Talk:Woody Allen

Archives
Beginning of time – June 2006 Sexual abuse allegations, Soon-Yi's stepfather?, original name, Jewish/atheist June 2006-Present

Links

Uh, I don't normally contribute to Wikipedia, so I'm not really sure what to do with these, but I thought someone who's more of a regular here might want to make use of these links.

http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/woody

And

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2009/06/interview_woody.php?page=1

Supposedly the first link is about Whatever Works, but it really isn't. It's more about Woody Allen's worldview. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.149.119.250 (talk) 08:03, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Ancient Greece?

"More recently, Ancient Greece has become a source for ideas." No link, no source, no further details? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shamharush (talk • contribs) 17:06, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Umlaut? Königsberg or Konigsberg?

Hi,

I'm confussed about his official family name. While it's sure that the original form must be Königsberg, I wonder what form he has in his papers... does he have an umlaut in his american passport? German wikipedia lists Konigsberg without umlaut.

popolfi --217.224.15.195 11:51, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

It would be extremely rare for an American family to use such a form. I'm sure the umlaut got dropped as soon as whatever ancestor came over to the United States.—Chowbok ☠ 16:05, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Chowbok is correct. Of course Woody Allen is of German descent and thus he has a German name. Of course, as he is a Yiddish Jew we are not allowed to say he is of German descent so we can keep wikipedia's myth of Jewish racial purity. _ Anon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.86.174 (talk) 11:45, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Please assume good faith. The article doesn't say he has German heritage, it says "His family was Jewish and his grandparents were Yiddish- and German-speaking immigrants." The source doesn't support saying he is German. That's why the category was removed. Wildhartlivie (talk) 21:21, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

In the old Germany existed a city called Königsberg, with umlaut, in the former East Prussia. But I don´t think that the reason is that his family came from this country. Jews took mostly very "soundful" names, like Blumental (valley of flowers), Rosenkranz, Goldberg (gold mountain) etc. Königsberg means: the king´s mountain. 91.221.59.5 (talk) 07:10, 20 February 2013 (UTC)

WP:WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers priority assessment

Per debate and discussion re: assessment of the approximate 100 top priority articles, this article has been included as a top priority article. Wildhartlivie (talk) 09:56, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Categories: Films directed by Woody Allen

Since Woody Allen is a person and not a film, I think this article should not belong to the "Films" category. Agreed? Thanks Kvsh5 (talk) 06:38, 26 September 2009 (UTC) Agreed.Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 08:46, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Allen signed petition defending Roman Polanski

I propose that the following sentence be added to the artcle:

In 2009, Allen signed a petition asking that film director Roman Polanski be released from Swiss custody after Polanski was arrested for raping a 13-year-old girl.

Grundle2600 (talk) 13:08, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

I dont' agree with this:

a) Woody Allen was only one of the signatories, he was not the leading personality behind the petition.

b) Fact that he signed a petition is of minimal importance relating to his biography - while the other initiatives he took part in are not mentioned in the article.

c) The proposed formulation is misleading, as Polanski was detained because of warrant relating to charge over 30 years old, not to any recent charge - and formulation used collides with Wikipedia policy on facts unrelated to the subject of the article, and at the same time violates neutral point of view required by rules for articles on biography of living persons.--ja_62 (talk) 17:15, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Clear BLP violation, selective presentation of facts in order to increase disparaging impact of claim. More generally, content like this should be incorporated into 2009 arrest of Roman Polanski rather than scattered throughout Wikipedia. This is nowhere near significant enough in the context of Allen's life to mention in his biography. Hullaballoo Wolfowitz (talk) 17:59, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Agree. It's factually inaccurate, to start. Polanski was not arrested in Switzerland for child rape, he was arrested on a 30 year old fugitive warrant, not child rape, the petition is not about the crime, but is about the manner and the legality of Polanski's recent arrest. That's a completely different thing, about the process. It is undue weight in regard to that, and it is not relevant to what makes this article subject notable. It's a violation of WP:BLP. Wildhartlivie (talk) 00:35, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

The "woody allen-character" section

I move to delete this section, as it is entirely speculation. Woody Allen has refuted this many times. Reduced to its essence, the section only serves to make two false claims: 1) All the characters in all the Woody Allen films that have ever displayed neuroses are not really several different characters but the same character that he's been working on since the 60's. 2) He chooses other actors to play that one character, since he is now too old to play him. --Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 23:04, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree. In essence, that is nothing more than original research/writer opinion. There is nothing establishing that the roles Allen played were a character created by him, much less that he stopped portraying characters in his films because he was too old. The only film in which it could be confirmed that the age factor changed the film plot focus was in Scoop, in which the "crush" was changed from Allen having an interest in Scarlett Johannson to the converse. This isn't appropriate in this article. LaVidaLoca (talk) 14:18, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

His name

If he legally changed his name to Heywood Allen then why is the caption allen stewart konisberg? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.33.237.54 (talk) 00:50, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

• Because the caption is of his birth name. WhisperToMe (talk) 05:56, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
• Shouldn't his legal name appear in the first sentence of the article? E.g. Heywood "Woody" Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg, December 1, 1935) is an American filmmaker... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.84.234.217 (talk) 23:31, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Did he choose that name (as opposed to Woodrow) partly because of Heywood Broun? I've never read anything to that effect, but given the rarity of the name and who Broun was, it seems like too much of a coincidence. Richard K. Carson (talk) 01:28, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Lawsuit with American Apparel

In regards to his lawsuit, is there an article that has information about it? If not, should there be a section about it in this article? I found out about it from seeing the American Apparel press release about the settlement: http://www.americanapparel.net/presscenter/dailyupdate/dailyUp.asp?d=52&t=1724 WhisperToMe (talk) 05:56, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't think so. It seemed like a big deal to me, while it was happening, but in the grand scheme of things Woody, I don't think it bears much relevance. I think it bears more relevance regarding things American Apparel. If you still think it should be mentioned, I recommend inserting it into the "Work about or inspired by Woody Allen" section.--Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 06:59, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Woody's umlaut

LOL- Nice catch, Sara's Song. On both counts.--Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 04:53, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Sara's Song (talk) 06:44, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Re: Ronan Seamus Farrow

I'm not so sure that we really need Woody's son's assessment in this article. I'm curious what other editors think.--Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 08:19, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

I removed it because it had no reliable source. Was there one and I missed it?

