Woody Allen Admits Making Mediocre and Miserable Films
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James Joyner | Sunday, December 18, 2005 |
Woody Allen told a BBC interviewer that he makes mediocre films that nobody comes to see despite critical acclaim.
In his trademark pessimistic style, US cinema legend Woody Allen said he is a “mediocre” director of “miserable work”. “I’ve disappointed myself most of the time,” the New Yorker told BBC television, rejecting claims he is a film artist. In London for the world premiere of his new film “Match Point”, set in the British capital, Allen said: “People think I’m an intellectual because I wear glasses and they think I’m an artist because my films lose money”.
Allen’s movies have often been better received in Europe than in America but he said he was grateful for any US acclaim as it would have overlooked his “glaring faults and miserable work”.
“I’m one of the smallest money making Academy Award winners in history,” the 70-year-old said, referring to his Oscars for “Annie Hall” in 1977 and “Hannah and Her Sisters” in 1986. “My relationship with the American audience is exactly the same as it has always been: they never came to see my films, and they don’t come now. “I’ve often said that the only thing standing between me and greatness is me,” he mused.Summing up his giant filmography as “mediocre”, Allen said “Match Point”, “Husbands and Wives” (1992) and “The Purple Rose of Cairo” (1985) were “three films of mine that are good films. Those are good films by anybody’s standards”.
The problem with Woody Allen films is that they are mostly about Woody Allen, who is not exactly a figure most Americans identify with.
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It has always been my understanding that Mr. Allen's films tell us about life in New York City, and if that's what we want to know then we go see one.
I've seen Sleeper, and I think it is proof of Allen's genius. Only a true genius could take such an interesting premise and turn it into such a emptyheaded film.
The problem with Woody Allen films is that they are mostly about Woody Allen, who is not exactly a figure most Americans identify with.
But Europeans like the films better than we do. This points to an obvious conclusion.
Yep... that being:
Europians have no lives, else no brains.
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Suffer a correction, James;
The problem with Woody Allen films is that they are mostly about the person who Woody Allen would LIKE to be, who is even stranger than his real life. Neither one is exactly a figure most Americans can stay awake though, much less identify with.