Woody Allen has hinted at a possible end to his illustrious career as a director after his last release struggled to find a distributor within an “unattractive and unromantic” film industry.
The Academy Award-winning filmmaker claims that the “romanticism” of contemporary cinema in an industry he helped define in the 1970s and beyond has disappeared, prompting him to consider his own future as a director.
“The whole business has changed, and not in an attractive way,” Allen, 88, said. Airmail. ‘All the romance of filmmaking is gone.’
Allen’s comments came after he struggled to find a North American distributor for his latest film, Coup de Chance, but the director insists he isn’t confident about buying one.
He added, “I don’t care if I get distributed here or not. Once I make it, I don’t follow it anymore. Distribution is no longer what it used to be.’
Woody Allen has hinted at a possible end to his illustrious directorial career after his last release struggled to find a distributor within an ‘unattractive and unromantic’ film industry
Citing his seminal 1977 film Annie Hall, Allen claimed that it was “in theaters for over a year,” while “distribution now lasts two weeks in theaters.”
“Now the distribution lasts two weeks in theaters… and then that’s it,” he said. “I mean, Annie Hall played in movie houses in New York for a little over a year. It would sit in one theater for six, seven months, and then someone would pick it up and it would hang around for a few more months.”
Allen also addressed cancel culture in the AirMail interview, following years of declining popularity in the United States in the wake of further investigations following allegations of sexual misconduct against him by adopted stepdaughter Dylan Farrow in 1992.
Allen, who has denied the allegations, was not charged after a 1993 investigation by authorities in Connecticut.
“Someone asked me about cancel culture, and I said, ‘If you get canceled, this is the culture you want to be canceled from,’” Allen said. ‘Because who wants to be part of this culture?’
Allen, whose $68 million contract with Amazon Studios to make four films was canceled amid the #MeToo movement, has had difficulty finding distributors for his films in recent years.
Coup de Chance, a dramatic comedy starring Lou de Laâge, Niels Schneider and Anna Laik, is the fiftieth feature film that Allen has made.
The film was released in theaters on April 5 and will be released on digital/VOD services on April 12 by MPI Media Group, following the film’s debut last fall at the Venice Film Festival, according to a February 12 item from The Hollywood Reporter.
Allen, pictured at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, noted that once he finishes making the film, he doesn’t “follow” it afterwards.
Allen, pictured with wife Soon-Yi Previn, 53, at the film festival last fall, says ‘this is the culture you want to be canceled from’
The outlet previously reported this that copies of the film were circulating through ‘a network of file sharing and secret screenings’.
Allen explained why he was disappointed with modern practices on Instagram Live with actor Alec Baldwin in June 2022.
“I’ll probably make another movie, but a lot of the excitement is gone because it doesn’t have the whole cinematic effect,” he said. “When I started, you made a movie and it went to movie houses all over the country and people came.
“Now you make a movie and you’re in an arthouse for a few weeks, maybe six or four weeks, and then it goes straight to streaming or to pay-per-view.”
He added: ‘People love to sit at home and watch their big screens… and they have good sound and a clear picture. It’s not the same as when I got into film. And so I don’t like it very much.’