic team with Dean Martin and later as the star of hits such as “The Nutty Professor” and “Cinderfella.” He died in 2017 at the age of 91.

Sharpe met the actor during his commercial zenith. She was cast as Lewis’ love interest in the 1964 comedy “The Disorderly Orderly.” The actress said she was being fitted for costumes in Lewis’ office when he ordered everyone but her out of the room.

Time Studios, the Emmy-winning TV and film production division of Time, which has generated more than $70M in revenue since its 2020 launch, today announced the expansion of its Documentary division, also introducing a new arm for Kids & Family programming.

Alexandra Johnes and Loren Hammonds have been tapped as Heads of Documentary, with Maria Perez-Brown coming aboard as Head of Kids & Family. Additional new hires and promotions include Rebecca Teitel as VP of Documentary, Rebecca Gitlitz as Director and Showrunner and Jeff Smith as Executive Producer and Showrunner. The Scripted division of Time Studios will be run by Kaveh Veyssi, VP of Film & TV, Time Studios, as part of a strategic alliance with Sugar23, as previously announced.

The new Kids & Family division will build on Time’s success in the space with the Daytime Emmy Award-nominated Kid of the Year television special, recognizing the contributions of extraordinary young leaders in a range of fields,...

Exclusive: Tina Tchen says she’s keeping her CEO gig, but change is coming to Time’s Up.

A sometimes-heated set of virtual meetings today with the chagrined gender equity group’s global leadership and founding signatories concluded without the public calls for Tchen to step down or step aside that Deadline reported yesterday.

“It isn’t the time,” one participant on the calls said, citing the extensive amends the Time’s Up President and CEO offered up, along with proposals on how to get the organization back on track after “mission creep” concerns and a series of public and institutional falterings. “We want to see how this pans out before taking matters further,” the participant added of a leadership challenge to Tchen, who has been in the job for almost two years.

“t’s not my intention to resign as President and CEO of Time’s Up,” Tchen told Deadline Monday after the meetings concluded.

Last month, after the release of his latest documentary, “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” Morgan Neville disclosed that he used artificial intelligence to simulate the voice of Bourdain. Outrage ensued and writers used it as an opportunity to pen headlines that said the project served as a reminder that documentaries are journalism.

But while it’s true that documentaries have never been a part of the fourth estate — an institution whose ability to be completely objective is debatable — most documentaries set out to expose a truth via journalistic tactics including research, making sense of the facts and interviewing subjects. This year many such projects — including “City So Real,” “Allen v. Farrow,” “Framing Britney Spears,” “The Social Dilemma” and “Welcome to Chechnya” — received Emmy nominations.

Veteran docu filmmaker Steve James says while he is a “nonfiction storyteller,” that does not relieve him of journalistic principles when making a documentary. James...

“Allen v. Farrow” composer Michael Abels just earned his first two Emmy nominations for his theme and score to the HBO docuseries — all the more notable because he had never worked on a non-fiction project until now.

“I asked [directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering] if there was a difference in scoring documentary versus film because I hadn’t done it before. I didn’t want to do in thinking I knew the answer,” Abels tells Gold Derby at our Meet the Btl Experts: Composers panel (watch above). “They were really supportive of me doing what it is that I do. It felt like I had the freedom to really help tell the story. At the same time, it is a documentary and you need to be conscious of allowing people to experience it as people telling their factual accounts of what happened.”

The four-part series covers the 1992 sexual assault allegations...

Rolling Stone and Variety are pleased to announce additional programming for the inaugural “Truth Seekers” virtual summit on August 26th, presented by Showtime Documentary Films. RZA will participate in a keynote conversation about creating, executive-producing, and composing Wu-Tang: An American Saga, a series that examines the Wu-Tang Clan’s formation, mega-success, and cultural influence.

Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Todd Haynes will take part in a keynote conversation about his new documentary feature, The Velvet Underground, and give an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at his creative process in telling the story of the legendary rock band.

