Woody Allen has announced that he will be retiring from the cinema

Woody Allen has announced that he will retire from the cinema once the shooting of his next film is finished, Vespa 22number 50, and who will devote himself to writing short stories and novels.

Director of Anna and her sisters, Manhattan Y The purple rose of Cairo a reporter said The vanguardfrom Spain, when I was interviewing him on the occasion of the next publication of his comic Zero gravitywhich will be distributed by Alianza on 27 September.

“The world of cinema has changed; human stories aren’t that interesting anymoreHe argued, albeit added to his age (86 years) and the accusations brought against him for the alleged sexual abuse of his daughter Dylan Farrow – of whom he was acquitted in justice – must have weighed on such a decision.

His new film will be set in Paris and “will be similar to match point: exciting, dramatic and even sinister. ”So what would be his last production, his farewell to directing not only will it be filmed in Paris, it will be spoken entirely in French. Filming will begin in two weeks.

Little or nothing – well, as always – you know Vespa 22. Allen often only provides his performers with pages of his script that include them, never a complete script. From his new film it has just been revealed that he will have Kenneth Edelson in his cast, the only actor who has appeared in more Woody Allen films than the same Allen (in 20, and the director did so in 30), always in cameo or episodes roles. .

The director said that “in principle” he will no longer make films, but plans to write his first novel. “My idea, in principle, is not to make more films and focus on writing, these stories and, well, now I’m thinking more about a novel,” he said.

He also said he assumes the novel will include humor that comes almost naturally to him, although it doesn’t necessarily have to be. “If I had a very serious idea, I would not hesitate to do the same thing that I have done in some of my films, called serious”.

He stated that literature “is an obsessive work. You spend long periods of time thinking about a single word or phrase, for several hours, trying to figure out how to make a sentence work. The really good writers I know spend a day or two refining a sentence. “

Also, writing a screenplay “is much more relaxed: there are a lot of dialogue and the simple dimensions of the scenes; it changes all the time and you don’t work much on it. “

Europe for New York

The 86-year-old director has been shooting more often in Europe than in his beloved New York lately, as allegations of abuse against him in the United States have deprived him of the support to finance his productions.

Exactly two years ago, in 2020, he opened the San Sebastian Film Festival with Rifkin Festival, which had been filmed in and out of that city of the country, and which had taken place during an alleged edition of the Festival. It had a limited theatrical release in the United States and the rest of Europe.

In Argentina Rifkin Festival – which was quite, rather weak – was first presented on January 20 this year, and It was the lowest-grossing film in the director’s history. of the Oscar winner two strange lovers. It sold only 10,299 tickets in its five weeks on the bill.

Previously, Amazon Studios had decided not to release its previous film in the United States A rainy day in New York. And that he had, as happens in almost all of Allen’s films, a cast full of stars, like the youngest Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez and Elle Fanningand Rebecca Hall, Jude Law and Liev Schreiber.

The allegations have been crossed, as the producer argued that Allen had “sabotaged” the future of the film with his comments on allegations of abuse of daughter Dylan Farrow. The Bronx-born, New York-born director’s response was to sue Amazon Studios for $ 68 million over a breach of contract. The dispute was subsequently settled out of court.

Allen has also been having problems with publishers lately. Hachette canceled the publication of her memoirs About nothing after protests from the publisher’s staff, but was later published by another, Arcade.

Retirement background

On June 28, Allen’s actor and friend Alec Baldwin interviewed him on his Instagram channel, and already there the four-time Oscar winner announced that he was thinking of ending his career as a director, and that he would do so after his. next film, which, as we said, will be shot in Paris.

“I’ll probably do at least one other movie. Much of the excitement is gone, “Allen said.” When I was making a movie, I used to go to theaters all over the country. Now you make a movie and you have it in a movie theater for a couple of weeks. Maybe four weeks and then it goes straight on. streaming or pay-per-view … It’s not the same … It’s not that good for me. “

“I don’t enjoy making a film as much as I enjoy premiering it at the cinema,” he continued. “It was a great feeling to know that 500 people were watching it together… I don’t know how I feel about making films. I’ll make another movie and see how it feels, “he’s done by then.