THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170025
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long : 200 lines
``I've a very pessimistic view of life. I feel that life is divided up between the horrible and the miserable. The horrible would be like terminal cases and blind people, crippled. . . . And the miserable is everyone else. That's all. So, when you go through life, you should be grateful that you're miserable.''
Woody Allen in ``Annie Hall''
FOR A MAN who has been through two years of self-described hell, Woody Allen looked surprisingly chipper. Entering Manhattan's Regency Hotel, he even did something he rarely does - on screen or off.
He smiled.
If not a new Woody Allen, this is a more focused one. His film ``Bullets Over Broadway'' opens Friday. No, it's not about his court battles with ex-lover Mia Farrow; it's a comedy about theater folk during the Roaring '20s.
``It's not a different start,'' said Letty Aronson, his sister and co-producer, ``just a fresh start.''
AN INTERVIEW WITH ALLEN is rare. This one came about after his publicists saw a profile of Farrow that ran in The Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star earlier this year, and urged him to talk. The last time we spoke was in 1975 and Allen was his usual self: nervously awaiting the start of a press conference for ``Love and Death,'' his spoof of Russian literature.
Outside the room, he asked me the names of the writers in the front row. ``That one looks mean,'' Allen said, peeping through the door.
Finally, he told a publicist that he wasn't going in - it ``just isn't worth it.'' The studio reps came rushing over in a panic, asking me, ``What did you tell Woody?'' Eventually, he went ahead, but only after getting a list of each reporter and his or her newspaper.
``It wasn't fair for them to know me and I don't know them,'' Allen said.
When I told him how much I liked ``Love and Death,'' he quizzed me on which Russian novels I had read. ``Even if you liked it, I'll bet you go back and write a bad review of it. Everyone does.'' To the contrary, critics have been calling him America's comic genius for three decades now.
Today, Allen is no less paranoid. After all, his self-effacing, literate humor is self-defining: social misfit, romantic disaster.
``But I'm not a workaholic,'' Allen said as he sat down. ``Most people think I am. I just work at a natural speed.'' The most prolific director in the industry, he has turned out at least one film a year since the early '70s.
``Bullets Over Broadway'' has an all-star cast that includes Dianne Wiest as a fading alcoholic Broadway legend; John Cusack as a nebbish, novice playwright; Jennifer Tilly as a gangster's moll who is cast in the play, and Chazz Palminteri as her gun-toting bodyguard who turns out to be better at rewriting the play than the pros.
``I grew up wanting to be on Broadway,'' Allen said. ``Movies were not my ambition. Tennessee Williams and Garson Kanin were the writers I most admired. I love everything that the theater represents. I love the hours. They come in, do the show, hobnob with their friends and then all go home to apartments on the east side of New York.
``The idea of going somewhere and putting on a show is, you know, very appealing - not like making a movie.''
Not that the latter is without its plus side.
``I've never had to compromise in order to get a movie made,'' Allen said. ``The studios leave me alone. It's a wonderful thing to be left alone.
``I haven't gotten rich through the years, and I hope Miss Farrow realizes that. I never take a salary. I only get money if the movie makes money. My movies make a certain amount, but no more. Sure, I'd like to have a runaway commercial hit, like `Cannonball Run' or something, someday. It would be great. I'm not purposefully making movies for a limited audience.
``I've made 24 movies (26 with the new one), and I don't think I've made anything near a great one yet. I'd like to, maybe, make two really great movies. My favorites are things like `The Bicycle Thief' and `Rashomon' and `Potemkin.' ''
He collaborated with Douglas McGrath on the ``Bullets'' script. ``I find it very lonely to write,'' Allen said. ``I write longhand and with a little typewriter. I can type fast, but I've never figured out how to use a computer.
``I have a drawer full of material. I write lines. Later, I go to the drawer and try to put them together as a script. A line here and a line there.''
FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, Allen fell in love with the actress Mia Farrow, former wife of Frank Sinatra and conductor Andre Previn. She starred in his next 13 movies, and she adopted children, totaling 13 at one time. They never married nor actually lived together; they had apartments on opposite sides of Central Park. In 1987, they had a son, Satchel.
The public furor erupted when it was revealed that Allen was in love with Soon-Yi Previn, Farrow's 21-year-old adopted daughter. Farrow also claimed he molested Dylan, their 9-year-old adopted daughter. The charges have been dropped, although he is not allowed to visit the child.
He can visit Satchel, but for only six hours each week. Farrow, however, has moved to Connecticut and won't allow Allen on her property. She also has changed the boy's name to Seamus.
