Disgraced filmmaker Woody Allen likened the late Jeffrey Epstein to Dracula and recalled Epstein’s New York City home filled “often by several young women” in a letter the Manhattan director wrote to the late financier and convicted sex offender for his 63rd birthday in 2016.
The letter, a photocopy of which was included in a recent New York Times story about Epstein’s Upper East Side townhome, recounted dinner parties that Allen and wife Soon-Yi Previn attended as neighbors. Allen said the home reminded him of “Castle Dracula where (Bela) Lugosi has three young female vampires who service the place. Add to this that Jeffrey lives in a vast house alone, one can picture him sleeping in damp earth.”
The parties Allen mentioned were also attended by “politicians, scientists, teachers, magicians, comedians, intellectuals, journalists, an entymologist, a concert pianist,” the filmmaker added. Nearly six years after Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, the disgraced billionaire is back in the headlines amid mounting pressure for the Trump administration to release the so-called Epstein files.
On July 17, the Wall Street Journal first revealed a birthday letter book compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein containing messages from Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, fashion designer Vera Wang and billionaire Leon Black, among others. Trump then filed a $10 billion lawsuit against News Corp. for defamation and named former ally Rupert Murdoch in the complaint.
The 2016 birthday letter from Allen made public by the Times will inevitably be seen against the background of Allen’s sullied reputation after resurfaced allegations of sexual abuse from his adopted stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow.
The four-part HBO Allen v. Farrow docuseries featured Mia Farrow speaking publicly for the first time in decades about Allan, her former partner and collaborator, and the sexual abuse allegations that have long been leveled at him by Dylan Farrow, who also appeared in the documentary.
Allen has denied the accusations and was not charged by the Connecticut state’s attorney following a 1993 investigation.