最近他的第四十八部作品，最新電影《愛情失控點》在院線上映，明年艾倫又將集結了傑西·艾森伯格、克里斯汀 · 史都華、布魯斯 · 威利等明星拍攝新片。與此同時，艾倫又嘗試拍攝電視劇，他與亞馬遜合作，將於 2016 年推出自己的電視劇處女座。
伍迪 · 艾倫的工作效率高得驚人。今年 7 月他接受了影評人 Sam Fragoso 的訪問，娛樂重擊整理了專訪內容，讓大家了解這位高產導演是如何看待自己的工作？演員為什麼喜歡與他合作？他嘗試拍攝電視劇後的感想，以及這位大導演即將邁入 80 歲的心情！
Q . Sam Frogoso：在電影方面，你似乎比大多數人高產？
伍迪 · 艾倫： 高產並不是什麼了不起的事情。重要的不是你做了多少，而是你做得怎麼樣。像詹姆斯 · 喬伊斯，一生也就寫了幾本書，但它的價值遠比拍幾部電影大多了，我都不敢相信有一天能達到他那樣的成就！
Q . Sam Frogoso：你偶爾會為了數量，而在某些方面犧牲了品質嗎？
伍迪 · 艾倫：難以避免！當你拍攝一部新電影，你總是對它滿懷期待，你會覺得它幾乎馬上要達到你的理想目標。當我拍攝《愛情決勝點》時，我覺得與理想目標只有一步之遙，但事情很難盡如人意。你總想著要拍出《大國民》、《單車失竊記》這樣的電影，這怎麼可能呢？你不能總是預設自己會做得有多好，你唯一能做的就是去完成它，然後期待有多一點運氣。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你有想過減產，比如花幾年時間拍一部電影嗎？
伍迪 · 艾倫：沒用！我不會覺得「喔！如果我有更多的時間或者投資，我就可以拍得更好。」你要接受除了天賦和人格之外的缺點。
Q . Sam Frogoso： 那你最大的缺點是什麼？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我很懶，也不是個完美主義者。我不像史蒂芬·史匹伯、馬丁·史柯西斯那樣，會為了一個細節工作到深夜，不達目的絕不罷休。而我一到下午六點，就想回家、吃晚飯、看球賽。拍電影不是我生活的全部。另外，天賦或者深度這種事也與我無關，偉大這種詞彙不可能在我身上發生。你看過黑澤明的電影，他在場景設置上很瘋狂，如果他需要 100 匹馬就一匹都不能少，一切都要達到完美，他太瘋狂了，我永遠也做不到這樣。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你不覺得自己是個瘋狂的人？
伍迪·艾倫：不，完全不是！我的問題在於我是個中產階級，我過著非常理性的生活，早上起床、工作、接孩子放學，在跑步機上運動，吹吹黑管，和妻子去散步，就連每天散步的路線都是一樣的。這樣的生活使我的作品產出很穩定，如果我是個瘋狂的人，也許會拍出更好的作品，我可能會為了一個電影場景提出更多的要求，但我不會這樣。我通常會說：「嗯，這樣足夠好了！」也許這就是中產階級質量，它保證你有固定的產出。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你不會覺得一直拍電影無聊？
伍迪 · 艾倫：你總得為了生計工作，用一般的標準來衡量的話，拍電影算是不錯的工作。你可以跟才華橫溢的人一起工作，還可以跟漂亮的女演員和優秀的男演員一起拍攝。
Q . Sam Frogoso：所以大部分你看中的演員都願意跟你共事？
伍迪 · 艾倫：一般來說有兩種情況，一是這個演員是真正的藝術家，他不甘於只演出熱門大片，而我又恰好能給他很棒的角色讓他發揮演技。也有可能是另一種情況，熱門大片不能給他想要的東西，那麼演員就會選擇演我的電影。但是如果《侏羅紀公園》和我同時找他演戲，他很可能會選擇前者，因為錢更多啊！
Q . Sam Frogoso：你在講到拍電影時，似乎認為對你來說首先是工作，然後才與激情有關，那麼你的幸福感從哪裡來？
伍迪 · 艾倫：對我來說為了生計忙碌不是一件單調乏味的事，而是愉快的。我喜歡玩音樂，喜歡跟家人在一起，但我的人生裡沒有狂歡的時刻。如果現在是早上七點，你在片場，周圍是史嘉蕾 · 喬韓森或者艾瑪 · 史東，我享受我的工作。你得要用一年的時間和服裝、音樂打交道，這就像一門藝術，就像在做拼貼畫一樣。不過，我從來不碰毒品。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你沒有為了創作靈感或者找樂子而嗑藥？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我從不嗑藥，從沒有吸過一口大麻。我從不會為了享樂服用藥丸，最多多吃兩顆止痛藥。
Q . Sam Frogoso：真的一次都沒有？
伍迪 · 艾倫：沒有，我甚至沒有嘗試的好奇心。別人總是問，你不好奇嗎？但我不是一個好奇寶寶，我對旅遊沒有興趣，除非是陪我的妻子。我對於看看外面的世界、新鮮事物一點興趣都沒有。我會去同一家餐廳吃飯，我妻子常說我們換一家試試吧，但我不喜歡，從 Elaine’s 在紐約開張的那天起，我就每天去那吃飯，一週七天從不間斷，持續了 10 到 12 年。
Q . Sam Frogoso：我還是很意外，你竟然從未吸過大麻？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我還經歷過大麻最流行的年代呢！ 60 年代我曾在芝加哥的夜店 Mr.Kelly’s 三藩的夜店Hungry I 和一些大學音樂會上表演，演出結束後每個人都在抽大麻，不管你是民謠圈的還是玩搖滾的。但我對藥物這類東西毫無興趣，其實很多東西都是，比如科技，我連電腦都沒有 ; 比如旅行 ; 比如流行音樂。我沒有接近這些事物的動力！
