Woody Allen wants to work with Reese Witherspoon and Cate Blanchett. He’s still obsessed with death, but doesn’t look forward to it. He doesn’t recommend old age, which includes eye glasses and hearing aids.
Basically, Woody warned at his Cannes press conference on Saturday afternoon, nothing has changed. Except: he was funny and relaxed at a long table that included members of his latest cast–Josh Brolin, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones, and Lucy Punch from “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.”
“Stranger” will be released this fall from Sony Pictures Classics, and I can already tell you that Gemma Jones–a star in Britain—will have an Oscar nomination. Her subtle performance is a revelation. I hope they put her in lead and not supporting, too.
Absent from the proceedings–Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas. But it didn’t matter. Woody was hilarious. I asked him if he was ever planning to be on camera again. He said that he liked to play the romantic lead. “I like to get the girl,” he said. But at 74, even he knows it’s getting harder and harder to pull that off.
And he does understand this because “Stranger” –while it has a typical Allen May – December relationship– takes a romantic look at love among the 60 plus set. Jones and Hopkins long marriage hits the rocks, and is played for laughs. The actors are so good though that even the comedy–it’s a funny movie–has a melancholy glow. “Stranger” is a very mature work. It would be a perfect opener for the New York Film Festival.
There’s a dark side to “Strangers,” too. Even as the characters pursue romance and career aspirations, they are also keeping secrets. Several of them are getting with something or other underhanded. Not all will get their comeuppance. Call it “Crimes, Misdemeanors, and Laughs.”