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have teamed up on some of the most acclaimed and impactful documentary projects of the 21st century. While Dick’s first Oscar nom came for a doc he made apart from Ziering, 2004’s Twist of Faith, which explored sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, they have experienced their greatest successes on collaborations that also tackled subjects related to sexual misconduct: 2012’s The Invisible War, for which they were Oscar-nominated and won a Peabody Award, shined a light on sexual assault in the military; 2015’s The Hunting Ground, for which they received the Producers Guild’s Stanley Kramer Award, exposed the epidemic ...

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering have teamed up on some of the most acclaimed and impactful documentary projects of the 21st century. While Dick’s first Oscar nom came for a doc he made apart from Ziering, 2004’s Twist of Faith, which explored sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, they have experienced their greatest successes with projects they made together, which also tackled subjects related to sexual misconduct: 2012’s The Invisible War, for which they were Oscar-nominated and won a Peabody Award, shined a light on sexual assault in the military; 2015’s The Hunting Ground, for which they received the Producers Guild’s Stanley Kramer Award,...

Variety and Rolling Stone are pleased to announce programming for the inaugural Truth Seekers virtual summit on August 26th, presented by Showtime Documentary Films. Keynote speakers will include Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris (The Fog of War), with panels from documentarians behind Allen v. Farrow, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer, and more.

Stanley Nelson will receive the Truth Seeker Award. A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, Peabody Award recipient,...

The controversial HBO documentary series Allen v. Farrow, which supports Dylan Farrow’s accusation of being sexually abused by her adoptive favor, Woody Allen, earned the most Emmy nominations of any nonfiction program.

The four-part series directed and executive-produced by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick and produced by Amy Herdy claimed seven nominations in all, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program.

“It’s an incredible honor, no question about it,” Dick told Deadline. “This is something that was just completely a collective effort.”

“It’s so incredible to get this recognition from your peers, not so much for us but for our team,” Ziering commented. “It’s so hard to do this work. I know we’re not, like, curing cancer, but it’s hard to do this rigorous investigative work, craft a story so people can follow it, make sure all your fact-checking is correct.

In February HBO released “Allen v. Farrow,” a four-part docuseries that examined the events that led up to Dylan Farrow’s sexual abuse allegations against her father, Woody Allen. That same month Skyhorse Publishing threatened a copyright infringement lawsuit against the premium cabler and the docuseries’ directors, Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, over the series’ use of unauthorized audio excerpts from Allen’s 2020 memoir, “Apropos of Nothing.”

In the four months since Skyhorse publicly contemplated a lawsuit, one has yet to appear, ostensibly due to a legal doctrine called Fair Use. While it’s not a fixed exception with clearly defined borders, the Fair Use doctrine has successfully transformed the documentary landscape in the past two decades.

“Film is a visual medium and if key material, say a film clip, is exorbitantly priced and takes up an outsized fraction of your budget and [therefore can’t be used], the film suffers,” says director Matt Tyrnauer.

“I think it’s hard to let go of aligning with your hero,” admits Kirby Dick, the co-director of the docuseries “Allen vs. Farrow.” The HBO project takes a revealing look at the allegations that legendary director Woody Allen sexually abused his daughter Dylan Farrow, as well as the media firestorm that surrounded Allen, Dylan, as well as Dylan’s mother Mia Farrow. The series, co-directed by Amy Ziering, also explores the case’s impact on family law and the responsibility the media plays in protecting powerful people from prosecution. Check out our exclusive video interview with Dick and Ziering above.

The debate over Allen’s guilt has long divided those in the entertainment industry. However, Dick argues that the search for the truth outweighed any concern about potential upset within the industry. “When you tell a story, when you give the full perspective on that, you can expect some sort of backlash,...

“Allen v. Farrow” directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering never set out to make a movie about the allegations of sexual assault made by Dylan Farrow against her father Woody Allen. And nobody – even Dylan – expected her mother Mia Farrow to ever cooperate.

“I always like to say, our films find us, we don’t find them,” Ziering tells Variety’s Award Circuit podcast. She and Dick were interviewing people who had spoken up following the #MeToo movement, which is how they met Dylan Farrow: “Dylan was just one interview that we were doing that day; we had five a day. And in the course of her interview, we were listening to her and going, ‘Wait…I thought I knew her story. That’s not exactly what I remember – or how it was portrayed in the media or public.”

Following that interview, their producer Amy Herdy said she wanted to investigate further.