woodyallen
伍迪 · 艾倫的明年新作將和好萊塢當紅演員合作（左起）傑西·艾森伯格、克里斯汀 · 史都華、伍迪 · 艾倫、布魯斯·威利
Q . Sam Frogoso： 你正在跟亞馬遜合作一部電視劇，對嗎？
伍迪 · 艾倫：是的，我一集都還沒看過。我覺得他們也許會後悔與我合作，我已經盡力了。我拍了一部 6 集的電視劇。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你對這部電視劇不滿意嗎？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我很不確定，我以為拍這樣一部作品很簡單，沒想到電影不容易拍，電視劇也一樣，我不想讓大家失望。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你覺得自己是好人嗎？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我覺得我……越老越得體，二十多歲時，我神經大條，但年紀大了越能看到生活的不易，對別人越來越有同情心。我試著表現得更親和、得體，更尊重別人，雖然做不到一直如此。但在我二十多歲、甚至三十歲左右的時候，我完全不關心別人。對於那些和我約會的女人，我也表現得自私，除了滿足自己的野心以外從不關心別人，倒不是說粗魯或下流，而是不夠細心和敏感。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你有沒有特別後悔的事？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我最後悔的是沒有讀完大學。我居然就這樣被趕出來了，以前我覺得沒什麼大不了的，但後來覺得後悔的是沒有更嚴肅地面對人生，就像我最初拍的那些電影，都太娛樂了，我其實更想成為英格瑪 · 柏格曼那樣的導演。
Q . Sam Frogoso：可是你透過娛樂為世界傳遞了歡樂！
伍迪 · 艾倫：是的，這讓我稍微欣慰，讓我得到了救贖。但我走了一條容易的路，雖然成功了，如果能再來一次，我想成為更有奉獻精神的藝術家。我會讓自己一開始就更加認真嚴肅，也許有人會說「你傻了吧？大家喜歡的是你拍的那些歡樂的片子，你要是跑去拍嚴肅、認真、意義深刻的片子，我們才不會去看。」
Q . Sam Frogoso：其實這些對話也在你的電影《星塵往事》出現過？
伍迪 · 艾倫：你說對了！這大概是我能達到的深度，不過我娛樂大眾的本領高多啦，而且一直做得不錯。
Q . Sam Frogoso：你說的好像這輩子也就只能這樣了？
伍迪 · 艾倫：再過幾個月我就 80 歲了，誰知道我還能活多久？我父母在世的時間很長，但這並不能保證什麼。人總是等到太晚才開始重新審視自己，我能做的只是盡量做好自己的工作，這樣別人會說：「在他人生的最後幾年，他做了這輩子最出色的工作。」這樣就太棒了！
Q . Sam Frogoso：你最想被人記住的是什麼？
伍迪 · 艾倫：我快 80 歲時，總有人問我這個問題，但我不在乎，這對我來說並不重要。當然，如果我的孩子拿我所有電影到市場上傾銷的話，可以給我的孩子留一些版稅。你我都可以站在莎士比亞的墓碑前為他唱讚歌，但這有什麼意義呢？你都死了。
美國npr電台在2015年7月30日訪問79歲的導演Woody Allen  ／At 79, Woody Allen Says There’s Still Time To Do His Best Work


hc的翻譯 Sam Frogoso: At the end of it all, what do you want to be remembered for? 歸根究底，你最想被人記住的是什麼？
People always ask me this now that I'm turning 80, but I don't really care. It wouldn't matter to me, aside from the royalties to my kids, if they took all my films and dumped them. You and I could be standing over [William] Shakespeare's grave, singing his praises, and it doesn't mean a thing. You're extinct.伍迪 • 艾倫：我快 80 歲了，總有人會問我這，但我真的不在乎。又，如果我的兒女為了一些版稅，拿我的所有電影去快速套利的話，這些對我來說都不重要，。你我都可以站在莎士比亞的墓碑前，讚美他，但這毫無意義。人都死了呢。
資料來源美國npr在2015年7月30日訪問79歲的導演Woody Allen  ／At 79, Woody Allen Says There’s Still Time To Do His Best Work

At 79, Woody Allen Says There's Still Time To Do His Best Work


Updated July 30, 201510:40 AM ET
SAM FRAGOSO
When asked about his major shortcomings, filmmaker Woody Allen says, "I'm lazy and an imperfectionist."
