THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 9, 1995 TAG: 9511090011
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 175 lines
``WE ARE ALL TORN between reality and fantasy,'' Woody Allen was saying as he sat in the Righa Royal Hotel, just off the Broadway area of the New York City that he so loves.
``It's much more pleasurable to be in a fantasy, but, in the final analysis, we have to choose reality - or we go crazy.''
``Then,'' he sighed, ``reality punishes us.''
Woody Allen, looking pale and pretty much the age 60 that he will reach in a few weeks, is once again playing the role his fans so love for him to play - a put-upon social misfit valiantly fighting back at all the indignities that life inflicts upon him.
His latest effort is ``Mighty Aphrodite,'' a comedy in which he plays a sportswriter who is married to Helena Bonham Carter. With their marriage in something of the dullards, she suggests that they adopt a child.
The audience roars with laughter.
The reason for the laughter has more to do with troublesome reality than the on-screen story. It has been three years since his long-time live-in mate, Mia Farrow, left in a noisy huff when he admitted that he was in love with her adopted, college-age daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
``Mighty Aphrodite'' chronicles what happens after the couple adopts a 5-year-old son, Max, and begin wondering about his real mother. Seeking her out, Woody finds that the woman (played by Mira Sorvino) is a prostitute. He undertakes to set her up with a dumb boxer, but his match-making expertise is faulty. Comment is supplied by a makeshift Greek chorus.
Allen is in a rare candid mood at the Sunday afternoon interview. Finally loosening up to talk about ``Bullets Over Broadway'' a year ago, he now seems to actually be almost at ease.
And, yes, Woody Allen offscreen is exactly what Woody Allen is on screen - insecure to the extreme, but also genius to the extreme.
Was the basic idea for ``Mighty Aphrodite'' always that it would be a Greek tragedy with a happy ending?
It turned out that way. Films go where they want to go. I have no control. The idea stemmed from my adoptive daughter (Dylan, now age 10), who is so charming, so bright, so wonderful. She must have had wonderful parents, but we don't know.
That seemed to be a good idea for a story. The marriage wasn't going so well, so this couple adopts. He sets out to find the real mother. The more he finds out, the worse she becomes. It leads to a form of a happy ending. He has her child and she has. . . , well, it's a form of happy ending.
What about the sexuality of the film?
I'm happy with it myself. The mother, when he finds her, is a foul-mouthed hooker - the height of vulgarity. His reactions? Well, I play the part and it's a part I can play. All my actors never have to act silly. If they are credible and believable, they will appear funny.
Did you consider Jennifer Tilly for the role of the hooker? She was so good in a similar role in your ``Bullets Over Broadway''?
I think she might be a little old for the part. Besides, I didn't want to use Jennifer twice in a row. Jennifer is so great at improvising that I'm sure I'll use her again. But I cast Mira Sorvino in the part and it's one of the three lucky castings of my movie life. Mira is very bright. It was important that the character be sympathetic, and Mira brought that to it.
The other lucky choices were Jennifer in ``Bullets Over Broadway'' and Mia in ``Broadway Danny Rose.'' Mia was wonderful in that. She played a really dumb woman, but she brought an elegant dimension to it. Mia is elegant and refined and that played against the character. It worked.
Would you ever search for the mother of your own adopted children, as you do in the movie?
I wouldn't know how to begin. The thought has run through my mind. You do wonder.
As an actor, do you ever worry about repeating yourself?
Oh, I do repeat myself. I'm limited. I can only play one thing. The only solution is for me not to be in every movie I make. The closest I ever came to playing a real character, a character outside myself, was in ``Broadway Danny Rose.'' I did the best I could.
I think I can write decently and I'm a good director of my own material. I've only played a few roles I didn't write.
Speaking of a role you didn't write, aren't you doing ``The Sunshine Boys'' on television soon?
Yes. I always wanted to work in a Neil Simon work - and I also always wanted to work with Peter Falk. I get both those wishes with this one. It's great to do a guy's script by someone who really knows how to write jokes. I did the best I could, but I'm still myself. Essentially, I can play only myself. (As youngsters, both Allen and Neil Simon were writers for the early TV show ``Your Show of Shows,'' starring Sid Caesar.)
Was it different not being in charge? On ``The Sunshine Boys,'' you didn't direct.
