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West Bloomfield Plaza • 6638 Telegraph Road and Maple • 248-851-0313
1/21
2000
88
4
JN: One looks at your career in the
context of the American film industry
and it is really extraordinary the way
that you work, the control that you
have over your work. Even though
your films have not been block-
busters, you have a loyal audience. Is
this the ideal way for you to work?
WA: Well, it's a very good ques-
tion. It is a very good way of working
and I am very happy. I would love to
have a film or any of my films reach a
wide public, but I would never do
anything to make that happen. I
would never sit home and think, "Do
not do this idea because it will not
reach a big public or do this idea
because everyone will like it."
I make the films that I want to make
and I hope that one day I will get lucky
and there will be a big audience. I've
made almost 30
films, and I've had
some hits bigger than
others, but very few
of those. But as long
as there is enough
audience all over the
world for it and
nobody gets hurt too
much financially,
then I'm able to
function and it
makes me very
happy. •
I'm one of the
few filmmakers that
have this great luck
to be able to make a
film about any sub-
ject I like. Nobody says, "Please put
a big star in it."
So it is a great position to be in. I've
often said this. The only thing standing
between me and greatness is me. There
is no excuse for me not to be the great-
est filmmaker in the world because I
can do whatever I want, and the only
reason that I'm not is because I can't.
about how much money [films] make
— because none of it is important —
I'd be better off.
The only important thing is to try
and do good work, and in the long
run reality will take care of itself. If I
make good films, no matter what
they say about them, they will be
meaningful to people, and if I make
poor films, they will deservedly fall
away and be forgotten.
So that is what I do. I really don't
ever read anything so I don't ever
know, and even when people say to
me — friends will sometimes say,
"We got such a wonderful thing writ-
ten about this film in this magazine
or this newspaper" — I never read it.
I never do.
I would prefer that they don't tell
me because all of these things, they're
superficial distractions from what is
important. What is important is the
work.
"The most
pleasurable part
of any movie
for me is at the
end when I get
to add the music."
JN: How do handle negative criti-
cism?
WA: I don't read it. One of the
defense mechanisms that I have is to
be like an ostrich, and it has worked
very well for me. It has certain draw-
backs definitely. You pay a certain
price for it, but it also has certain
advantages. Years and years ago, I
realized if I just work, if I don't read
about myself, don't listen to people
who want to say, "Oh, he is such a
genius or he is such an idiot," if I just
work and forget about that, forget
— Woody Allen
JN: Are you ever concerned that as a
filmmaker you might be repeating
yourself, and how do you avoid that?
WA: Well, sometimes I don't avoid it.
I try to avoid it if I'm aware of it.
I change what I'm writing or I change
what I'm filming. But, you know, I
have many ideas. I've just been very
lucky that way.
I have not been one of those writers
[who] is intimidated by a blank page.
When I buy a ream of paper at the
store, I feel like Picasso. He would see
a blank space and he had to fill it up. I
feel I can't wait to fill them all up.
I have many ideas and I write
them, and usually I can remember
when I'm duplicating myself but
sometimes I don't. Sometimes I
make a mistake and will duplicate
something I've done before or some
idea will be quite similar to some-
thing I've done in the past, and then I
pay the price.