When asked about his major shortcomings, filmmaker Woody Allen says, "I'm lazy and an imperfectionist."
Thibault Camus/AP
Woody Allen is a prolific filmmaker — he's been releasing films pretty much every year since the mid-1960s. (His latest, Irrational Man, is now in theaters.) But Allen isn't exactly prolific as an interview subject. When film critic Sam Fragoso sat down with Allen in Chicago, the filmmaker revealed his insecurities (well, not so much revealed as reiterated), and discussed why actors like to work with him and what he regrets.
Allen also discussed his relationship with his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, whom he met when he was in a relationship with actress Mia Farrow. Previn is Farrow's adopted daughter and is 35 years younger than Allen.
Sam Fragoso: You're more prolific than most people.
Woody Allen: But prolific is a thing that's not a big deal. It's not the quantity of the stuff you do; it's the quality. A guy like James Joyce will do just a couple of things, but they resonate way beyond anything I've ever done or ever could dream of doing.
Would you say your quality, in spots, dipped because of the quantity?
It always [has]. When you start out to make a film, you have very big expectations and sometimes you come close. When I did Match Point, I felt I came very close. But you never get that thing that you want. You always set out to make Citizen Kane or to make The Bicycle Thief and it doesn't happen. You can't set out to make something great head-on; you just have to make films and hope you get lucky.
Have you considered scaling back, making a film every few years?
It wouldn't help. It's not that I feel, "Oh, if I had more time or more money, I could make this better." It's coming to terms with the shortcomings in one's own gift and one's own personality.
What are your major shortcomings?
I'm lazy and an imperfectionist. Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese will work on the details until midnight and sweat it out, whereas for me, come 6 o'clock, I want to go home, I want to have dinner, I want to watch the ballgame. Filmmaking is not [the] end-all be-all of my existence. Another shortcoming is that I don't have the intellect or the depth or the natural gift. The greatness is not in me. When you see scenes in [Akira] Kurosawa films ... you know he's a madman on the set. There would be 100 horses and everything had to be perfect. He was crazy. I don't have any of that.
You wouldn't consider yourself crazy?
No, no. My problem is that I'm middle-class. If I was crazy I might be better. That probably accounts for my output. I lead a very sensible life: I get up in the morning, I work, I get the kids off to school, do the treadmill, play the clarinet, take a walk with my wife. It's usually the same walk every day. If I were crazy, it would help. If I shrieked on the set and demanded, it may be better, but I don't. I say, "Good enough!" It's a middle-class quality, which does make for productivity.
You're never bored.
Look, we all have to make a living in life and do something. Making films, by the general standard of jobs, is a very good one. You work with very gifted people. I work with beautiful women and good men.
Most performers want to work with you.
There are two factors:
1) I give them good parts to play and they are artists and they don't want to keep doing blockbuster movies. They want to act in something.
2) But they want to work with me when the blockbuster movie hasn't offered them anything. If I offer them something and then Jurassic Park offers them something, they take Jurassic Park because of the money.
The way you describe filmmaking, it comes across as a job first, passion second, so where do you find happiness?
It's not a tedious chore; it's a pleasant way to make a living. I like playing music, I like being with the family, but I don't have any ecstatic highs. I'm not like Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I enjoy working. If it's 7 in the morning and you're on the set and there's Scarlett Johansson or Emma Stone, and you're dealing for a year with costumes and music ... it's like arts and crafts, you're making a collage. But I'm not someone who does heroin.
