Words With Woody

The "Jewish News" travels to New York for
a firsthand glimpse of the famed filmmaker
and his "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" all-star cast.

MGAIL ZINIMERNIAN
Arts 6. Entertainment Editor

W

oody Allen strolls
into a conference
room in New York's
Le Parker Meridien Hotel nurs-
ing a cup of chamomile tea.
"My two sweet baby daugh-
ters have colds and I always get
everything that they have for
the maximum length of time
and maximum virulence, and
so, you know, they have small
colds and I have this terrible
cold. And they're cured much
quicker than me, but I'm
fine," he says, sounding con-
gested — and like a character
out of one of his own films.
The occasion is a press jun-
ket for Allen's latest project,

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion,

and the Detroit Jewish News
has been invited to speak with
Woody and four of the
writer/director's co-stars:
Helen Hunt, Dan Aykroyd,
David Ogden Stiers and
Elizabeth Berkley.
Allen, at 65 years of age —
wearing his famed black horn-
rim glasses, a navy blazer,
blue-checked shirt and khakis
— appears younger in person
than he does on the screen,

where he plays top-notch
suddenly find out there's a lot
insurance investigator CJ
of fallacies we've been believ-
Briggs in a comic homage to
ing over the years."
the film noir of the 1940s.
One actor who believes that
Despite the WASP-y sound-
Allen's humor is Jewish
ing name, Allen's character is a
humor — fallacy or not — is
lot like the neurotic Jewish per-
Dan Aykroyd, who plays
sona audiences have come to
Woody's boss, Mr. Magruder.
expect in his more than 30 years
"Woody's humor, like all
of filmmaking, although in per-
American humor, is rooted in
son — sounding thoughtful,
the Yiddish Theater of the turn
soft-spoken and mostly serious
of the century in New York
— he exhibits none of the
and in the Catskills humor of
speech patterns or mannerisms
the '50s," asserts Aykroyd.
of his on-screen characters.
"In all his movies, it's 'this is
Furthermore, Allen isn't
who I am and I'm going to
sure that his brand of self-
insert myself in different peri-
deprecating humor is particu-
ods of history. I'm going to be
larly Jewish in roots.
myself essentially [and] con-
"You hear that all the time
vey the persona that is angst
and it may be true, but I don't ridden and troubled and has
know," he says. "Because self-
all the human foibles' that we
deprecating humor is all
know and identify, [with
around in comedians; its a
Woody], yet interface with
staple of comedians.
these historical situations that
"Buster Keaton, who wasn't
may seem incongruous.
Jewish, also was deadpan and
Helen Hunt takes the part of
made fun of himself and was
Betty Ann Fitzgerald, an effi-
self-deprecating. And Bob
ciency expert brought into the
Hope [plays] a coward's coward office to modernize the firm.
and chases after beautiful girls
Although she's embroiled in
and makes fun of himself I
an affair with Magruder, she
don't know if it's a Jewish trait.
falls under a hypnotist's spell
"It could be one of those
and, at times, finds that she's
things that if somebody really
attracted to Allen's character
did a big study on it, we'd
in spite of herself.

"

Woody Allen on
sell:deprecating honor :•
"I don't know ifits
particularly Jewish."

Playing opposite Paul Reiser
in the TV sitcom Mad About
You, Hunt explains, prepared
her for her star turn with
Woody Playing Off the neurot-
ic New York Jew is "an express
train to funny," she says.
When asked what women
find attractive about the real-
life Woody — in the movie he
admits he's too old, too short,
too nearsighted and too bald-
ing for her — Hunt says
"smart and funny and kind are
not at the bottom of the list."
Elizabeth Berkley, who
plays Jill, the "good-girl"
office secretary, echoes the
delight these actors unani-
mously express at being cast
in a Woody Allen film.
"[Woody] is brilliant, sup-
portive and creative," she says.
"He really came in and let me
do my thing without much
direction. There was some-
thing in his silence, and just
from the mere fact of casting

.

ing teacher Barbara Fink of Miss Barbara's Dance
Centre in West Bloomfield.
"She taught me my discipline, my work — and
my work ethic. And she taught me to follow my
dreams and go after what I want with a great deal of
passion that I naturally have for what I do. She
never thought my dreams were a joke, so that's pret-
ty amazing. I love her so much," says Berkley; tears
coming to her huge green eyes.
"It's so important to deal with children in a way that
you support their dreams, because at any age, we always
have to have dreams. Otherwise we're dead inside."
Shortly after moving out to California, Berkley
landed her role on Saved by the Bell, and spent her
teenage years "with six teenagers going through the
same thing" she was.
"It's like my high school yearbook. We went
through first everythings together," Berkley recalls.

She left the program — which still airs in reruns
around the world — as the group graduated from high
school, declining to continue on the series into the col-
lege years so she could pursue a film career — and a
degree in English literature. She's still taking classes for
her bachelor of art degree when she's not filming.
"I'm on the eight-year plan," she laughs. "I've had
to take the last two years off, and every time I sign
up for a class, I get a part."
The role of Jessie made her famous.
"She's recognized by little kids and their fathers,"
says her brother, Dr. Jason Berkley, 31, of West
Bloomfield, a neurologist who's finishing up a fel-
lowship in neurophysiology at Henry Ford Medical
Center in Detroit after completing his residency at
Botsford Hospital in Farmington Hills.
"She's very nice about it and happy to talk to
people. She's very level headed and not this glitzy ,

.

me, there was sort of an
unspoken faith I knew he had
in me which allowed me to
really trust my instincts."
David Ogden Stiers is an
actor whose instincts Allen
has trusted time and again.
He plays the role of VoItan, a
hypnotist from Brooklyn —
"one tired Catskill performer
who really wants to retire fast"
-- and initiates the twists and
turns of the crime caper.
Curse is Stiers' fifth movie
with Woody. When asked if
he's the filmmaker's muse, he
self-mockingly replies: "Me?
I'm a goy from Illinois. I'm
amazed I've done five of them
and question my good for-
tune constantly."
Despite their film associa-
tion, Stiers says he knows "less
about [Woody] now than I
thought I knew about him
when I met him. I've never
socialized with the man.
WOODY on page 64

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stereotype, so it's really fun when people come up
and talk to her. She's known [in the business] as
being a genuine, nice person," he says of
Elizabeth, whom he calls "his best friend."

Bouncing Back

In conversation, Elizabeth Berkley is articulate, con-
fident and poised. Over the past five years she's been
building her career through a series of small parts
that she and her management feel are a good fit with
her ultimate career goals, although "I always find
that if you plan too much, somehow God will laugh
in your face," she remarks.
Still, "I'm on the right [road] now," says Berkley,
"which is all about building and doing really good
supporting roles with the best actors and directors in

RISING STAR on page 64

8/10
2001

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