Not long ago, the conventional wisdom on Woody Allen was that his New York state of mind had become a creative rut. His hermetic world of neurotic Upper West Side intellectuals had become a creative straightjacket, and getting out of town – hell, getting out of the country – might do him a world of good.
How’s that working out for you?
Sure, Match Point accrued its share of raves, hailed as a return to form in a fresh new milieu by those who didn’t recognize it as Crimes and Misdemeanors with a British accent. It was harder to find anything nice to say about the flimsy Brit-com Scoop, and the trailers for this week’s Cassandra’s Dream sure make it look like an instant remake of Match Point. (Early word is not good; in Film Journal International, Chris Barsanti writes, “If it can't be determined which Allen has shown up—the Greek dramaturge or Borscht Belt shtick-meister—then the film that follows is bound to be a tedious affair.”) With the Spain-set Vicky Cristina Barcelona already in the can, it’s reasonable to wonder whether the 72-year-old auteur will ever return to the city he once seemed certain to never leave.
Wonder no more – according to this interview with the New York Daily News, Allen will be shooting in New York this spring. While claiming he doesn’t see his influence in younger filmmakers, Allen does acknowledge that his view of New York has had an impact. “Especially in foreign countries, I'm always hearing how their picture of New York has come from me. Now, my picture of New York, as I've mentioned before, has actually come from old Hollywood movies.”
His influence may have also spread to his latest protégé Scarlett Johansson. The Daily Telegraph reports that ScarJo will make her directorial debut with a segment of an anthology film, New York, I Love You. And you guessed it, Woody Allen will also be supplying a five-minute short for the film from the producers of Paris je t’aime.