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Woody Allen

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Woody Allen on Woody Allen Paperback – Illustrated, July 10, 2005

by Woody Allen (Author), Stig Bjorkman (Contributor)

4.5 94 ratings

Part of: Directors on Directors (26 books)

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Over the course of his long directing career, Woody Allen has portrayed contemporary American life with an unmistakable mixture of irony, neurotic obsession, and humor. Woody Allen on Woody Allen is a unique self-portrait of this uncompromising filmmaker that offers a revealing account of his life and work. In a series of rare, in-depth interviews, Allen brings us onto the sets and behind the scenes of all his films. Since its original publication, Woody Allen on Woody Allen has been the primary source of Allen's own thoughts on his work, childhood, favorite films, and inspirations. Now updated with one hundred pages of new material that brings us up to his Hollywood Ending, Woody Allen on Woody Allen is a required addition to any cinephile's library.

Part of series

Directors on Directors
Print length

376 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Grove Press
Publication date

July 10, 2005
Dimensions

5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

0802142036
ISBN-13

978-0802142030
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grove Press; Revised edition (July 10, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 376 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0802142036
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0802142030
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.02 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.25 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,213,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #528 in Movie Director Biographies
- #1,750 in Television Performer Biographies
- #9,793 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies

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4.5 94 ratings

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Woody Allen

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Woody Allen’s prolific career as a comedian, writer, and filmmaker has now spanned more than six decades and multiple award winning films. Mr. Allen’s first screenplay was for What’s New Pussycat?, which was released in 1965. He has written and directed more than 45 feature films, including Annie Hall, Manhattan and more recently, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine & Rainy Day in New York. Woody Allen is the author of Getting Even, Without Feathers, and Side Effects, among numerous other books.

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GRIMAX

Entertaining and Interesting.

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2010

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The book starts with a good interview about Allen's early days and his transition from a young movies' fan, to a skilled writter and director. The interviewer makes deep questions trying to reveal Allen's way of thinking, his taste on films, literature, music, etc.
In addition the book makes a complete and deep revision of each Allen's movie in which Woody provides a detailed explanation and description of the movie itself. The subject, the locations where they were film, the election of the movie cast, as well as his relationship with the whole staff that has accompanied him along the years in the movies making process.

If you like Woody Allen you will love this book because it is entertaining, it provides a lot of insight about Allen and while you are reading it, you feel you are part of the interview as well, like you had the chance to sit there discussing life and movies with him.

5 people found this helpful

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olingerstories

This is a wonderful book chronicling the first twenty-five years of Woody Allen ...

Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2017

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This is a wonderful book chronicling the first twenty-five years of Woody Allen movies in the format of Allen's answering questions from interviewer Stig Bjorkman. The continuity in Allen's films is his fixation with perishing, which Allen believes is the only weighty matter of life. Everything else is irrelevant and unworthy of carrying a piece of art. He respects Diane Keaton's opinion more than any other, thinks that Judy Davis was the greatest actress of her generation and loves the work of Dianne Wiest His favourite movie of his at the this time was THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO. He also discusses his three famous cinematographers, Gordon Willis, Carlo Di Palma and Sven Nykvist.

3 people found this helpful

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DonL2507

Woody Allen on his own films - very revealing

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2015

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I am a long-time admirer of Woody Allen's films (at least most of them) and have read several books that evaluate his films, his film messages, and his filmmaking craft and have found them to be intellectually pretentious, so much so that their authors reminded me of the pretentious characters he so humorously satirizes in his films. While this book shows Allen to be a very intelligent and knowledgeable filmmaker (no surprise), it also reveals him to be a dedicated filmmaker who can be refreshingly modest and wise and shrewd in his judgment of people and social mores. He admits that in his very early films he just pointed the camera at where the action was, and that he learned a great deal from the exceptional cinematographers that he subsequently employed, e.g., Gordon Willis. It's well known that Allen is not particularly communicative with his actors, both in the initial interview and while directing, so it's revealing to hear him say that "90% of my films" is in the casting; that is, he gets the most suitable actor for the part and then simply lets the actor employ his / her craft on the set. The interviews reveal that Allen is well-read in literature, and it's no surprise that writing the script is his favorite part of filmmaking, and also worth noting that he can sometimes complete an entire script in a day.

I liked the structure of the interviews in that they started with his first film and then discussed each subsequent film in chronological sequence. The interviewer, Stig Bjorkman, is a Swedish filmmaker and critic who is obviously well-versed in Allen's films since many of his questions and observations reflected a detailed knowledge of various scenes and characters in Allen's films. It certainly helped the rapport between interviewer and interviewee that they both shared a love of Bergman films. Allen acknowledges that, by and large, the studios have given him a great deal of creative freedom with his films, but that European audiences may have sustained his autonomy in recent years.

