In the just-posted “Deadline’s Cannes Corrections” piece, I noted that Nancy Tartaglione and Andreas Wiseman had pooh-poohed the possibility of Woody Allen‘s A Rainy Day in New York being offered a slot at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

They dismissed this because “it would make for an awkward red carpet, given that some actors from the film” — Timothee Chalamet for one — “have donated their wages to various [#TimesUp-related] movements.”

At the end of my piece I asked Tartaglione and Andreas Wiseman “why so dimissive?” They acknowledged in their article that Cannes topper Thierry Fremaux “has historically maintained that he chooses films based on merit,” but then they turned around and derided the Rainy Day possibility over a relatively minor red-carpet attendance issue. “Where is the merit in that consideration?,” I asked. “Is this festival about artistic integrity or isn’t it?”

Elle Fanning, Woody Allen during filming of A Rainy Day in New York.

Soon after posting HE reader Zach Heltzel reminded that “red-carpet starfucking is definitely a factor for Fremaux.”

“Of course glamour and flashbulbs are a consideration,” I replied, “but the Woody Allen thing feels like a matter of honor and merit and integrity.

“Thierry has invited Woody to Cannes seven times (Hollywood Ending, Match Point, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Irrational Man, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, Midnight in Paris, Cafe Society) over the last 16 years. He’s been a staunch admirer and supporter of the man. Presuming that Amazon won’t be blocking a potential screening of Rainy Day in New York by withholding the DCP, it would be reprehensible to abandon Allen in this, his darkest hour since the early ‘90s, especially with Amazon presumably inclined to either dump A Rainy Day in New York or give it some kind of bum’s-rush, straight-to-streaming release.

“If Cannes is about cinematic merit first and foremost and A Rainy Day in New York is at least as good as the weakest Allen films that have premiered in Cannes (Hollywood Ending, Irrational Man, You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger), it seems to me, given Fremaux’s steadfast relationship with Allen over the last decade-plus, that he’s honor-bound to offer him a festival slot for A Rainy Day in New York.

“Because at the end of the day and given the facts throwing shadow upon the 26-year-old allegations against Allen in the matter of Dylan Farrow, there is no alternative but to conclude that the bulk of the evidence indicates that Allen is not guilty of immoral or criminal behavior. At best the issue is one of serious uncertainty and ambiguity.”