Allen prefers not to talk about the crisis, which is still in litigation. He does, however, say he made a mistake, but that the public was unjust in concluding that he was married to Farrow and dating their daughter. He told Time magazine simply, ``The heart wants what it wants.'' Soon-Yi is now 24 and a senior at Drew University in New Jersey.
``I didn't, or couldn't, take all the nonsense and craziness seriously,'' Allen said. ``The lawyers had to deal with all that. These were forces that were pulling, pulling, but the work is a separate world. It has to be separate.
``The threat of not seeing my children is traumatic, but when it comes to work, that's another world. In the past year or so, it's a better world.''
``Woody is able to separate this horrible publicity from his work because he is very disciplined,'' said his sister, Letty Aronson. ``Creators create. Most artists are very focused. Any artist keeps doing the work. He has people to do things for him. His private life is separate.''
Told that some irate former fans have said they will never go to a Woody Allen movie again, she said, ``That would be their loss. Would they refuse to look at a Picasso painting because they disapproved of Picasso's private life?''
AT 58, ALLEN'S freckles have faded. His red hair is now gray, and mostly missing. He wears a polo shirt, jeans and tennis shoes for the interview.
Concerning the press barrage, he says, ``It's better now. There was a time I couldn't leave the apartment. Now, they aren't there. I still look out, though, before emerging. The effect, the fear, I suspect, will be permanent - with me for the rest of my life.''
Even during the most heated days of the scandal, he still made his Monday-night appearances at Michael's Pub on 59th Street to play clarinet with the house band.
``Thank God for Woody,'' said Dianne Wiest, who won an Academy Award for her performance in Allen's 1986 film, ``Hannah and Her Sisters.'' ``There is no one else like him. He allows the actors to use their own ideas. He writes these impeccable, perfect, scripts and then he tells the actors that they can improvise - change the worlds if they want.
``His wit, his humor, his view of life is unique. He has terminal shyness, but he gets a feeling for people. The man has been through a tragedy. No goodwill come out of any of this.''
She got the role of the fading diva in ``Bullets'' simply by phoning him and telling him she wanted a role in his next movie. Allen told her, ``I haven't written it yet, but it will be for you.''
John Cusack nervously admits that his role - the young playwright who fights against selling out - is Allen himself.
``Woody would play the scene out for me,'' Cusack said. ``It was very intimidating, and embarrassing. Here I am having to follow the world's greatest comedy actor and find something in it from myself. I didn't want the role to just be a Woody clone.''
The irony, and perhaps trouble, with Allen's current public image is that he has always been perceived as the victim of social forces beyond his control. After so many semi-autobiographical movies, maybe his fans felt betrayed. The working Woody Allen, though, is another force.
Rushing out, he is already one movie ahead of his fans. Even as ``Bullets Over Broadway'' opens, he's at work on a new comedy that stars, among others, Helena Bonham Carter.
Typically, it has no title and he can say nothing about its plot.
People around the world like to see Woody Allen as a loser. His weaknesses are his strengths. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MIAMAX FILMS
Jennifer Tilly is part of an all-star cast in ``Bullets Over
Broadway.'' Allen, who directs the movie, has turned out one film
per year since the '70s.
Color photo
Dianne Wiest is a fading theater legend and John Cusack is a novice
playwright in ``Bullets,'' opening Friday in area theaters.
THE FILMS OF WOODY ALLEN
``What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' 1966
``Take the Money and Run'' 1969
``Bananas'' 1971
``Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid
to Ask)'' 1972
``Play It Again, Sam'' 1972 (star)
``Sleeper'' 1973
``Love and Death'' 1975
``The Front'' 1976
``Annie Hall'' 1977
``Interiors'' 1978
``Manhattan'' 1979
``Stardust Memories'' 1980
``A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'' 1982
``Zelig'' 1983
``Broadway Danny Rose'' 1984
``The Purple Rose of Cairo''1985
``Hannah and Her Sisters'' 1986
``Radio Days'' 1987
``September'' 1987
``Another Woman'' 1988
``New York Stories'' (``Oedipus Wrecks'') 1989
``Crimes & Misdemeanors'' 1989
``Alice'' 1990
``Scenes from a Mall'' 1991 (star)
``Shadows and Fog'' 1992
``Husbands and Wives'' 1992
``Manhattan Murder Mystery'' 1993
``Bullets Over Broadway'' 1994
KEYWORDS: PROFILE
by CNB