Like a New York City cockroach, Woody Allen seemingly can’t be canceled.
After the director’s daughter, Dylan Farrow, revived molestation accusations against him last year, Amazon axed its distribution deal with Allen — leaving his film “A Rainy Day in New York” homeless. (He then sued Amazon for $68 million.)
Stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Hall and Elle Fanning have publicly vowed they’ll never work with Allen again, even donating their “Rainy Day” salaries to #MeToo-related charities.
But earlier this month, the movie was given the coveted opening slot at France’s Deauville American Film Festival, after premiering in Poland. It’s now playing in France, Lithuania, Greece, The Netherlands and Turkey, and will soon open in the Czech Republic, Italy and Spain, as well as Mexico.
“#MeToo or no #MeToo, Woody will always be able to get Euro money for his films,” one indie distributor told The Post.
And insiders say success is all it will take for many in Hollywood to forgive and forget.
“Trust me,” said one major casting agent. “If he has another hit or Oscar noms, they’ll change their tune fast.”
“[Make] another ‘Midnight in Paris,’ ” said a source at Sony Classics, which has released many of the director’s films in the US. “Then all will be forgiven. Or a lot, anyway.”
And now Allen, 83, is predicting that “A Rainy Day in New York” will find its way stateside.
“If people enjoy the movie, it will be released in the United States,” he recently told France 24, the French TV network.
Earlier this month, Scarlett Johansson — who has starred in Allen’s “Scoop,” “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Match Point” — was emphatic in her support of Allen.
“I love Woody,” the actress told The Hollywood Reporter. “I would work with him anytime . . . I have had a lot of conversations with him about [the allegations, first brought by Dylan’s mother, Mia Farrow] . . . He maintains his innocence, and I believe him.”
(Allen’s representative did not return The Post’s request for comment.)
Meanwhile, Allen remains defiant about his future career. “I couldn’t care less if I work in Hollywood,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I will always work.”
Indeed, the director, who has made more than 50 films over the last six decades, has already wrapped his next film.
“Rifkin’s Festival” stars Christoph Waltz, Gina Gershon, Wallace Shawn and others, and is being backed by Barcelona-based Mediapro, which also financed Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Midnight in Paris.”
It’s the story of an American couple who go to a Spanish film festival, where the wife has an affair with a French director and her husband falls for a local.
“As you can tell from his films,” said one longtime Allen crew member, “Woody loves Europe and spends a lot of time there. And Europe loves him back.”
Just like “Rainy Day,” it’s certain “Rifkin’s Festival” will play in Europe, where allegations of sexual misconduct don’t immediately make someone persona non grata.
“Censorship is never the answer. We are all grown up and we can decide what is good for us and what is not,” Allen’s Italian distributor, Andrea Occhipinti of Lucky Red, told Vulture. “Italians think of what is happening to him as an injustice.”
The fact that you can’t see “Rainy Day” in America has made some people more curious. Several US media outlets have found ways to review it, even sending writers to screenings overseas.
“It shows you that entertainment media still takes Woody Allen seriously,” said one Hollywood film-industry insider. “[And the] business audience was definitely interested in this film.”
While reviews in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter were tepid, others were good. Little White Lies, an international movie magazine, calls it “a funny, amiable riff on ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘Catcher in the Rye.’ ”
That said, even if “Rainy Day” does eventually show in the US, it will be without promotion by the stars.
“Once they shelved it, Amazon never expected the actors to promote the film,” said a publicist. “If the actors signed contracts saying they’d do press … they got voided with the allegations.”
And Chalamet is probably praying that Hollywood just forgets he ever made a movie with Allen.
“Chalamet’s team wants another Oscar nomination. They’re not doing anything to jeopardize that,” said the publicist, referring to the star’s new film “The King.”
While Chalamet, along with Colin Firth, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard and Mira Sorvino, have declared they will not work with the director again, other A-listers won’t go that far.
Cate Blanchett, Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Alec Baldwin and Kate Winslet have refused to make judgments because none of the allegations were ever proven.
The Connecticut State’s Attorney investigated but did not press charges, while the New York Department of Social Services found “no credible evidence.” In 1993, a judge ruled that the allegation of sexual abuse had not been proven, and that decision was upheld in 1994 and 1995 appeals.
And Allen is now daring to hold himself up as a beacon of feminist empowerment.
“I should be the poster boy for #MeToo,” he told France 24. “I’ve employed women in top capacities, paid them the equal of men.”
So is a comeback inevitable?
“Woody’s had umpteen comebacks,” said the Sony Classics source.
Not that any of that matters to the director.
“He’s never cared for five minutes about the box office or popularity. Or awards,” said the Sony Classics source. “Woody’s always made movies for himself, and now he’s proven that by essentially laughing in Hollywood’s face.”
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