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CelebritiesALert) Woody Allen examines nostalgia among other topics in "Midnight in Paris," the latest in his string of films set in Europe.
The movie transports its protagonist, played by Owen Wilson, back to the good old days of the Belle Epoque and 1920s Paris, and sees Allen concluding that, really, he would have been miserable during any age, golden or not.
Allen, 75, talked to about what he longs for, if he gets nostalgic about filming in New York and what he dislikes about technology and other modern pleasures.
Q. You still write your scripts on a typewriter
A. "I don't own a word processor; I am not a gadget person."
Q. So have you escaped the likes of Twitter and Facebook
A. "Twitter -- I have no idea what Twitter is. But Facebook I know, because I saw the movie and I liked the movie. So I know what Facebook is. And I have a website, which I have never seen in my life and have no idea how it works or what the point of it is, but people have done it for me."
Q. So how do you adapt to the world of iPods and iPads
A. "I have a telephone, a cell phone, but I can do on it is cout and receive calls. I don't have any other use, I have no, what do you cit, text number
"You ever see old people and their television set has tape over a lot of the buttons so they can't make a mistake So they can't access those buttons, they can only turn it on and turn it off ... I am exactly that way, as long as there is two buttons to press, I can do it."
Q. As a former TV writer, what do you think about the state of TV these days, of reality TV, of Snooki on 'Jersey Shore'
A. "I never see any of that. I see the names in the papers and things but I don't even know what that is. I do watch television but not that. I watch sports almost exclusively."
Q. Your latest film, "Midnight in Paris" examines nostalgia, what do you get nostalgic about
A. "I do get nostalgic in a weak moment ... thinking back and thinking, 'Gee, it was great to be able to play stick bin the street and go run into the house and take a shower and eat some unhealthy food' -- not having any idea it was unhealthy or caring even if I knew -- but I didn't. It was a simpler life. But then when I stop and think, really Go back to that life, was it so nice It wasn't. I hated school, I did terribly, I had kinds of problems. It was pretty terrible."
Q. Have your thoughts on mortality changed recently
A. "No, I was against it when I was five when I was first became conscious of it. I have remained adversarial. We are hard-wired by nature to resist dying, to be self-preserving, to take care of ourselves, to fight for our lives, so I am no different than anyone else in that way. I may differ in this sense, I may belong to that group of people where it is on our consciousness more frequently. But there is nothing we can do it about it, but we probably suffer more, because we are not able to block it out as easily. Everyone is provided with a denial mechanism, mine is faulty."
Q. Why do you get respected so much in Europe
A. "I think I gain something in the translation ... I make a film and over Europe, over the world, they love it, because possibly they are not seeing my mistakes."
Q. Are you too much for the Middle American mentality
A. "Yes, we are a very religious country, but to me that is their problem. I don't subscribe to it. I am not religious or prudish. In that way I am slightly more European, but you will find that a certain amount of that more in New York, I think, rather than the rest of the country. New York is the closest we have to a European city. As you get out in the country it doesn't become a very puritanical and very raised eyebrows, but you can't give in an inch to that because that way lies sterility and death."
Q. Still, critics like this film. Do you think America is ready to forgive you for your past scandals
A: "What was the scandal I fell in love with this girl, married her. We have been married for almost 15 years now.
"There was no scandal, but people refer to it the time as a scandal and I kind of like that in way because when I go I would like to say I had one real juicy scandal in my life."
Q. Do you miss filming in Central Park in 'the fall'
A. "No, I love new York. And I am sure I will come back and work here, the only two things that have kept me from here is when a foreign place has put up the money and insisted that I work there or I couldn't afford to work here."
Q. Will your next film in Italy be inspired by Fellini
A. "No. Why Fellini ... Why not Antonioni No, it is not inspired by anybody. It is just a comedy, not a romantic comedy, but an out-and-out comedy."
(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
Richard Gere Voices Tibet Concern At Seoul Exhibition CelebritiesALert
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 5:54 PM
SEOUL Hollywood star Richard Gere on Wednesday voiced concern at what he called torture and killing in Tibet, during a visit to South Korea to promote an exhibition of photos he took in the Himalayan territory.
Gere said some of the images in the exhibition illustrated what he called the political oppression faced by his "Tibetan brothers and sisters".
The "Pretty Woman" and "Chicago" actor is a longtime campaigner for the rights of Tibetans and a vocal critic of the Chinese government's treatment of Tibetan independence activists.
"I think it's impossible to look at these photographs and not realise the extraordinary suffering of the Tibetan people," he said.
One photo shows several drawings depicting the torture of Tibetan nuns by Chinese authorities. Gere said he found the drawings on the wof a convent in Dharamshala, the Indian city where Tibet's government in exile is based.
He said he took the photograph in 1998 or 1999.
"The same kind of torture, the same kind of deaths... in Chinese prisons in Tibet are still taking place today," said Gere, who appeared before Congress early this month to urge greater US support for Tibetan rights.
The actor, a convert to Buddhism, on Tuesday toured the Jogye temple in central Seoul, the headquarters of the religion's biggest sect in South Korea, with his wife and son.