Have you experimented with drugs recreationally or for creative purposes?
I've never done any drugs whatsoever. I've never taken a puff of marijuana. I've never taken a recreational pill of any sort. I can barely bring myself to take two Extra Strength Excedrin.
Not once?
No, and I don't even have the curiosity. People say all the time, "Aren't you curious?" But I'm not a curious person. I'm not curious to travel, but I do because my wife likes it. I'm not curious to see other places, I'm not curious to try new things. I go to the same restaurants all the time, and my wife is always saying, "Let's try something new!" I don't enjoy that. When Elaine's was open in New York, I ate every dinner, seven nights a week, for 10 [to] 12 years.
I'm still surprised you've never taken a hit from a joint.
And I was right in the thick of it. I would play [the Chicago nightclub] Mr. Kelly's and the [San Francisco nightclub] Hungry I and college concerts in the '60s, and afterwards everyone would be doing it. All the folk acts, the rock acts. The subject of drugs never interests me. There are a lot of subjects that don't hold my attention. I'm not interested in technology. I don't have a computer. I'm not interested in traveling, popular music. I can't bring myself to get motivated.
And yet you're making a series for an online audience with Amazon.
Right, I've never seen one. I think they're going to be embarrassed. They're going to regret that they started up with me. I'm doing my best. I'm working a six-episode series.
They're no good?
I have grave doubts about them. I thought it was going to be an easy score. Movies are not easy, but it's not a cinch. I don't want to disappoint them.
After all these years of making movies about death (the fear of it, how to beat it, etc.), do you feel, at 79, any better about it all?
You don't beat that anxiety. You don't mellow when you get older and gain a Buddhist acceptance.
Is it worse now?
It's not worse; it's the same. If you wake up in the middle of the night, at 20, contemplating your extinction, you have the same feeling at 60 and 80. You're hardwired to fight to live. You can't give logical reasons why, but you're hardwired to survive. You would prefer not to. You would prefer that the life story was a different scenario, but it's not.
How long have you been seeing an analyst?
Well, not continually. I was in analysis when I was 20 and then stopped for a while, then saw a shrink when I was a little older. I've been in and out. Now I check in once a week just to charge the batteries.
Has it helped?
It's funny, it's helped, but not as much as I've wanted. Years ago, I remember, I brought my clarinet into the repair shop, and the guy took two weeks and put new pads on and everything. When I went in, I said, "Thank you, but am I going to sound better?" And he said, "Yes, you will sound better, but not as much as you'd like to." The truth is you can't get what you want.
Are you suggesting people can't get better?
I do think you get better to a certain degree. Every case is different. It depends how close you are to getting better by yourself. If someone is close to it, the shrink can give you that little push and they make it.
Where/when have you experienced that push?
When I first started to be a comedian, I used to have the fantasy all the time that they'd hate me. I'm going to get on stage and they're not going to like me. The problem was — psychologically, but unbeknownst to me — I was worried I was not going to likethem. And that was causing me anxiety, which I transferred to, "They're not going to like me." That was a significant contribution of relieving the anxiety of going on stage.
Also, when I was 19 I was married.
What was that?
It was fine! It got me out of my parent's house and got me into New York City and reality. My wife was a nice, smart person, but I would sometimes become nauseated during the night and I kept thinking it was the food. "Oh, I shouldn't have eaten at the Chinese restaurant, the Italian food." It was anxiety, and when someone finally pointed it out to me that it wasn't the food causing me those stomach problems, it was a big help.
You didn't like the people.
I never liked people.
What's your problem with people?
I think some of them are wonderful, but they are so many of them that are not. I was one of the few guys rooting for the comet to hit the Earth. Statistically, more people that deserved to go would go.
Would you consider yourself a good person?
I would consider myself ... decent as I got older. When I was younger I was less sensitive, in my 20s. But as I got older and began to see how difficult life was for everybody, I had more compassion for other people. I tried to act nicer, more decent, more honorable. I couldn't always do it. When I was in my 20s, even in my early 30s, I didn't care about other people that much. I was selfish and I was ambitious and insensitive to the women that I dated. Not cruel or nasty, but not sufficiently sensitive.
You viewed women as temporary fixtures?
Yes, temporary, but as I got older and they were humans suffering like I was ... I changed. I learned empathy over the years.
Do you have any major regrets?
Oh! My biggest regret — I have so many, trivial ones and big ones — is that I didn't finish college. I allowed myself to get thrown out. I couldn't care less about it at the time. I regret that I didn't have a more serious life; that my films were too entertaining when I started. I wanted to be [Ingmar] Bergman.
