Woody Allen

Started by Pedro, March 20, 2003, 11:46:16 PM

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ElPandaRoyal

Quote from: ewardin the book WOODY ALLEN ON WOODY ALLEN, woody explains that in early SCRIPT form it was a murder mystery, but later rewritten as the annie hall we all know and love today...and the murder mystery element eventually became MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, respectively...

Exactly. the script evolved from a muder mystery story to a romantic one and, as far as I know, The first cut of the film was about 2h40m and when Woody test-screened it to some friends, nobody really liked it. Then the editor came in and did some cutting and turned it into he masterpiece it is now. Rumours are that deleted scenes footage is lost forever.
Si

modage

yeah but doesnt anyone find it a little strange that what most consider his best movie was a total accident?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Weak2ndAct

Quote from: themodernage02yeah but doesnt anyone find it a little strange that what most consider his best movie was a total accident?
Well, yes and no.  Annie Hall is certainly one of his most stylistic-risk-taking films, and I guess the real question is, how much of the 'style' of the movie is due to all the cutting/re-cutting/re-shooting/re-re-cutting.  If it's a lot, my hat's off to Allen for finding creative solutions to fixing the messes.  Sometimes by screwing up, you find new and interesting things that would have never happened by rigidly sticking to the script and shot list.

soixante

The Conversation is an example of a film that was heavily reshaped in post-production, if not entirely restructured.  It sounds like they found the spine for Annie Hall in post-production.  On the other hand, Stardust Memories plays like three or four movies floundering around in serach of a spine.
Music is your best entertainment value.

soixante

The film the director thought he was shooting can turn out to be something entirely different after the editing process.  For example, when Godard finished Breathless, he said something like, "I thought I was making a gangster B-movie, but it turned out to be more like Alice in Wonderland."

Also, with Annie Hall I believe Allen added some direct-address monologues to the camera and voice-over narration, which added some glue to the narrative.
Music is your best entertainment value.

modage

yeah but doesnt anyone find it a little strange that he shot a murder mystery and ended up with one of the most memorable romantic comedies of all time?  this is more than just shaping the film in the editing room.  this is abandoning the fucking concept and going 180 in some other direction!
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

ElPandaRoyal

I find it strange, yes, but the result was Annie Hall, so who cares how he got there, right?  8)
Si

Alethia

Quote from: themodernage02yeah but doesnt anyone find it a little strange that he shot a murder mystery and ended up with one of the most memorable romantic comedies of all time?  this is more than just shaping the film in the editing room.  this is abandoning the fucking concept and going 180 in some other direction!

once again, HE DID NOT SHOOT IT THIS WAY...

from WOODY ALLEN ON WOODY ALLEN

STIG BJORKMAN: Manhattan Murder Mystery is a murder story...
WOODY ALLEN: Yes, and it's just a lark for me.  A vacation.  I've had the idea of making a murder mystery for a long time.  In fact, Annie Hall was originally a murder mystery.  But during the various rewrites of the script this element was abandoned.

Duck Sauce

Quote from: soixanteThe Conversation is an example of a film that was heavily reshaped in post-production,

yes yes, go on

soixante

After Coppola shot The Conversation, he went off to shoot Godfather 2 and let Walter Murch edit it.  I think the continual cutting back to the conversation in the park was Murch's editorial invention, along with the sound design, so in the editing process a linear story became less linear.  Maybe someone else knows more about this and can fill in more details.  Murch and Coppola both go into detail in the Convesation DVD commentary.

Annie Hall was originally conceived as Anhedonia, which means fear of pleasure.  Apparently the first cut was a multi-story, multi-character film, and the Annie-Alvy thread played the best, so everything was cut accordingly.  And the title was changed for obvious reasons.

Manhattan Murder Mystery, I think, was written around the same time, and was put in a desk drawer by Allen until a later date.  This is not uncommon for writers -- Roger Waters wrote both The Wall and Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking in 1978, presented both to the other members of Pink Floyd, and they decided to record The Wall.  Waters finally recorded Pros and Cons in 1984.
Music is your best entertainment value.

Alethia

woody allen claims that he had had the idea of doing a murder mystery, and certain plot points and characters and whatnot since the early seventies, but he didn't write anything until he planned on definitly making it, which he did, right after it was written.....small time crooks, curse of the jade scorpion, and hollywood ending were unfinished scripts/ideas/notes etc.. that had been filed away and found again....as for annie hall originally being a multi-character film, every interview i've read with woody allen about annie hall he basically says he pretty much knew what he was doind while shooting....if someone can prove me wrong, please do, i'm curious about this but i don't think it's true....

SoNowThen

Quote from: soixanteAfter Coppola shot The Conversation, he went off to shoot Godfather 2 and let Walter Murch edit it.  I think the continual cutting back to the conversation in the park was Murch's editorial invention, along with the sound design, so in the editing process a linear story became less linear.  Maybe someone else knows more about this and can fill in more details.  Murch and Coppola both go into detail in the Convesation DVD commentary.

The dream sequence in the fog was supposed to be the real ending. Murch trimmed it down and inserted it earlier, and they ended on the great apartment tear-down. I believe it was also Murch's idea to put a variation on the "he'd kill us if he had the chance" line...
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

meatwad

i don't know if this is old news or not, but i just read over at Guardian that the title of his new film is "Melinda and Melinda"

Dottie_Hinkle

My favorites, not in order:

Crimes and Misdemeanors
Bananas
Sleeper
Take the Money and Run
Zelig
Hannah and Her Sisters


I love almost anything he does.  I'm what you'd call an Allen freak.
Does Anyone Know Where I can get the soundtrack/score to BANANAS?

ElPandaRoyal

Si