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Woody Allen Talks New York
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 18, 2009
Modified Jun 18, 2009
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 18, 2009
Modified Jun 18, 2009
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Now that the American Apparel mess is behind him, Woody Allen can get back to talking about what he loves: movies and New York City. USA Today and Tribeca Film have interviews with the director, who says he's getting priced out of Manhattan! He told them, "I wish I could afford to be here all the time, but it's a very expensive city to work in. It's gotten worse for me. It's gotten better in that they give you tax breaks. But everything (else) has gone up. I work on a very limited budget." He noted that it would cost about an extra $3 million to film in New York in comparison to overseas.
His latest film, Whatever Works, brought him back to the city after being somewhat of a cinematic ex-pat. This one will mostly focus on the Upper East Side and Chinatown, but after that he's back across the pond (his next two films will be shot in London and Paris).
He told the paper, "I could do another 50 pictures about New York, but I can't afford to do it. New York itself is very inspiring. If I take a walk in the morning on Madison Avenue and I look at people going to work and kids going to school, I'm full of ideas about wanting to do stories about the city." However, he also says it's hard to come up with new locations after using the city as a backdrop for so long ("You start to run out of places after 25, 30 years of doing it")—but surely there's plenty of neighborhoods that could use the Woody Allen treatment! Where would you like to see him film?
Tagged
budget
filming
manhattan
movies
new york city
woody allen
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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