New Details Emerge About Woody Allen’s Next French Film
In 2021, it was starting to look like Woody Allen would never work in the industry again.
A four-part documentary series titled “Allen v. Farrow” premiered on HBO, which documented the sexual abuse allegations against the filmmaker involving Dylan, his then 7-year-old daughter with actress Mia Farrow.
On June 28, Allen teamed up with another controversial figure – the “Rust” actor Alec Baldwin – to participate in a 55-minute Instagram Live interview visible at the bottom of this article. During the interview, the veteran filmmaker said he intended to do one or two more movies.
Woody Allen’s next movie will start filming in Paris this fall
On Tuesday morning, Deadline reported that Allen spoke with the French Sunday newspaper The Sunday Journal, and explained that the film he plans to shoot in Paris this fall could be the last film he directs. Allen said he plans to move to Paris in September to create his new film, which he described as a French-language thriller.
Allen is no stranger to filming in Paris. More than a decade ago, he filmed the 2011 fantasy romance “Midnight in Paris” there. The film won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The 86-year-old filmmaker compared his new film to the plot of his 2005 film ‘Match Point’ and called it “sort of a poisonous romantic thriller”. Although no one has been publicly attached to the project yet, Woody Allen says he has already found his lead actors for his new movie.
During his interview with “30 Rock” actor Alec Baldwin, Allen explained that his film, although shot in Paris, is financed by the United States. He told Baldwin that his next film “will be my 50e feature” and “could be the last”.
Woody Allen’s most recent film premiered at Rifkin’s Festival and grossed over $2.3 million. It had a limited release in the United States earlier this year but failed to make an impact due to its reputation. Although Amazon Studios initially agreed to handle the release, MPI Media Group stepped in after Amazon Studios pulled out of their $80 million distribution deal they signed in 2019.
The French newspaper specifically asked Allen if he was afraid he could no longer make films due to the sexual assault allegations. “I’m an author and no one can stop me from writing, and therefore from working,” Allen replied. “It is the guarantee of my freedom and my independence.”
Woody Allen Comments On Making More Movies: The ‘Thrill Is Gone’
Allen doesn’t see himself doing many more movies, not because of the allegations against him, but because he claimed the “thrill is gone” due to a decrease in movie attendance. Allen believes it started long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When I started, you would make a movie and it would go to a movie theater and movie theaters all over the country, and people would come in their hundreds to watch it in big groups on the big screen,” he recalls . “Now you make a movie and you spend a few weeks in a theater, maybe six weeks, four weeks, whatever. And then it goes straight to streaming or pay-per-view, and people love sitting at home with their big screens and watching it on their TVs.
“It’s not as pleasant for me,” he added.
However, he sees one benefit in taking time off to make movies: creating his own schedule.
“I don’t have to be cold in the winter or hot in the summer or get up at 5 a.m. to make decisions all day. I’m at home and can’t do anything but exercise, practice the clarinet and write. I wrote a lot at home. I wrote a lot of plays. … I said to myself: ‘What if I don’t make a film? It’s a nice way to live. And I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll do one or two more.”
Although he’s written screenplays for others in the past, Woody Allen has revealed he didn’t want to do screenplays he wouldn’t direct himself. Instead, he would prefer to write his own self-published novels. Allen originally struck a deal with book publisher Hachette to publish his memoir in 2020, but it was canceled due to the sexual assault allegations.
The full hour-long interview with Alec Baldwin is available on his Instagram page and can be viewed in the video below.