'Allen v. Farrow' Filmmakers Respond to Woody Allen and Detail the 'Hard' Process of Interviewing Mia Farrow

Woody Allen and Mia Farrow's relationship and the aftermath of their explosive split was dissected in HBO's acclaimed docuseries Allen v. Farrow, which concluded its four-episode run on Sunday.

Over the course of its four hours, directors Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (On the Record, The Hunting Ground), along with producer Amy Herdy, detailed the happy times Allen and Mia spent together as their careers skyrocketed in the '70s before getting to Allen's revelation of his affair with one of Mia's adopted daughters, Soon-Yi Previn, who he'd later go on to marry.

Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Mia and then-boyfriend Allen, also featured prominently in the series, accusing Allen of sexually abusing her as a child. The director has long denied the allegation, which was first reported during his explosive 1992 split from Mia. Allen was not charged, though a Connecticut prosecutor said there was probable cause for a criminal case.

Below, Dick, Ziering and Herdy reveal how they got Dylan and Mia to participate in the series, and respond to Allen and Soon-Yi slamming the documentary as "a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods."

PEOPLE: What was the process like of getting Dylan on board with the making of the series?

Amy Herdy: She made a point of letting me know that she was going to be watching our previous films and weighing her decision carefully. And Ronan [Farrow], her brother, advised her not to do the interview because he was worried that it would just bring up a lot of trauma for her and make her life more difficult, and that participating in a documentary would lead her open to attack again from all the haters that were out there, the trolls. He didn't want her life to be more difficult. So, we were up against a lot, and it took her several weeks to decide.

Was getting Mia to participate less difficult?

Amy Herdy: With Mia, that was a very different experience because it took several months to convince Mia to do an interview. And really, Mia only did the interview and made it very clear that she only did an interview because her daughter asked her to.

How was interviewing Mia?

Amy Ziering: It was extremely hard. It was hard on her, and it was complicated for all of us. At first she was like, "No, absolutely not. I'm not going to be in the documentary. I'll support it, and you can look at my own videos, and I will answer questions privately, but I'm not going to go on camera."

After a very long time and process, Dylan said, "Please, Mom. I think this will be okay, and I think that your testimony will really help shed light on mine, and would you do this as a favor for me?"

Mia showed up, but it was not something she at all, even when she was showed up, was eager to do. We always ask people to bring a change of several different wardrobe items so we can just see how they look in the environment, and she came with nothing. She brought no wardrobe, and she was wearing a black sweatshirt, and that wasn't ideal. I thought that was interesting, that that's someone who really is consciously and unconsciously signaling that this isn't something they're really terribly comfortable or eager to be doing. So, I ended up giving her my blouse and doing the interview borrowing a t-shirt from a crew member and doing the interview.

And I noticed that throughout, that her discomfort was palpable, and rightfully so. As you watch the series and see, this is a woman who, every time she spoke, it got very twisted and contorted in the media and in the web of the public narrative, and she paid up a dear price for those misrepresentations. And so, she just was rightfully suspicious and rightfully careful. It was an emotionally fraught situation, but I'm grateful that she had the courage and temerity and strength to actually follow through and to speak with a candor and lucidity that she did, and it's a real testament to her character. Having lived with this material and lived with what she's been through, I don't know how many people would be able to do what she did throughout, and what she did by just showing up for this interview.

What did Mia and Dylan make of the series when they sat down to watch it?

Amy Ziering: When it was finished and fully realized, which is very close to the end of our process, we always show it to the principals, and we did the same in this case. They all responded. They just said, "Okay," and that was that.

When we offered for Mia to watch this series, she didn't want to see it at first. She was just like, "I trust your process from what I've seen. You have integrity." But from what I understand, she was very gratified with how the true story was represented and the facts were relayed.

Woody and Soon-Yi blasted the series after its premiere, calling it a "hatchet job" and claiming they were approached by your team "less than two months" before the series debuted, and given only a matter of days to respond. What's your response to them?

Kirby Dick: We gave him two weeks to decide to be a part of the documentary and a part of the series, and we would have loved to hear his voice and loved to hear his perspective. We certainly would have incorporated it extensively if he had chosen to participate.

Amy Ziering: We gave him two weeks to just start the discussion of when we could and should start filming, so it's a little bit of a misrepresentation to say he was only given two weeks. If he had responded affirmatively, we would have adjusted all schedules accordingly and done everything to talk with him, and would have really, really welcomed that.

The same time that [Herdy] reached out to Dylan, we reached out to him because he had announced himself to be a poster boy for the Me Too Movement and we were very interested in that perspective. So, we reached out to him then, and reached out to Dylan concomitantly. Dylan responded affirmatively, and we did not hear back from him then.

We reached out to him again multiple times to see if he wanted to speak with us, and we would have adjusted our production schedule accordingly, if he'd asked.

Does their statement surprise you?

Kirby Dick: It's consistent with the way he's responded to this case over three decades, so it doesn't certainly doesn't surprise us.

Amy Ziering: This series is based on documents and facts, records that are irrefutable. To allege that it is rife with errors, I would love to see what he thinks are errors because it's based on facts, and documents, and police reports.

Amy Herdy: … And corroborated testimony. And so, I think if you're going to call something a hatchet job, you should watch all four episodes and come back with specifics, which we'd welcome hearing.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.