Woody Allen announces end of his directing career

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Woody Allen filming To Rome With Love in 2011

Photo: ALESSANDRO BIANCHI/ REUTERS

Woody Allen has announced his retirement from filmmaking.

His 50th film will probably be his last, the director said in an interview with the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia.

"I think it's a good moment to stop." After that, he will focus on writing books.

Allen, 86, is preparing to shoot his 50th film, which will be given the working title Wasp 22.

Filming is slated to begin in Paris in a few weeks, and the film is said to be entirely in French.

Allen compared the project to his hit film »Match Point« from 2005: The new film is »exciting, dramatic and also very scary«.

Allen began his directing career with the 1966 comedy What's Up, Tiger Lily?

Since then he has made a new film almost every year.

In the 1970s, he became one of the stars of independent cinema with films such as »The City Neurotic« and »Manhattan«, which not only achieved audience success but also won Oscars.

His streak of success continued in the 1980s with works such as »Zelig« and »Hannah and her sisters« until a slight career slump overtook him at the turn of the millennium, which »Match Point« only compensated for again.

In 2011, the comedy Midnight in Paris became his biggest box office success, and he also received his fourth Oscar, this time for best screenplay.

The controversy increases

However, allegations by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow from his relationship with actress Mia Farrow of having abused her as a child have had a severe impact on Allen's career in recent years.

As a result, a number of stars distanced themselves from working with him, financing his films in the USA became almost impossible, and his traditional publisher Hachette canceled the publication of his memoirs »Apropos of Nothing« after employees protested against it.

In the USA, the Arcade publishing house then took over the book, and in Germany it was published by Rowohlt in 2020 under the title »Ganz Nebenbei«.

Allen has always denied the allegations.

In view of the ongoing controversy surrounding his person, it is questionable whether he left the cinema entirely voluntarily.

Turning to book writing, on the other hand, should be easier.

In Arcade, Allen has found a publisher who is already responsible for another of his books: The anthology »Zero Gravity«, which bundles comic articles by Allen from the »New Yorker«, among others, was published there in the summer of 2022.

His next book, Allen told La Vanguardia, could now be a novel for the first time.

Beyond the controversy, he was disappointed with the cinema.

»The film business has changed, human stories are no longer as interesting.

«

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