Woody Allen believes Timothee Chalamet was forced to denounce him after working on his movie, A Rainy Day in New York, to increase his chances of winning an Oscar for Call Me by Your Name.
The veteran director's controversial memoir, Apropos of Nothing, was quietly published on Monday by Grand Central Publishing, a branch of Hachette Book Group.
The publication has been overshadowed by renewed allegations of childhood sexual abuse against Allen by his daughter Dylan Farrow, which he addresses in the book. Also in the memoir, Allen shares his belief that Chalamet, who worked with the filmmaker on the 2019 flick, denounced him following the renewed interest in the allegations to improve his chances of awards success.
"All the three leads in Rainy Day were excellent and a pleasure to work with," Allen wrote. "Timothee afterward publicly stated he regretted working with me and was giving the money to charity, but he swore to my sister he needed to do that as he was up for an Oscar for Call Me by Your Name, and he and his agent felt he had a better chance of winning if he denounced me, so he did."
Chalamet announced that he would be donating the money he earned on Allen's film to nonprofit organisations like Time's Up, the LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network.
"I am learning that a good role isn't the only criteria for accepting a job - that has become much clearer to me in the past few months, having witnessed the birth of a powerful movement intent on ending injustice, inequality and above all, silence," said Chalamet in early 2018. "I don't want to profit from my work on the film, and to that end, I am going to donate my entire salary."
Chalamet later lost out on the Best Actor Oscar to Gary Oldman for his role as former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour.
A Rainy Day in New York, which also starred Elle Fanning and Selena Gomez, was shelved for months due to the renewed allegations but was released in countries outside of North America and the U.K. last year.
