Louis CK premieres his secret Woody Allen-esque film

Louis C.K. debuted a film that he had made in secret at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday.

The film, ‘I Love You, Daddy,’ is ‘a very Woody Allen-esque comedy that simultaneously comments on Allen, and C.K.’s, controversies,’ according to the Associated Press. 

Both Allen and C.K. have been accused of sexual misconduct. In neither case have such allegations been proven.

C.K., 49, financed its production himself and shot it in black-and-white and on 35mm. Little was known about it before it premiered Saturday.

The New York-set film takes certain plot cues from Allen’s 1979 film ‘Manhattan’, yet it also includes a character that the cast on Saturday acknowledged was modeled after Allen. 

John Malkovich, 63, plays a legendary film director who is rumored to have molested a young girl decades earlier.

Meanwhile C.K. plays a successful TV producer whose 17-year-old daughter, played by Chloe Grace Moretz, begins a relationship with Malkovich’s aged director. It spawns a kind of crisis for C.K.’s character, who has his own issues with how he treats women.

At the premiere, C.K. – who co-starred in Allen’s 2013 film ‘Blue Jasmine’ – said he and co-writer Vernon Chatman wanted to make a movie about beloved artists who are trailed by murmurs of scandal.

Pictured, from left to right, are some of the film’s stars: Pamela Adlon, Charlie Day, C.K., Edie Falco, John Malkovich and Ebonee Noel. The film stars Malkovich, 63, as a legendary film director who is rumored to have molested a young girl decades earlier.

Also in the film, Malkovich’s character pursues a relationship with the 17-year-old daughter of Louis C.K.’s character. The daughter is portrayed by Chloe Grace Moretz (pictured left). Pictured at right is Rose Byrne, who is also in the film

Woody Allen, 81, is pictured at the American Film Institute’s 45th Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute to Diane Keaton in June 2017. C.K.’s film is believed to have been inspired by Allen’s 1979 film, ‘Manhattan,’ and is also believed to take some cues from Allen’s personal life

‘Vernon and I were talking about the fascination with people that there’s these stories about and stuff – people that you love in their work,’ C.K. told the audience after the screening.

Regarding Malkovich’s character’s relationship with Moretz’s, C.K. told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘We’re at the bleeding edge of “That’s not OK to do now,” but those people are still around.’

He added: ‘That’s a very interesting line to be on. But there’s a lot of people like that. [In other ways], this character is nothing like Woody. He’s an eccentric. He’s a very harsh dude. And he’s not self-aware.’

The film also features white characters using the n-word, characters using the r-word and child rape jokes. The context of these jokes within the film’s plot is not known.

Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow had a 12-year relationship, from roughly 1980 to 1992, that ended after he had an affair with Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years younger than him. In 1997 Allen, now 81, and Previn, now 46, were married.

Allen’s 1979 film, ‘Manhattan,’ details a love affair between Allen’s 42-year-old character and a 17-year-old character played by Mariel Hemingway.

Allen has been accused of sexual assault by his adopted daughter, Dylan. The allegations first came to light in 1993 and resurfaced after her account of the alleged assault was published by the New York Times.

She wrote: ‘When I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies.’

Woody Allen has denied the alleged assault and has not been prosecuted for them.

Pictured are Woody Allen and Diane Keaton on the set of his 1979 film, ‘Manhattan’

Kate Winslet, who recently worked with Allen on the film Wonder Wheel, told the New York Times last week: ‘I didn’t know Woody and I don’t know anything about that family. As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don’t know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false. Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person. Woody Allen is an incredible director.’

But some might also see ‘I Love You, Daddy,’ as C.K.’s response to his own controversies.

Allegations of sexual misconduct have dogged C.K. since March 2012, when Gawker published an article: ‘Which Beloved Comedian Likes to Force Female Comics to Watch Him Jerk Off?’ The article described an incident in which C.K. allegedly forced two female comedians to watch him masturbate in an Aspen hotel room.

The article, while not naming C.K. directly, was widely concluded to have been about his alleged conduct.

The now-defunct website published another article in 2015 that detailed other instances of alleged misconduct, including an instance where he grabbed a female comedian by the neck and whispered: ‘I’m going to f*** you.’

Pictured is a still from C.K.’s film, ‘I Love You, Daddy.’ The film, like Allen’s ‘Manhattan,’ was shot in black-and-white. Regarding his motives for making the film, C.K. said: ‘It’s just a f****** movie.’ Anonymous reports allege that C.K. has masturbated in front of women without their consent

Comedian Roseanne Barr told The Daily Beast in 2016 that while she did not have ‘first hand knowledge’ of the allegations.

Though she added: ‘It’s Louis C.K., locking the door and masturbating in front of women comics and writers. I can’t tell you—I’ve heard so many stories.’

 C.K. dismissed the allegations, which have not been publicly brought forward, in a 2016 interview with Vulture.

Tig Notaro, a comedian who created and stars in the Amazon TV series ‘One Mississippi,’ has called on C.K. to address sexual misconduct allegations against him. He has dismissed the claims

He said: ‘I don’t care about that. That’s nothing to me. That’s not real.’

Tig Notaro, a comedian who created and stars in the television show One Mississippi, has called out C.K. over his alleged misconduct.

She told The Daily Beast last month: ‘I think it’s important to take care of that, to handle that, because it’s serious to be assaulted.’

She added: ‘You just hear from people left and right of what some big-shot comedian or person has done. People just excuse it.’

C.K. serves as an executive producer on Notaro’s television show, but Notaro has stated that they have not spoken for almost two years.

A scene from her show’s second season, which just debuted on Amazon, details an event similar to one of the allegations against C.K.

The scene features a male boss played by Timm Sharp masturbating under his desk in the presence of an appalled female subordinate played by Stephanie Allynne. Notaro has not publicly stated whether the scene was inspired by C.K.’s alleged action.

Early reviews of ‘I Love You, Daddy’ have been highly positive and have noted its parallels with aspects of Allen’s life.

In the recently released second season of Notaro’s show, a scene shows a man played by Timm Sharp (right) masturbating under his desk in the presence of an appalled female subordinate played by Stephanie Allynne (left)

The Guardian gave the film four of five stars and deemed it ‘a very funny and recklessly provocative homage to Woody Allen, channeling his masterpiece “Manhattan” and brilliantly finding a fictional way to tackle his personal reputation head-on’.

Regarding the film’s secret production, C.K. told the audience at TIFF: ‘I just didn’t tell anybody we were making it. If you don’t tell anybody, nobody cares what you’re doing.’

He added: ‘Once you ask for money, then it gets around. But I was just making it on my own dime. I always figure I part with the money. It’s gone. So if it ever comes back, I’m OK with it.’

C.K. said he was able to pay for the film with profits from ‘Horace and Pete,’ the TV series he also self-funded and distributed on his own.

Discussing his motives for making the film, C.K. told the Hollywood Reporter: ‘It’s just a f****** movie.’

‘I don’t know that we had a conversation about, necessarily, why he wanted to do it,’ Malkovich said. ‘But it’s not the kind of thing I would ask.’

The film also stars Charlie Day, Edie Falco, Rose Byrne and Helen Hunt. It does not yet have a release date but multiple buyers at TIFF have expressed an interest in it.