At The Movies

Typecasting?

In "Hollywood Ending,"
Woody Allen plays

a neurotic filmmaker.

Woody Allen and Debra Messing in "Hollywood Ending."

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MICHAEL FOX

Special to the Jewish News

W

oody Allen has long been protective of
both his work and his private life. So an
interview with him is a slightly somber
exercise in reading between the lines.
Low-key and serious during a press day at a
Manhattan hotel for his latest comedy, Hollywood
Ending, Allen serves up few ripostes. But if it's
shtick youwant, supporting actress Debra Messing
(of Will and Grace) is happy to oblige.
The Jewish comedienne plays the bimbo-actress
girlfriend of Allen's character, a once-respected
movie director struck with psychosomatic blind-
ness on the set of his comeback film.
While Allen chose distinctively Jewish actor and
director Mark Rydell to play his agent, he unex-
pectedly cast the square-jawed Treat Williams and
George Hamilton as senior studio executives. More
often than not, Jews hold these jobs in real life, but
these guys sure don't look Jewish.
"That's right, but nevertheless that's who they
are," Allen says, hinting at the level of assimilation
in Hollywood. "They look like George and they
look like Treat, but they also have seders."
The red-haired Messing had a cameo in Allen's
Celebrity a few years ago, and figured that was to
be her Woody Allen experience. So she .was elated
to be offered a full-fledged role.
"It was always one of my lofty dreams to some
day be in a Woody Allen film," Messing confides.
"Having been born in Brooklyn and being a New
York Jew — so to speak" (she grew up outside of
Providence, R.I.) — "and being raised on Woody
Allen films, his aesthetic and his approach have been
pivotal for me, and sort of defined for me what com-
edy was [when I] growing up," Messing explains.
After filming Hollywood Ending for four days
without a word from her director, the increasingly
apprehensive Messing was gratified when Allen sud-

TYPECASTING on page 82

5/3
2002

80

Woody On Woody

Turner Classic Movies airs documentary and slew of Allen films.

liv

oody Allen fans:
Cancel your plans
for Saturday nights
in May. In addition
to airing 18 of his films unin-
terrupted over four nights,
Turner Classic Movies features

Woody Allen: A Life in Film,

Richard Schickel's spare,
straightforward documentary.
For Allen's fans, the 90 min
utes of Woody's quips and
movie clips offer some insight
into the every-year process of
moviemaking, and thoughtfully
examine the recurring themes
and obsessions of a thoughtful
filmmaker.
Schickel, a film critic for
Time magazine since 1972 who
has previously made documen-
taries on film legends including
Alfred Hitchcock, James Cagney
and Elia. Kazan, departed from
his usual format for the Allen
film.
Rather than have a narrator to
chart the course of Allen's life in
film, writer/producer/director
Schickel allows writer/produc-
er/director Allen to do all the
speaking for himself.
Culled from 4 1/2 hours of

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen
in "Annie Hall."

interviews, A Life in Film is
simply Woody Allen on Woody
Allen, discussing his work —
not his personal life --- inter-
spersed with scenes from his
films that illustrate his corn-
ments.
(According to People, Mia
Farrow asked that film clips fea-
turing her be cut from the pro-
gram. "She just didn't feel like
doing it, so we edited her out,"

Schickel told the magazine.)
Schickel gets Allen's thoughts
both on individual films and
broader topics, like his transition
from "the early, funny ones" to
his more serious work, and lately
back again to comedies.
If you're planning to watch
18 of his films, you should
take this self-deprecating
assessment to heart — "I have
no acting range," Allen admits
in one fun segment: "I play a
guy who lives in New York.
The two things I can play are
an intellectual, because of the
way I look, and a lowlife,
because of the way I am."
Encore!

— Mike Levy
Jewish Journal of
Greater Los Angeles

Woody Allen: A Life in Film

premieres on Turner Classic
Movies 8 p.m. Saturday, May
4, followed by a screening of
his Academy Award-winning
Annie Hall at 9:30 p.m. For a
complete schedule, go to
www.turnerdassicmovies.com .