As mentioned, Allen comes across in these interviews as a dedicated, hard-working and creative filmmaker, and although he resembles the stock character he so often portrayed in his films in certain ways, in many other ways he is different from that character, e.g., he was a reasonably athletic adolescent. Nonetheless, some of those "neurotic" features are much in evidence in these interviews. He's obsessed with death and has a morbid fear of "perishing" (perhaps it's why he's such a workaholic). On numerous occasions, he cites Ernest Becker's "The Denial of Death" as a book that's shaped him both intellectually and emotionally. Of course, Woody always said that he "didn't want to achieve immortality through his work, but by not dying." He also reveals that he's not the hypochondriac he's portrayed but instead he's an "alarmist"; that is, he doesn't think he's always sick, but instead, when he does get sick, he thinks it's fatal!

One irritant in these interviews is that Bjorkman, a typical left-wing European intellectual, makes numerous anti-American observations to Allen, presumably trying to get him to follow up and agree. To his credit, Woody (a liberal), doesn't take the bait, and instead makes reasoned and balanced observations on American politics and society. If you enjoy Woody's films, these revealing interviews should be worth your while.

15 people found this helpful

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chris

Very revealing and in depth book about Woody Allen's life and and work..

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2016

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Excellent book if you are a fan of Woody Allen and his movies. I couldn't put it down and it is filled with in depth interviews where he shares his thoughts, memories , childhood stories, inspirations and much more. I felt like I was being given a back stage behind the scenes account of all of his films and life. It is funny, informative and very entertaining.

One person found this helpful

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Kerry Walters

Shadows and fog

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2008

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Judging from the other reviews of Stig Bjorkman's Woody Allen on Woody Allen, my assessment is definitely a minority report. I found the interviews, which take the reader through Allen's work from "Take the Money and Run" through "Manhattan Murder Mystery," to be more shadow and fog (to quote the title of one of Allen's films) than substance. In them we get some information about Allen's directorial style (he doesn't rehearse that much), his editing style (he doesn't cut too much), and lots of breezy, rather gossipy information (the first time he met Diane Keaton, the fact that he didn't actually live with Mia Farrow during their long relationship, and so on). But we almost never get any insight into what makes Allen tick. Why is a central concern, even in his early "funny" films, existential themes such as human mortality, unhappiness, and absurdity? Why does he so admire directors like Bergman and Fellini? What does he think about film as a medium? How does it compare to, say, literature or dance? Even when discussing his obviously more thoughtful films--"Stardust Memories," for example, or "Crimes and Misdemeanors"--the discussion rarely goes very deep to explore the questions of personal identity or ethics that are at the heart of the films.

I don't know if the fault lies with the interviewer for not asking the right questions and follow-ups, or if Allen is simply being tight-lipped. But of all the volumes in the "X on X" famous director series, this one is the most disappointing. (This is especially surprising, since Stig Bjorkman, the interviewer here, also edited the volume Bergman on Bergman, which was quite good.)* I'd recommend Sam Girgus' The Films of Woody Allen if one wants to know something about why Allen does what he does as a director.

Two and a half stars.
_________
* Although Bergman later claimed that he lied his way through the entire book.

10 people found this helpful

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MaryC. Bryant

Who could say Woody Allen was boring?

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021

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The recipient seemed to enjoy this very much.Again,I was pleased. Thank you.

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bresin dino

tutto quello che avreste voluto sapere su...Woody Allen

Reviewed in Italy on October 23, 2019

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Il critico cinematografico svedese Stig Bjorkman intervista Woody Allen in due riprese fino a meta' anni 90 e poi nel 2002, indagando sulla sua filmografia, sterminata, un film all'anno dal '68 con liberta' di soggetto e regia ma con budget al minimo come da contratto United Artists, cui pero' ha fruttato 600 milioni di dollari, una media di 14 milioni a film. Non tutti capolavori ma molti memorabili a descrivere il milieu ebraico intellettuale newyorkese, lui che si professa agnostico, i suoi registi preferiti Bergman, Fellini, Goddard, il film preferito ladri di biciclette, i suoi direttori di fotografia Gordon Willis, Carlo di Palma, Sven Niqvist, le sue muse Diane Keaton, Dianne Weist, Mia Farrow, non parla della turbolenta frequentazione finita sulla stampa e nei tribunali se non per dire che non ne ha influenzato il genio creativo. I saranno famosi da lui scoperti Demi Moore Leo di Caprio John Cushak... La sua passione per il jazz, ogni lunedi con la sua band per jam nei locali di New York. Questo e molto altro in queste 400 pagine, speriamo che esca quanto prima un sequel per gli ultimi 16 anni ancora piu' ricchi di capolavori. Buon lavoro Woody!

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Lou

Woody Allen on Woody Allen

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2010

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A must-read if you are interested in Woody Allen, his films or filmmaking in general, this book of in depth interviews is fascinating and insightful. A great and informed interviewer, asking intelligent and thorough questions about Allen's films, ideas, methods and experiences. I love the way it breaks down each film in Woody Allen's filmography and allows time to examine the work (up until the time of printing). Woody Allen is especially good at speaking about film production in an educational way, making the book valuable as a bible of advice on making film.

One person found this helpful

zara griffith

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2018

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all good

mark

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 3, 2014

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What's not to love about Woody Allen!
Insight to a great & very funny man

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