Showbiz411

One Academy Award winner from Sunday night did not bother himself with the Oscar show. Woody Allen, who last appeared on the Oscars in 2002 to bolster New York after the World Trade Center tragedies, hasn’t bothered with it since. Even though he won Best Original Screenplay for “Midnight in Paris” on Sunday night, his TV was not turned to ABC. His producer sister Letty Aronson told me he was busy watching the NBA All Star Game instead. “He may switch over if I call him before they announce his category,” she said. But otherwise, Woody was was probably more concerned that the East lost to the West. Aronson was denied the chance to accept Woody’s award because it was simply announced from the stage that he wasn’t there and and that was it. Allen last won the Screenplay award in 1987 for “Hannah and her Sisters,” although pretty much of all his screenplays should have Oscars, including “Match Point,” “Bullets over Broadway,” and “Vicki Cristina Barcelona.” His next film, “Nero Fiddles,” set in Rome, should open the Venice Film Festival. I’m told he’s workong on a new screenplay that may be set in New York again. Hallelujah!

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.