Woody Allen takes the old “write what you know” saw to new levels.
No, I’m not talking about how often his characters run rough shod over moral issues. That’s a post for another day. In Allen’s latest film, “Midnight in Paris,” Owen Wilson plays a struggling writer who pines to leave his cushy gig as a Hollywood screenwriter behind him.
It’s hardly the first writer in the Allen film canon:
- “Anything Else” – Jason Biggs plays a comedy writer
- “Celebrity” Kenneth Branagh plays a novelist
- “Deconstructing Harry” – Allen plays a blocked novelist
- “Mighty Aphrodite” Allen plays a sports writer
- “Bullets over Broadway” John Cusack plays a struggling playwright
- “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” – Josh Brolin plays a blocked novelist
I may have missed a few, but I think the point is made.
Aren’t there any plumbers in Manhattan? Real estate agents? Insurance salesmen?
“Midnight in Paris” is now playing in select theaters, but it opens wider May 27.
(Photo: Owen Wilson plays a wannabe novelist in “Midnight in Paris.” Rachel McAdams, right, portrays his fiancée. Sony Pictures Classics)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Plumbers? Realtors? Insurance agents? They are clearly scum and possible Republican fiends compared to the enlightened Holy Grail of all careers…Compassionate Writer (cue Angels singing…now).
I am a writer (as yet unpublished), and I’ve always wondered, why don’t people like Woody Allen (and Stephen King) understand we’re intrinsically the least interesting protagonists possible? We’re people who spend large amounts of time all by ourselves, coming up with unpleasant things for imaginary people to go through. Why would anyone want to watch or read about our lives?
Honestly, Allen’s narcissism is starting to approach psychosis.
Well Tom I agree with you I cant stand watching anything Woody Allen has ever produced and that goes double for Stephen King who is more camp than anything else.
Woody Allen is boring with a capital Bleh.
Great point, Tom. It just seems to be laziness as well as narcissism. Why take the time to research a character’s profession when he (and others) can write about his own? The whole idea that a writer is the perfect everyman because he is a good observer and can interpret what’s going on is overdone.