TCA: Producer of New Woody Allen Doc Talks About Filmmaker Hitting The Top At 75

COMMENTS (26)

• The two important American directors in the second half of the twentieth century: Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick. Weide’s doc on Mort Sahl was superb. Can’t wait to see four hours on Allen.

  Comment by Zeke Steiner — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 2:45pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Absurd. Neither director has done films as profound as THE GODFATHER and RAGING BULL.

    Comment by ari — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 4:42pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Both based on books. (Whereas the Wood-man’s stuff, with the exception of EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, all originated in his own imagination.)

      Comment by Taffin — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 5:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • No matter, none of Allen’s work comes up to the level of those two despite any ‘originality.’ All of Kubrick’s later films were based on novels. A critic once remarked “Your work is both brilliant and original. Unfortunately, that which is brilliant is not original and that which is original is not brilliant.” Originality is not necessarily criteria for excellence. Shakespeare’s work was influenced by many diverse sources. That is why there is some controversy whether he actually wrote all, some, or none of them. Coppola and Scorsese changed the source material so radically that they are almost unrecognizable. Both films set new standards of drama and technique. That is not to ignore their other works, TAXI DRIVER, THE CONVERSATION, GODFATHER II. If any two filmmakers are to be singled out as the ‘two important directors’ I think it should be them.

        Comment by ari — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 7:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • I’d point out that in the case of Taxi Driver, the brilliance lies in the script as well as the film, which Scorcese didn’t write. Allen writes ALL of his movies, some of them brilliant, so as much as I love Scorcese’s work, I’d have to give the nod to Allen. On top of that, he’s an excellent musician.

          Comment by joe — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:22pm PDT  

• What has to be done to have smart writers stop with the absurd notion that Woody Allen is “at the top” at the moment? Do facts have meaning anymore?

  Midnight in Paris will gross about $50 million in the US. But the film cost its producers $30 million.

  Annie Hall and Manhattan both grossed around $40 million, but they each cost under $4 million.

  Let’s put it this way:

  Is a San Bernadino tract house that sold this year for $250,000 a better house than a Westwood 4 bedroom-3 bath that sold for $225,000 in 1977, even though the latter sold in 2010 for $1 million?

  That’s the sort of logic that’s in play proclaiming Midnight in Paris as his biggest hit. And it’s nonsense.

  Comment by hopeless pedant — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 3:22pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Let’s put this in perspective. When Annie Hall and Manhattan made all of that money, small, intimate films were much more accepted in the moviegoing and Hollywood communities. For Midnight in Paris to make 90 mil worldwide — 50 here — is an AMAZING feat in this era of comic book heroes, reboots of crappy TV shows and testosterone fueled action flicks.

    So, yeah, I’d say it’s probably his biggest success.

    Comment by joe — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Too bad he peaked creatively with “Annie Hall.”

  Feel bad for Hemingway… what a crap question to ask her. Of course she’s not going to say “he’s a total perv and still gives me the creeps years later,” so what were they expecting?

  Comment by Cash — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 3:24pm PDT  Reply to this post

• He didn’t peak with Annie Hall. Annie Hall was A PEAK. But in a career that includes:
  Manhattan,
  Bananas,
  Sleepers,
  Stardust Memories,
  Zelig,
  Purple Rose of Cairo,
  Hannah and her Sisters,
  Crimes and Misdemeanors,
  Everyone Says I Love You,
  Deconstructing Harry,
  Sweet and Low Down,
  Match Point,
  Vicki Christina Barcelona
  and Midnight in Paris

  And those are just the ones I’ve seen and loved. Sorry if 15 master works aren’t good enough for you.

  Comment by Tawdry Hepburn — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 3:59pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Master works? Pft.. seriously? Hannah and her Sisters wasn’t so bad, but as for the rest, ugh. He might be the toast of NYC, but everywhere else the dude is a creepy, daughter-f*cking perv who doesn’t deserve a tenth of the acclaim he’s been showered with. I’m glad he’s “painfully shy,” as that’s a clear indicator that whatever is left of his conscience has constructed a personal hell, terrified of his own dark shadow, and the threat of one day being exposed by the community he holds so dear as the sick fraud he really is.

    Don’t let me damper your hero worship though. I hear that Casey Anthony is a skilled dancer too… maybe you should sponsor her career as a performance artist.

    Comment by Measure of a Straw Man — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 12:05am PDT  Reply to this post

    • Don’t distort the truth. He didn’t fuck his daughter. Ridiculous.

      But that aside, every film listed above WAS brilliant. Maybe if he’d added a few gunfights and explosions you’d find them more acceptable.

