# Best Performance of "The Woody Allen Character" by an Actor who is NOT Woody Allen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618 "2013-04-13T18:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/1 "2013-04-13T18:05:28Z")
The Poll is coming soon. In nearly all of Woody Allen’s movies, there is a character who is distinctly “The Woody Allen Character”. This is the character who stands in as Woody Allen’s alter ego of sorts. In movies in which Woody Allen performs as an actor, it is he himself who is obviously “The Woody Allen Character”. In Woody Allen movies in which he does not appear as an actor, sometimes there is no “The Woody Allen Character”, e.g. _Purple Rose of Cairo_, _Sweet and Lowdown_, _Vicky Cristina Barcelona_, and others. In other films in which he does not appear as an actor, there is still a distinct “Woody Allen Character” performed by a different actor. Which actor did it best? My vote definitely goes to Owen Wilson in _Midnight in Paris_. The crown had been claimed, in my opinion, by John Cusack in _Bullets Over Broadway_ but Owen Wilson stole the crown because of his unique achievement of being true to the character but also very much making it his own. John Cusack did an excellent job, but still kinda comes off like he’s “doing” Woody Allen. I am including Jason Biggs in _Anything Else_ in the poll despite the fact that Woody Allen acts in the movie portraying a “Woody Allen Character”. In this movie I think that _both_ characters are “The Woody Allen Character”: the young man version and the old man version. Incidentally, though this movie certainly has its flaws, I think it is overlooked more than is fair. I think it’s quite a good film. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/2 "2013-04-13T21:24:09Z")
Cusak gets the nod because the character has more depth than the others. Worst is Kenneth Branagh, who it too much an imitation of Allen. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/3 "2013-04-13T21:31:34Z")
[This performance is certainly worth citing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fWO-CeTkZI). Be sure to watch the whole thing, or at least until the three-minute mark. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/4 "2013-04-13T21:34:44Z")
It’s impossible to find SNL clips on Youtube, but there was a rather funny sketch of a “Woody Allen Club.” I think Jason Alexander was hosting. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/5 "2013-04-13T21:49:33Z")
I voted for Owen Wilson for the same reason as **bienville** : he’s clearly the Woody Allen surrogate, but he brings a lot of his own personality to the role as well. Worst has got to be Kenneth Branagh. I became embarrassed just watching him (and I’m ordinarily a total Branagh superfan). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/6 "2013-04-13T22:19:56Z")
Some guy on an episode of Just Shoot Me. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/7 "2013-04-14T00:05:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Some guy on an episode of Just Shoot Me. Oooh! I remember that, that was good! They even opened the episode with plain white text credits cutting in sequence over a plain black background like all Woody Allen opening credits. And Laura SanGiacomo would break up segments talking directly into the camera with “there’s an old joke” type storytelling. Really cool episode. There was “Woody Allen’s Bride of Frankenstein” on _The Ben Stiller Show_ but like everything on _The Ben Stiller Show_ you have to watch very talented people performing a painfully unfunny sketch. It’s really bad. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/8 "2013-04-14T01:00:42Z")
I thought Owen Wilson was the worst possible casting of the Woody Allen character, until I actually saw the movie. In my opinion he managed to perfectly deliver Woody Allen without being so fucking annoying. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/9 "2013-04-14T01:18:47Z")
Don’t forget Adam Goldberg in “2 Days in Paris”. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/10 "2013-04-14T01:50:40Z")
I am _dying_ to hear from the person who voted for Branagh. ---
**Author:** ![irritant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@irritant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irritant)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/11 "2013-04-14T01:51:12Z")
Michael Caine in _Hannah and Her Sisters_. He’s playing “the Woody character” just as sure as Woody himself is, and he even won the Oscar for it. It may not seem like it because a) Woody is still in the movie, and b) Caine is physically and vocally so different, but just watch him. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/12 "2013-04-14T01:52:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > It’s impossible to find SNL clips on Youtube, but there was a rather funny sketch of a “Woody Allen Club.” > > I think Jason Alexander was hosting. In the Seinfeld DVD extras, Jason Alexander says he originally based his characterisation of George Costanza on “The Woody Allen Character” - until he discovered that Larry David wrote George to be based on himself. He didn’t make clear when in the show that was, but I suspect it was fairly early, say series 2 or 3. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-performance-of-the-woody-allen-character-by-an-actor-who-is-not-woody-allen/655618/13 "2013-04-14T02:26:24Z")
> [@irritant](#): > > Michael Caine in _Hannah and Her Sisters_. He’s playing “the Woody character” just as sure as Woody himself is, and he even won the Oscar for it. It may not seem like it because a) Woody is still in the movie, and b) Caine is physically and vocally so different, but just watch him. Hmmm, yeah, that’s a good point. And I didn’t think of him for exactly the reason you offer. Actually, I think I have to rewatch it. “The Woody Allen Character” is _generally_ a good guy (there are exceptions on certain character points and _Deconstructing Harry_ kinda throws that aspect out the window), the whole creepy pursuit of Barbara Hershey’s character is a bit out of character for “The Woody Allen Character”. Also his competence in his job- the way he can still smile and humor the buffoonish rock star client. In contrast, Woody Allen’s character is totally “The Woody Allen Character” through and through. I haven’t watched it in a while. I’ll have to watch it again to form a fuller opinion.