When Allen v. Farrow released earlier this year on HBO, the four-part docuseries — which was filmed in secret over three years — revealed new evidence, including several bombshells, about the allegations of incest that have been famously leveled against filmmaker Woody Allen since the 1990s. By its conclusion, the intimate yet sprawling documentary became a powerful platform for Dylan Farrow, Allen’s adoptive daughter, to share her story.

For filmmakers Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, and lead investigative producer Amy Herdy — who virtually gathered for a recent Q&a for THR Presents, powered by Vision Media — booking their starring subject to not only go on ...

When Allen v. Farrow released earlier this year on HBO, the four-part docuseries — which was filmed in secret over three years — revealed new evidence, including several bombshells, about the allegations of incest that have been famously leveled against filmmaker Woody Allen since the 1990s. By its conclusion, the intimate yet sprawling documentary became a powerful platform for Dylan Farrow, Allen’s adoptive daughter, to share her story.

For filmmakers Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, and lead investigative producer Amy Herdy — who virtually gathered for a recent Q&a for THR Presents, powered by Vision Media — booking their starring subject to not only go on ...

On the same January day that Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick locked the final episode of HBO’s recent docuseries Allen v. Farrow, a key witness surfaced.

Since 2018, lead investigative producer Amy Herdy had been chasing Alison Strickland, a former nanny who had been in Mia Farrow’s Connecticut home on the 1992 day that 7-year-old Dylan Farrow was allegedly molested by her father, Woody Allen. After a series of dead ends in locating Strickland, Herdy had sent a snail-mail letter to the U.K. in 2020, and Strickland finally responded.

It was too late to include Strickland in the docuseries — ...

On the same January day that Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick locked the final episode of HBO’s recent docuseries Allen v. Farrow, a key witness surfaced.

Since 2018, lead investigative producer Amy Herdy had been chasing Alison Strickland, a former nanny who had been in Mia Farrow’s Connecticut home on the 1992 day that 7-year-old Dylan Farrow was allegedly molested by her father, Woody Allen. After a series of dead ends in locating Strickland, Herdy had sent a snail-mail letter to the U.K. in 2020, and Strickland finally responded.

It was too late to include Strickland in the docuseries — ...

By any estimation, the Woody Allen business looks like it’s in terrible shape. The 85-year-old filmmaker was further ostracized by the industry when “Allen v. Farrow,” the four-part HBO series from directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, resurrected sexual assault allegations leveled against him by his daughter Dylan Farrow. Now, as the finale of “Allen v. Farrow” reverberates, some may assume that Allen has no path forward to keep making movies.

He does, of course. Pushback won’t faze him — he’s got a decade of it under his belt — nor will box-office ignominy, as his career has more of that than success. What about an entertainment industry that’s actively hostile toward financing the small, specific, not-inexpensive dramas that he makes? That’s irrelevant: While he’s intractable about the movies he makes, Allen appears to be infinitely flexible when it comes to financing and — perhaps more than...

The disintegration of the partnership between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow is the focus of the new four-part docuseries Allen v. Farrow, which aired its first episode on Sunday, February 21st. The final episode aired Sunday, March 14th, on HBO.

The docuseries goes caustically in-depth about the sexual abuse allegations levied against Allen by their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow — and, to a lesser extent, Allen’s affair with another of Mia’s adopted daughters, Soon-Yi Previn — as well as the aftermath of the bitter and public custody battle on the Farrow family.

Ahead of HBO’s final installment of Allen v. Farrow, directors Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick and lead investigative producer Amy Herdy sat down for a Zoom interview with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the chilling close to the docuseries and address criticism from Allen that their project is one-sided.

As the explosive docuseries rolled out over the past four weeks, Woody Allen and his supporters have taken aim at the filmmakers for omitting his perspective. Through a spokesperson, Allen called the series a “hatchet job” and complained that he was approached less than two months before the Feb. 21 premiere and ...

Ahead of HBO’s final installment of Allen v. Farrow, directors Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick and lead investigative producer Amy Herdy sat down for a Zoom interview with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the chilling close to the docuseries and address criticism from Allen that their project is one-sided.