But you contributed joy to the world through laughter.
Yes, that's what got me by. It saved me. But it was the easy road when I started, and I did it. If I had it to do over again, I would be a more dedicated artist. I would've been more serious right from the start. People could look at that and say, "You're nuts. Those are the only movies of yours that we enjoyed. Whenever you've tried to be serious or tried to be meaningful, we walk out."
That's dialogue from [your film] Stardust Memories.
You're right, and it may just be that the amount of depth I have, and the talent to amuse that I have, goes up to three, and that's where it is and I did very nicely with it.
You make it sound like your life is over.
Well, I am 80 in a few months. Who knows what I can count on? My parents lived long, but that's not guarantee of anything. It's too late to really reinvent oneself. All I can do is try to do good work so that people can say, "In his later years, in his last years, he did some of his best work." Great.
Since you are nearing 80, I'm curious: Do you still believe "love fades," as Annie Hall claims?
It fades almost all the time. Once in a while you get lucky and get into a relationship that lasts a very long time. Even a lifetime. But it does fade. Relationships are the most difficult thing people deal with. They deal with loneliness, meeting people, sustaining relationships. You always hear from people, "Well, if you want to have a good relationship you have to work at it." But there's nothing else in your life that you really love and enjoy that you have to work at. I love music, but I don't have to work at it. A guy likes to go out boating on the weekends, he doesn't think, "Oh, I have to work at it." He can't wait to leave work to get to it. That's the way you have to feel about your relationship. If you feel that you have to work at it — a constant business of looking the other way, sweeping stuff under the rug, compromising — it's not working.
Do you feel that way now with [your wife] Soon-Yi Previn?
I lucked out in my last relationship. I've been married now for 20 years, and it's been good. I think that was probably the odd factor that I'm so much older than the girl I married. I'm 35 years older, and somehow, through no fault of mine or hers, the dynamic worked. I was paternal. She responded to someone paternal. I liked her youth and energy. She deferred to me, and I was happy to give her an enormous amount of decision-making just as a gift and let her take charge of so many things. She flourished. It was just a good-luck thing.
Luck is something you play with in your movies often.
Yes, I'm a big believer in that.
But when you found Soon-Yi, when did you know that this relationship worked? I must say from afar — to the general public — it's a bit harder to understand.
I thought it was ridiculous.
So run me through your thought process back in late '80s.
I started the relationship with her and I thought it would just be a fling, it wouldn't be serious. But it had a life of its own. And I never thought it would be anything more. Then we started going together, then we started living together, and we were enjoying it. And the age difference didn't seem to matter. It seemed to work in our favor, actually.
She enjoyed being introduced to many, many things that I knew from experience, and I enjoyed showing her those things. She took them, and outstripped me in certain areas that I showed her. That's why I'm a big believer in luck. I feel that you can't orchestrate those things. Two people come along, and they have a trillion exquisite needs and neuroses and nuances, and they have to mesh. And if one of them doesn't mesh, it causes a lot of trouble. It's like the trace vitamin not being in your body. It's a tiny little thing, but if you don't have it, you die.
Director and actor Woody Allen poses on the red carpet in Rome in 2012. A debate is raging in the media and social media over allegations that Allen sexually abused his daughter two decades ago.

MEDIA

Abuse Allegations Revive Woody Allen's Trial By Media

The separation between church and state, artists and their personal lives — do you think the allegations [that you sexually abused your adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow] have affected how people approach your movies?
I would say no. I always had a small audience. People did not come in great abundance, and they still don't, and I've maintained the same audience over the years. If the reviews are bad, they don't come. If the reviews are good, they probably come.
You really don't believe they carry that external baggage into the theater?
Not for a second. It has no meaning in the way I make movies, too. I never see any evidence of anything in my private life resonating in film. If I come out with a film people want to see, they flock to see it, which means they see it to the degree ofManhattan or Annie Hall or Midnight in Paris. That's my outer limits. If I come out with a film they don't want to see, they don't come.
At the end of it all, what do you want to be remembered for?
People always ask me this now that I'm turning 80, but I don't really care. It wouldn't matter to me, aside from the royalties to my kids, if they took all my films and dumped them. You and I could be standing over [William] Shakespeare's grave, singing his praises, and it doesn't mean a thing. You're extinct.
Sam Fragoso is a writer and editor whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Playboy and elsewhere. A book of his interviews with emerging filmmakers, titled Talk Easy, will be published by The Critical Press in 2016.