With "A Rainy Day in New York" Being Shelved, is this the End of Woody Allen's Career?

Woody Allen

Whether or not you like him, there is one thing apparent: Woody Allen is one of the most prolific filmmakers of the past 50 years. With limited exceptions, he has stuck a movie-a-year release schedule since the 1970's and has earned four Oscars for his writing and a Best Picture win for the romantic comedy Annie Hall. With all of this said, he has once again fallen under fire for an old scandal regarding sexual allegations against his daughter Dylan Farrow. With the Me Too and Time's Up movements causing The Academy to kick out other members with notorious reputations Harvey Weinstein and Roman Polanski, one has to wonder if Allen's days are numbered. Considering that Amazon has shelved his next film, A Rainy Day in New York, and his previous film, Wonder Wheel, was a legitimate Failed Oscar Campaign contender, it does seem like maybe just maybe this is the end of his career.

There are those who could argue that his career has been over for awhile. He hasn't been a box office juggernaut in decades (if ever), and his last major Oscar contender (Blue Jasmine) was clouded with the Dylan Farrow allegations once again. He hasn't had the greatest of track record in the five years since, and the recent rise of Me Too and Time's Up may have contributed to his worse than usual box office failure with Wonder Wheel. In that regards, many have already shrugged Allen out of the cinematic landscape, believing that he's guilty and doesn't deserve the work (for a counterpoint, read his son Moses Farrow's account of events). But up until this year, he has been able to remain prolific, having released a film every year since 1982. 

With the indefinite shelving of his latest film with partners Amazon Studios, he looks to be hitting a bit of a rut that could destroy his career. This is the first major break he will have had since the allegations emerged and the equally controversial marriage to his daughter Soon-Yi Premin. While there's still an off chance that a major studio will come to the rescue, Amazon looks to lose $25 million for not releasing the movie. It also doesn't help that it has become controversial to publicly endorse Allen, and there's rumors that careers could end for those who stand up for him. Many actors, including A Rainy Day in New York's Timothee Chalamet, Selena Gomez, and Griffin Newman, have donated their salary in the wake of events. Even actors who haven't worked with the filmmaker for years and even decades have made it a point to call him out.

To be fair, this hasn't kept filmmakers like the even more controversial Polanski from making films overseas. However, Allen is currently 82 and is reaching an age where, if not death, retirement could be imminent due to the factors of aging. Given that he hasn't had a great movie since Blue Jasmine, there's little to believe that he'll be given the break that he once could've had. If A Rainy Day in Paris does not get released, there's an off chance that this could be the end. While Allen himself has claimed multiple times that he wouldn't retire, there's just too much controversy around the filmmaker, and Wonder Wheel's box office and critical chasm has only made it harder to find faith in a rebound. 

For many, this is long overdue justice for a filmmaker who doesn't deserve the credos that he's gotten in the past 20 years. To editorialize, I personally am still conflicted with how to feel as he has released a lot of masterpieces, most notably Annie Hall. If he had committed the crimes, I think that this is a deserved reputation to have, but it's also tough given that there's now conflicting reports about these allegations. On one hand, 82 is a nice and healthy age to make a retirement, especially with a career as prolific as his. With that said, it's a bummer that his career has gone down the route it has. As much as I wish not to get into personal politics on The Oscar Buzz, it's hard not to discuss Allen without it. If this is in fact the end, it's hard not to assume that he will be gone very soon for good. With that said, Allen has survived this long on the fringes. Who knows what he will do if everyone in Hollywood casts him out.