--- title: 10 Questions for Woody Allen | TIME description: He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal. canonical: https://time.com/video/mMtpeo9a/ og:title: 10 Questions for Woody Allen og:description: He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal. og:url: https://time.com/video/mMtpeo9a/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mMtpeo9a/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 10 Questions for Woody Allen twitter:description: He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mMtpeo9a/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # 10 Questions for Woody Allen > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: 10 Questions for Woody Allen [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Questions for Woody Allen](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mMtpeo9a.m3u8) (8:03)  _Published 2008-01-18. He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal._ --- Jul 27, 2023 12:41 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Soon-Yi Previn Addresses Sexual Abuse Claims Against Husband Woody Allen, Drawing Rebukes From Farrow Family](/video/dayYkY8I/) ### Soon-Yi Previn Addresses Sexual Abuse Claims Against Husband Woody Allen, Drawing Rebukes From Farrow Family [10 Questions with Barry Gibb](/video/P97kwePX/) ### 10 Questions with Barry Gibb [Woody Allen Denies Latest Abuse Claims](/video/3NzFSx5B/) ### Woody Allen Denies Latest Abuse Claims --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] You used to express a desire to read Moby Dick. Has this wish been fulfilled? Yes, I read Moby Dick [ COUGH ] while I was making the movie Love and Death. I, I filmed in Budapest and when I came back from work each night, there was absolutely nothing to do in Budapest at the time when I was there, it was a drab city, and the Russian Army occupied it. So I would come back to my hotel, and read Moby Dick. And and I finished it, started and finished it while I was shooting Love and Death in Budapest and, and liked it very, very much. But I never would've thought I would've loved anything at all that remotely revolved around whaling. [ LAUGH ] This is from Rohit Sang in New York City. Mm- hm. I understand that you are more of a musician than a singer. But when you are in the shower, or in the car alone, or doing karaoke, what one song do you like to just belt out? I can sing in the shower, and my repertoire is limitless. And I can sing anything in the shower and I, you know, I sing all the jazz and pop tunes, all the Cole Porter tunes. And my rendition of Easy To Love by Cole Porter is probably as good one could hear, in the shower. [ LAUGH ] Outside of the shower I start to have some problems with reality. Speaking as a young neurotic person, has being neurotic in life done more good or more harm, in your experience? Well, it's interesting, people tend to think that I'm neurotic. And this I feel is a testimony to my acting ability. Over the years I've played the neurotic and I've played it so well I think. It's I'm not a good actor but that I can do. And I played that one little thing that I can do well. That is a neurotic character so effectively that people tend to think I'm neurotic in my life. When in fact, the truth of the matter is, if you looked at my entire life you'd find that I, I'm not really very neurotic, I'm very structured, normal. I have a wife now of ten years. I have two kids that I'm devoted to. I have been very productive my whole life. I don't sit around brooding and contemplating suicide or getting high or, or dissipating myself. I've been a very disciplined worker. I have my jazz orchestra that I, requires practice and discipline and I play with. I have my writing and I've been able to do all these things on an ongoing basis for years and, and a neurotic personality would have trouble with that. So I think that, that that I, I'm not neurotic, that I'm very middle class blue collar. Beer drinking, television, T- shirt jerk at home. Not someone who's ensconced in Kierkegaard or Spinoza and but my image is quite different cuz of what I've played. Do you agree with Picasso's quote, good artists copy, but great artists steal, and if so, who have you stolen from? Oh, I've stolen from the best. I mean, I've stolen from, from Bergman. I've stolen from Groucho. I've stolen from Chaplin. I've stolen from Keaton. From from Martha Graham. From Fellini. I mean, I, I'm shameless thief. At what point did you begin to note that the character that you played in some of your films have become a pop culture phenomenon, i. e ., that's such Woody Allen dialogue? And does that flatter you or do you find it annoying? No, I've never found it as the problem. If, if, if you found it, you've found something that I've never found. I, I've never felt and I don't say this with any bitterness, or anger, or disappointment cuz it's not something that I was interested in. I've never influenced anybody, to the best of my knowledge, in any way. So, when I see people making films, they make them like Scorsese makes them, they make them like Spielberg makes them, they make them like Stanley Kubrick made them. I make my films for my own enjoyment, my own therapy. I'm not familiar with the phenomenon that the, the questioner is posing. You don't think that the, the modern romantic comedy, however poorly done it is, at least owes to some degree to your invention in the 70s. The relationship, sort of modern man and woman comedy. If it is, I don't see it. I, I, didn't see anything revolutionary about it at that time. So, so I, I don't. Is there any possibility you could make another movie with Diane Keaton. I've got them all. [ COUGH ] Yes there would be. I mean, I wou -, you know, if there was an idea for Keaton and me, or I had an idea that would be great for her. She'd be the first person that I would call. And we're very good friends and we [ COUGH ] love to work together. There just hasn't been anything that's occurred to me that would be good for us, but, you know, would be a pleasure to work with her again. We love to work with each other. Sheila Levine, Simi Valley, California. How is it that Woody Allen just gets better and better looking the older he gets? Well, it's nice of her to say that. You know, I probably started very bad, when I was younger. And anything that happens is registered as an improvement. You've worked with everyone. But has anyone ever said, no thanks, I'll pass? Many people have. There's a myth that all I do is call up any actor or actress and they drop whatever they're doing and work with me. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I don't like to name names here, but there've been actors and actresses that have passed because the money was not enough. Passed because they didn't like the script that I sent them. So, I've, yes I have been turned down any number of times. Now I've had a good many acceptances. But it has certainly not been a perfect record by any means. I never ever hold that against anyone who, it never occurred to me to. I offered Sean Penn three movies before he did Sweet and Lowdown. I've offered other people, you know, that, I, I have no problem with that at all. You could turn down my movies, a dozen times and if I have a part that's good for you, I'll always offer it to you and hope for the best. Do you have a dream project, a script sitting somewhere waiting to made, made into a film, just waiting for the right producer or the right actor? No, I, I don't, I mean, I, I finish a thing, that's why I said blue collar before I finish a movie. And then I sit around for a couple of days and, you know, and I think, what the hell am I doing? You know, it's boring and I start working on something else and I try and come up with a new idea. What are those couple of days when you're finished a project, actually like? I'm trying to figure out what it is I'm supposed to be doing to enjoy myself and unwind, having finished a project. So I finish a project, let's say, on a Friday or a Monday. And, and I go home and I think, well, this is great. I finished and now I can, and then I can't complete the sentence. And I, I think, well, what do I wanna do? Well, I wanna practice my instrument. And I'd like to write. These are the things I enjoy doing. So, you know, I kind of hold it back for a day or two and go for a walk or, but I, but very quickly I can't stand it and I get back into writing. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Questions for Woody Allen","description":"He's brilliant at portraying neurotics of all kinds. But the multitalented director swears he's actually quite normal.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mMtpeo9a/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2008-01-18T22:33:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mMtpeo9a.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/mMtpeo9a/","duration":"PT8M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/mMtpeo9a/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```