Update: Woody Allen says reports of his retirement are untrue. "Woody Allen never said he was retiring, (nor) did he say he was writing another novel," the filmmaker says in a statement cited by Deadline. "He said he was thinking about not making films as making films that go straight or very quickly to streaming platforms is not so enjoyable for him, as he is a great lover of the cinema experience. Currently, he has no intention of retiring and is very excited to be in Paris shooting his new movie, which will be the 50th." Our original story from Sunday follows:
Woody Allen says he intends for the film going into production in Europe this fall to be his last. The director made the comments to La Vanguardia, a Spanish newspaper, Entertainment Weekly reports. "My idea, in principle, is not to make more movies and focus on writing," he said. Next, he plans to write a novel. The film, Wasp 22, is a French-language thriller, per Yahoo Entertainment, and will be the 86-year-old director's 50th. Allen hasn't stopped writing; a collection of humor pieces, Zero Gravity, is being published this month.
Abuse allegations against Allen in the US have led him to do more of his film work in Europe, per NBC News; Allen has denied any wrongdoing. The publishing industry has been less supportive, as well: One publisher scrapped plans to handle his memoir Apropos of Nothing after employees objected. Another company then published it. The changes in the way people watch movies has taken much of the fun out of filmmaking for Allen, he's said. It used to be that when he made a film, Allen told Alec Baldwin in an Instagram Live this summer, "it would go into movie houses all over the country, and people would come by the hundreds to watch it in big groups on a big screen." A new film now has a short stay in theaters, "then it goes right to streaming or right to Pay-Per-View," Allen said, adding, "so it's not as enjoyable to me as it was." (More Woody Allen stories.)
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