You had an amusing conceit in SCOOP, which required a magic box and a magician (you used this bit already in the short story about the man who got magically transported into MADAME BOVARY, but okay.) You didn’t have to cast yourself as the magician. It wasn’t required. It wasn’t even helpful.
All you could do was somehow make a successful magic act some how seeme to be performed with all the mannerisms of a Borsht Belt comedian. This isn’t acting, it’s screwing up your own movie so you can provide a part that you can play. Only you’re still wrong, even for that part.
Your character assumes the role of Scarlett Johansson’s purported father. This would be a huge improvement over all the ludicrous castings of the past thirty years where you decided that some gorgeous babe like Charlize Theron is plausibly playing a romantic role opposite a man a generation older who happens to be --YOU! Only now that you’re seventy, and you’ve realized that your audience isn’t blind, deaf, dumb, and mentally diseased, so maybe you should finally cast yourself in a paternal role opposite the babe-of-the month, you skipped a generation. Uh, Woodman (and I use that term with all respect, truly, you’re a beautiful human being and a credit to your race, I love you, darling, really, I do) has it occurred to you that a 70-year is is much more plausible as a 21 year old’s grandpa than as her father? Oh, for the days when you were merely predating the younger generation. Now you’re preying on the children of women who are way too young for you?
You’re sick. You need professional help. And again I say this with all due respect. Get help.
It also featured as an important part of his segment of New York Stories. And I haven’t seen the film yet, but the last time he cast himself effectively (or at least not to the film’s detriment) was probably Manhattan Murder Mystery, so I’m not holding my breath on this one…
Good points. I agree that Woody’s current crop of films would mostly benefit from having professional actors play his roles. And you could make a case for this being true of some of his older stuff, as well. Although I thought he was ideally suited for “Annie Hall”, it’s not his acting for which he’ll be remembered.
Maybe, though, I can throw some light on this annoying habit of Woody’s:
Keep in mind, PRR, that in real life, Woody probably has no trouble getting dates with young, beautiful women. Wealth and fame will do that for you, even when you’ve passed your prime (as a bonus, I’ll bet that these women tend to be much smarter than, say, Mick Jagger’s groupies). So it’s not hard to see why Woody likes to cast himself as a romantic lead.
Like you, though, I hope we’ve seen the last of that.
And if Woody cast the part of a mega-successful director getting all these young gorgeous babes, he could cast himself . Actually, he did cast that bit part for the first few minutes of SCOOP, and for that part–which he was perfect for–he cast another, younger actor to play the director. It’s kinda sad that he shoehorns hjimself into movies whether there’s a natural part for hiimself or not. You’d have thought he’d learned from MATCH POINT that his films work the less on-screen time he has.
This film is set in London. “Hey, I’ve got an idea–I’ll play the ,magician with a Borscht Belt stage presence, that makes sense.”
The magician’s role is to be vaguely and then specifically mistrustful of the young reporter’s handsome boyfriend. “Hey, I can do that role. I’m only 70 years old, it makes perfect sense that I would play the rejected-boyfriend role.”
Give it up already. We’ve seen the gamut of your acting, we don’t need to see any more.
What’s with the back-to-back Scarlett? Is Woody trying to jam in one last mid-life crisis? Also, is Woody more than dimly aware that the overwhelming majority of Londoners aren’t fabulously wealthy men of leisure? New Yorkers, too.
Maybe someone can confirm this, 'cause I haven’t seen one of the Woodman’s films since Manhattan Murder Mystery, but a friend of mine swears there’s a romantic scene between Woody and Elizabeth Shue in (I think) Deconstructing Harry where you can see Ms. Shue briefly break character and shiver in horror.
They’re not all white, either. And if you took a map of New York City and colored in every block that’s appeared in a Woody Allen film, what would you color in? 2%? 0.1%?