It’s Woody Allen’s 90th birthday, and we salute him.
Below, you can see my recent interview with Woody, with Neil Rosen of Talking Pictures.
Woody’s influence on film and TV over the last 50 or more years is incalculable. “Only Murders in the Building,” for example, is certainly inspired by “Manhattan Murder Mystery.”
But it’s movies like “Annie Hall” — which won 4 Oscars including Best Picture, Director, Actress, Screenplay — that has informed so many romantic comedies it’s not…funny. (My personal favorites — movies like “Zelig,” which was brilliantly prescient, and “Match Point.”)
Woody’s voice is everywhere. His staggering 50 films include “Bananas,” “Take the Money and Run,” “Sleeper,” “Love and Death,” “Manhattan,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Blue Jasmine,” “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” “Hannah and Her Sisters,” and so many others.
Six actors have won Oscars in films directed by Woody including Diane Keaton, Michael Caine, Cate Blanchett, Penelope Cruz, Mira Sorvino, and two for Dianne Wiest.
Even more have been nominated including Woody himself, plus Judy Davis, Geraldine Page, Mariel Hemingway, Samantha Morton, Sean Penn, and Sally Hawkins.
After New York was so brutally attacked on 9-11, it was Woody the producers of the Oscars asked to come open the 2002 show as a surprise. No one represented New York better.
Will he make a 51st film? I’m betting he will. He says in our interview below that he could make a film pretty much anywhere in Europe, but he’d like to make one more in New York. I hope he does. Meantime, he’s published his first novel, “What’s With Baum?” that’s trenchant, fun, and has a nice plot twist. It’s on amazon.
I’ve been lucky enough to interview Woody many times, and even got a chance to take his picture with his old Olivetti typewriter in his home office. But my favorite advice he gave me is how to make a really chocolate malted at home. “Use twice as much malted as you planned,” he said.
I live by that rule.
Happy Birthday, Woody!
