He Left His Art In San Francisco

Wood Allen is shooting his latest film in New York and San Francisco.  It'll feature Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, Lous C.K., Sally Hawkins, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Emerson and Andrew "Dice" Clay.  It must be nice to have actors around the world wanting to work for you at low prices.

For years Woody didn't leave NYC, but--for money reasons more than artistic, I believe--he's recently been making films in Europe.  It's probably good for his art to shake things up a bit, though the script still matters a lot more than the scenery.

Which is why I find this article odd. It states:

Allen said the movie will be filmed this summer in New York and San Francisco - the first time the Oscar-winning director will use San Francisco as his backdrop since his directorial debut in 1969 with "Take The Money And Run."

I know how directors get all the credit these days, but how could they not note that one of the best Woody Allen films, Play It Again, Sam (1972), was filmed in San Francisco?  Okay, it was directed by Herbert Ross, but Woody wrote the screenplay, as well as the Broadway hit it was adapted from, and starred in it.  Seems significant enough to mention in any piece about an artistic return to the City by the Bay.

(The picture above is from one of my favorite scenes in Play It Again, Sam or, indeed, any Woody Allen movie, with dialogue that reminds you what a sharp joke writer he was:

Allan:  That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollock, isn't it?
Woman In Museum: Yes, it is.

Allan: What does it say to you?

Woman In Museum:  It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity like a tiny flame flickering in an immense void with nothing but waste, horror and degradation, forming a useless bleak straitjacket in a black absurd cosmos.

Allan:  What are you doing Saturday night?

Woman In Museum: Committing suicide.

Allan:  What about Friday night?)