Allen’s cinematic therapy

Woody Allen keeps making films in order to keep his sanity, said Charles McGrath in The Wall Street Journal. “You know in a mental institution they sometimes give a person some clay or some basket weaving?” says the 77-year-old director, whose 48th feature, Blue Jasmine, came out this week. “It’s the therapy of movie-making that has been good in my life. If you don’t work, it’s unhealthy. I could sit here suffering from morbid introspection, ruing my mortality. But it’s very therapeutic to get up and think, ‘Can I get this actor; does my third act work?’ All these solvable problems that are delightful puzzles, as opposed to the great puzzles of life that are unsolvable. So I get pleasure from doing this. It’s my version of basket weaving.” Allen says he’ll keep making a new movie every year as long as he’s physically able. He just wishes he could still indulge his wish to play the romantic lead. “It’s an inevitable disaster of aging, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t play the scenes where I’m sitting opposite Diane Keaton or Judy Davis. If I think of parts for myself now, all I can be is Pop, the lovable doorman backstage at the theater who takes phone numbers for the guys, or the psychiatrist, or the amiable dad at the wedding.” He sighs. “I like to be the lover.”

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up