This came up during the film festival, but I didn’t get the chance to address it properly.
In Venice for the premiere of his new film, “Cassandra’s Dream”, Woody Allen told reporters that he doesn’t believe he’s influenced other filmmakers.
“Oddly enough, over the years I’ve never felt that I have influenced anyone,” he said.
“I don’t mean that to sound like false modesty, but I could always feel the influence of my contemporaries — Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Steven Spielberg — but I have never seen my influence on anyone.”
Of course, this is the guy who also claims his screenplays bear no relationship to his own life, despite the clear parallels of “Husbands and Wives” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” to his own reality — “Hannah” was even shot in Mia Farrow’s apartment, with her own mother playing her character’s mother, for Pete’s sake — so we should probably take that with a grain of salt.
On the other hand, it would explain why his movies seem increasingly mired in references and conflicts that feel thirty or forty years out of date; he just doesn’t watch new movies that often.
I mean, I’m not surprised he didn’t wander down to the IFC Center for the mumblecore festival that just wrapped up, but surely he’s got cable.
Oh, and also? The audience with which I saw “Cassandra’s Dream” in Toronto was desperately trying to reframe that film — which is supposed to be a dark, brooding tragedy — as a black comedy, despite considerable evidence to the contrary and Allen’s own statements.
I guess a failed black comedy is easier to digest than a laughable tragedy …