With his 50th film “Coup de Chance,” Woody Allen is finally back in American theaters after his last several films failed to find domestic distribution due to allegations against him by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. But the longtime hyphenate, who has openly flirted with retirement in recent years, isn’t sure how long he’ll keep making movies.
In a new interview with Air Mail, Allen expressed his dissatisfaction with the current state of theatrical distribution — though he denied that his trouble finding American distributors has factored into his opinions.
“It doesn’t matter to me whether I get distributed here or not,” Allen said. “Once I make it, I don’t follow it anymore. Distribution is no longer what it was. Now distribution is two weeks in a cinema… And then that’s it. I mean, ‘Annie Hall’ played in movie houses in New York for a little bit over a year. It’d be in one theater for six, seven months, and then somebody would pick it up and it would hang around another few months. The whole business has changed, and not in an appealing way. All the romance of filmmaking is gone.”
When asked about making another movie after “Coup de Chance,” Allen echoed his previous sentiments and said he’s open to the idea if he receives a no-strings-attached opportunity, but has little interest in raising money again.
“I’m on the fence about it. I don’t want to have to go out to raise money. I find that a pain in the neck,” he said. “But if someone shows up and calls in and says we want to back the film, then I would seriously consider it… I would probably not have the willpower to say no, because I have so many ideas.”
Allen went on to say that he doesn’t have the passion for the craft of moviemaking that some of his peers do, and sees many aspects of the job as mere obligations that his storytelling requires.
“There are many directors who love the whole business of making movies, choosing the costumes and working with actors,” he said. “I never loved any of that.”