      Comment by joe — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:29pm PDT  Reply to this post

• He is not a ‘total perv’. I met him as a young woman before the scandal and he was very nice. Later, I often saw him in the neighborhood with his young daughters. His marriage has lasted far longer than many others in Hollywood. It had unfortunate beginnings,but it is really love. And that ain’t nothing.

  Comment by Diane — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 4:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • “Unfortunate beginnings”???
    That’s the damnedest euphemism for incest I’ve ever heard.

    And don’t give me that rationalization that they weren’t really blood – she knew him as her father. You probably think it’s okay what Polanski did, too, because he’s a great director and the victim says everything’s cool now.

    Comment by Donna — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 5:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Diane is correct the relationship had an unfortunate inception but that’s all. She did not know him as her father, that’s a media canard that you’ve accepted.

      Comment by Andrew — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 5:39pm PDT  Reply to this post

      • Funny that “canard” is echoed by everyone around the couple who saw Allen parenting the child. Keep making excuses for an “artistic” perverted criminal.

        Comment by Donna — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 5:03pm PDT  Reply to this post

        • She wasn’t his daughter, Donna, so how can it be incest. Reports say he never parented the child. Farrow lived in a separate apartment. Do I think it’s a little sick? Yes. But the two seem very happy together, so who am I to judge?

          And who are you to mischaracterize with words like incest?

          Comment by WTF Donna — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:32pm PDT  

• Is Mr. Allen’s credit as screenwriter for some 45 full-length features a record? I wonder which writers have had more of their scripts produced…

  Comment by Charles Grossman — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 4:32pm PDT  Reply to this post

• paris is going to make at least 120 million worldwide… it’s already at 80 and has most of the world left to open in including italy, uk, germany, australia, etc… vicky cristina made 96 and in most markets it has opened in… paris has done better… most notably here

  in brazil vicky cristina made 2.5 million… but paris has made 7 so far

  i find the controversy thing funny… there’s so much misinformation out there… some people believe he actually married his daughter… at this point his wife is 40, they have 2 kids and been married 13 years together 20… there’s a point where people have to let things go… but it’s still a reasonable question if you are examining his career

  Comment by Anonymous — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 4:33pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Mia Farrow and Woody Allen never set up house together when they were a couple – she lived UWS, he lived UES. Obviously the cohabitaed for some nights, but the idea that he was established as her stepfather is not true.

  Comment by hopeless pedant — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 5:21pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Still creepy.

    Comment by Lionel — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 8:08am PDT  Reply to this post

• Woody is one of the great geniuses of American film and in comparing him to Spielberg or Scorsese or others one has to make a HUGE distinction. Woody WROTE all those movies!! It’s like comparing the Beatles to Elvis, the distinction is the Beatles wrote all those songs, didn’t just record them. All that said, and with the greatest respect and affection for the man’s work it’s just plain silly to say Woody is hotter than ever. The period from 1977-86 when he came out with Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters and the minor gems Broadway Danny Rose and Purple Rose of Cairo was certainly his creative and commercial peak. To suggest that Midnight in Paris– because it will make a few million more that Annie Hall or Manhattan in 2011 dollars is simply nonsense. Vicky, Match Point and Midnight are vastly superior to nearly all American movies being made, but they are not in the same league as his true masterpieces. Can’t wait for the documentary!!

  Comment by Alex — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 6:23pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “Hopeless pedant” keeps getting it wrong. Yes, Midnight in Paris will make at least $50 million in the US, and, yes, it cost $30 million to make, but Sony Pictures Classics DID NOT finance the film. They simply paid for the distribution rights in North America, which cost about $7 million.

  So they’re laughing.

  The Spain-based Mediapro provided the budget – they’re in the middle of a 3-picture deal with Woody – and considering it’s already made $83 million worldwide from just 9 countries, I reckon they’re laughing too.

  Comment by Fielding — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 6:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

• American comedy lost a great director/writer/actor when Mr. Woody went over to the dark side and began channeling Swedish directors who only 1 percent of the film going audience have ever heard of. But I will admit, Mr. Woody has been making the same film for the last 40 years and still finds someone who will finance it and release it. Amazing.

  Comment by RPF — Sunday July 31, 2011 @ 9:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Anything Woody is always amazing, can’t wait to check this out

  Comment by OST — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 6:18am PDT  Reply to this post

• I think that Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen’s careers match up nicely.

  Still think a Woody Allen Joke from the Sixties would have been “Have you seen the latest Japanense Language Film directed by Clint Eastwood?”

  Would like to see them act in a movie together.

  Comment by Pete Medina — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:29am PDT  Reply to this post

• dude deconstructing harry… masterpiece

  Comment by dude — Monday August 1, 2011 @ 7:32pm PDT  Reply to this post