As the explosive docuseries rolled out over the past four weeks, Woody Allen and his supporters have taken aim at the filmmakers for omitting his perspective. Through a spokesperson, Allen called the series a “hatchet job” and complained that he was approached less than two months before the Feb. 21 premiere and ...

For the past year, Alexia Norton Jones has been in anguish, constantly reliving an experience that she deeply regrets.

On Dec. 30, 2019, Jones flew to Los Angeles from her home in Arizona, to talk to the directors of the documentary “On the Record” about the night in 1990 when she says music mogul Russell Simmons raped her. Jones was a last-minute addition to the film, which features accounts from several women who claim they had been sexually assaulted or attacked by Simmons. “On the Record” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in late January 2020, only three weeks after its directors — Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick — spoke to Jones for roughly two hours, pushing her to recount details of the alleged assault, she says, without caring about her as a person.

“I remember thinking, ‘Is this how documentaries are made?’” Jones says, recalling the time she spent with them. Although she’d talked...

In the third installment of “Allen v. Farrow,” former New York Times reporter Peter Marks — who covered the 1992 custody trial between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow — admits with some mixed emotions that he hasn’t watched another Woody Allen movie since.

“I didn’t buy it […] either,” Marks says somewhat sheepishly. “As a reporter it’s hard to admit this, in a way. I absolutely worshipped Woody Allen before this trial and I still, well the proof is I could never watch a Woody Allen film again after this. It still hurts, it still wrenches me to say that, it’s still not easy to say that.”

Now the chief theater critic of the Washington Post, Marks speaks for all culture connoisseurs in that moment. For years, cinephiles and New York aesthetes turned a blind eye to the horrific allegations of childhood sexual abuse made against Allen by Dylan Farrow,...

The final episode of HBO’s “Allen v. Farrow” airs this Sunday, but some critics of the documentary series say the filmmakers have only put forward one side of the case, failing to include Woody Allen’s side of the story and omitting key facts that detract from a pro-Farrow conclusion.

Critics like The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman have argued that the docuseries feels more like activism and public relations than it does journalism.

“The series is kind of extraordinary in that it’s this major, four-part, four-hour-plus series, and yet it only puts forward one side of the case,” Freeman said during an interview for an upcoming episode of TheWrap’s podcast, “TheWrap-Up.” “It’s like hearing just the first half of a case. You’re just hearing the prosecution and there is nothing from the defense.”

Freeman pointed to Monica Thompson, the family’s nanny, who had said...

Allen v. Farrow filmmakers Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy have released an interview with the nanny who said she saw Woody Allen allegedly acting inappropriately with then seven-year-old Dylan Farrow. The interview starts at the 23:24 mark of the second episode of the Allen v. Farrow podcast.

Alison Stickland was the nanny of Mia Farrow’s friend Casey Pascal, one of three people in the house at the time of the alleged incident and a first-hand witness to the alleged incident. As Herdy explains, she spent two years trying to find Stickland,...

“This is a story that we thought we knew, but we really didn’t,” said Amy Ziering, the co-director of HBO’s ongoing documentary series, “Allen v. Farrow.” The story in question is that of the allegations of sexual assault and child abuse by director Woody Allen against his then seven-year-old daughter, Dylan. In just two weeks on air, the documentary has created a powder keg of talk, both on and off social media, as well as from Allen himself who has called the series “a shoddy hit piece” with “no interest in the truth.”

Allen has defended himself against these allegations for decades, reminding fans regularly that the lack of a criminal investigation and a report from Yale-New Haven Hospital exonerates him. In episode three of “Allen v. Farrow,” which aired tonight, that report is examined by directors Ziering and Kirby Dick, who showcase its numerous flaws in methodology...

Mia Farrow took much convincing to appear in HBO’s Allen v. Farrow. The four-part docuseries, which aired its third episode Sunday night, features the actress and mother of 14 speaking publicly for the first time in decades about her former partner and collaborator, disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen, and the sexual abuse allegations that have long been leveled at him by daughter Dylan Farrow, who appears along with her in the documentary.

“Mia did not want to speak,” filmmaker Amy Ziering, who narrates some of the third episode, told The Hollywood Reporter. The credit goes to Amy Herdy, the lead ...