Yes, it was different. It was pleasant enough. I am respectful of the people with whom I work, but I would have done it differently. I shot ``Don't Drink the Water'' for TV a season ago and I did it just the way I do movies. Here, they shot it as if it were a TV show. Every scene seems like a scene in a play.
Do you have a great love for performing?
I have no great urge to perform. I'd be happy to just direct and write, but sometimes it is demanded that I be in the films. My name means nothing at the box office in America. It does mean something, though, in Europe. Only a small minority see my films in America.
You have often been quoted as saying you never made a great movie. Yet, ``Annie Hall'' won an Oscar and the others have been highly praised. Are all the critics wrong about you?
My idea of great movies are ``Citizen Kane,'' ``The Seventh Seal,'' ``Grand Illusion'' and ``The Bicycle Thief.'' I've never made a film in that class. I think of something like ``Rashomon'' as great. The films I grew up on were pleasant. I'm not ashamed of the films I've made. I'll be 60 in December and I'm confident with the limitations I have. I'm limited only by my limitations.
It helps to have a good insight on life, some depth, some real profundities. I feel I have that ability, but the problem is getting it up on the screen. Having the vision is one thing. Making it visual is another. Telling just an ironic story - Chekhov, that kind of story - would be fun.
What is the message of ``Mighty Aphrodite?''
It's just an ironic little experience. It's less in scope than some.
How does it work when you co-write a script with someone else? Is that a different adjustment?
I have made 25 movies in my life and I've had a co-writer for six or seven of them. I get lonely. You get to the point you want to spend some time with a friend or someone. We walk around the city, and talk, and from that comes a script.
Everyone thinks that your films reflect your own life? Is this true?
No, it's not true. My films are not autobiographical at all. Since everything hit the fan a few years ago, everyone has been analyzing me through the films, but my work is all over the place. There is no correlation. The movies are just made up completely. People think they are reflective but, for example, in ``Annie Hall,'' I did not grow up on Coney Island. I grew up in Brooklyn. I did not meet Diane Keaton that way. We did not break up in that way. Even when I made ``Manhattan Murder Mystery,'' people tried to read something into it. I just wanted to make an old-fashioned murder mystery. These films are not me. I tell people that, but they don't want to believe me.
There is a huge laugh when, in ``Mighty Aphrodite,'' you express horror at the idea of adopting? Do you see this as reaction to your real life in adopting children?
I'll take any laugh any way I can get it, but I didn't write that line with any kind of reference to my real life. That did, though, happen to me in real life. Mia had seven kids already, but she wanted to adopt another. I didn't think it was a good idea. She went out of state and did it on her own. The minute I saw the child, I was captivated. Then, she became pregnant with Satchel and we had our own. That's not in the plot.
What is your love affair with New York?
In the '20s, '30s and '40s, New York was as great as a city could be. It is still the greatest city in the world, but it started degenerating after World War II. I like Paris. I could live in Paris, but it would be a second choice. In no other city in the world, other than New York, can you see, all on the same night, two operas, four different ballets, and hear jazz bands.
You have been nominated six times for the Oscar for directing, 11 times for writing and once for best actor, yet you never go to the Oscars. Do you disapprove of the awards that much?
They're a California thing. And I don't travel well. If they did it in New York, I'd try to go, but usually the Oscars are on Monday night and that's the night I play with the jazz band at Michael's Pub. That's the nicest time of the week for me. I would not give that up. I never missed my jazz band night, even through all the trials and tribulations in the press the past several years. It is sweet to be nominated. I like that they like my films, but I won't allow anyone to campaign for me - take out ads, or do special screenings. I am willing for them to do that for other people in my cast. I don't want to forfeit any chance my actors have, but, as for me, awards are not what I need out of life.
Where is the Oscar you won for ``Annie Hall''?
It's at my parents' house. My father is 95 and my mother is 88. I give all that stuff to them. They live close to me. When they pass away, I still wouldn't want those awards in my house.
What is next for you?
I'm working on my first musical. Goldie Hawn is in it. I use old, standard, music. If this works, I'd like to do a real musical, with original music, but I have to wait and see. ILLUSTRATION: MIRAMAX Films color photos
MIRAMAX
Woody Allen and Helen Bonham Carter adopt Jimmy McQuaid, who
searches for his real mother, in ``Mighty Aphrodite.''
KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW by CNB