A few outstanding quotes from Mr. Woody Allen taken during his press conference in Cannes this week,
i wanted to share with you-Needless to say i agree with him completely on everything (life, death and old age)
On Saturday, Woody Allen, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, returned to France – where he continues to be embraced by French audiences – for the world premiere of his latest film “You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger” at the Cannes Film Festival. While the film doesn’t diverge much from the American director’s familiar themes of love, death, and older men and younger woman, Allen was in top form at the press conference, delivering responses to the international press as if speaking lines from one of his early-career comedy routines.
When asked about the film’s cynical view of life and romance, Allen responded, “I have a very grim perspective. I do feel that it’s a grim, painful, nightmarish meaningless existence, and the only way to be happy is if you tell yourself some lies. One must have some delusions to live.”
Set in London, the film comes across as far less misanthropic, however, in following the interconnected romantic foibles of a struggling writer (Josh Brolin), his wife (Naomi Watts) and her parents (Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones). But Allen did acknowledge that the May-December romance, between Hopkins’ elderly dad and a young prostitute in the film, has a “more ominous quality” than in some of his recent movies.
He also admitted that he didn’t act in his films anymore because he was too old to play the romantic lead. “And it’s no fun not playing the guy who gets the girl,” he said. “I like to be the one who sits in the restaurant and looks into their eyes and lies to them.”
“I find getting older a lousy deal,” Allen explained. “There is no advantage in getting older. I’m 74 now, and you don’t get smarter, wiser, more mellow or kindly. Your back hurts more; your eyesight isn’t as good. It’s a bad business. I advise you to avoid it if you can. It’s better to be younger and get the girl.”
When asked how he felt about death, Allen deadpanned, “My relationship to death remains the same. I’m strongly against it.”
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