--Javaweb (talk) 00:52, 6 April 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

Agnositicism/atheism

God and the meaning of life is an important part of Allen's work,[1] and he is himself an agnostic/atheist who has made comments about the meaninglessness of life (e.g. "Your perception of time changes as you get older, because you see how brief everything is. You see how meaningless … I don't want to depress you, but it's a meaningless little flicker"[2]; "... I'm spiritually empty 'cause I am an atheist and I've never found any consolation for the misery of life and the terror of what we go through, and I'm talking existentially now, not politically."[3]), but there's nothing in the article about this aspect of his work and life. I'm not sure how to best incorporate it though. Fences&Windows 13:32, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

The chart about recurring collaborators

How do editors feel about this. I think it's tacky, takes up too much room and is not needed. If editors feel it's important to the article than fine but wouldn't putting it in prose be better than this? Opinions please, thanks, --CrohnieGal^Talk 14:49, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

I agree with you - the table/chart looks messy, is confusing and adds very little value. Not needed. - Josette (talk) 23:53, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

The big black X draws the eye to an aspect of the article that is not the number one priority, and in doing so, it overshadows more relevant content. The template is used in a small number of articles and, although I appreciate that it is used in good faith, I don't think it adds value. I agree with you and Josette. It looks like the exam paper for the worst student in the class, and I think it deserves an "F". Rossrs (talk) 07:16, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Support: "it's tacky, takes up too much room and is not needed". Cheers, Jack Merridew 18:23, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

• I believe this section has morphed into "Actors and actresses in Woody Allen's movies". It's now a long and pointless list, with dozens of names. By comparison, Alfred Hitchcock#Frequently cast actors and actresses includes only ten people, and those specifically because they are frequently cast. Unless someone can defend its inclusion in this article I'll move it to Woody Allen filmography.   Will Beback  talk  12:14, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Copyright problem

This article has been reverted by a bot to this version as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) This has been done to remove User:Accotink2's contributions as they have a history of extensive copyright violation and so it is assumed that all of their major contributions are copyright violations. Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. VWBot (talk) 14:25, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

List of actors/actresses in Allen films

I think this section is useless. The actors and actresses aren't in any order (as far as I can see), and the list isn't even complete. To fix these problems would require a substantial amount of time. Furthermore, is this section even interesting? Perhaps if presented differently (like a category format) it would make more sense, but right now, I would support the deletion of this section. Wolfehhgg (talk) 16:48, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Support deletion m.cellophane (talk)m.cellophane —Preceding undated comment added 04:06, 16 February 2011 (UTC).

Reference needed for statement about Mr. Allen's psychoanalysis

for the statement that Woody Allen ended his psychoanalytic sessions about the same time as he began a relationship with his present wife.

This is presented as his own statement without source.

Expelled from NYU?

It's been reported on several websites that he was expelled from NYU, although the reason isn't quite clear. BrotherSulayman (talk) 05:49, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Mr. Allen has said he was "thrown out". See this Fresh Air transcript and search text for "flunked". --Javaweb (talk) 11:46, 18 April 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

• "Woody Allen On Life, Films And 'Whatever Works'". Fresh Air. June 15, 2009. NPR. http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=105400872. I flunked out. I was thrown out of New York University in my first year there… {{cite episode}}: External link in |transcript= (help)

He says he was uninterested in school at the time so he failed his courses. --Javaweb (talk) 23:02, 27 January 2012 (UTC)Javaweb

Clothing is Singular...

See this example in The NY Times headline.

File:Woody.Allen.band.jpg Nominated for Deletion

	An image used in this article, File:Woody.Allen.band.jpg, has been nominated for deletion at Wikimedia Commons for the following reason: Deletion requests May 2011 What should I do?
	A discussion will now take place over on Commons about whether to remove the file. If you feel the deletion can be contested then please do so (commons:COM:SPEEDY has further information). Otherwise consider finding a replacement image before deletion occurs. This notification is provided by a Bot, currently under trial --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 17:26, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

"Significant Works About Woody Allen" Section

This information contained in the section doesn't seem to warrant its own section. It would probably make more sense if the info here could be integrated into other sections. Any other suggestions?Jpcohen (talk) 20:23, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Interiors

Please reference the film. It has no jokes or humor. "Gloomy" is not "speculation". The previous movies he directed were comedies. "sharp departure" is accurate as well. No speculation involved. Making wikipedia more objective is a good thing. However, none of these statements are controversial and there is no question about objectivity. --Javaweb (talk) 17:28, 21 July 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

No disrespect but labeling the movie "gloomy" is a negative judgement. If you want to add a negative assessment of Interiors, I would recommend finding outside sources. For instance, if an Allen biographer calls the movie "gloomy," then that doesn't break the rules regarding WP:OPINION.Jpcohen (talk) 08:18, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps calling the movie "dark" would seem less judgemental.Jpcohen (talk) 08:20, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

No problem. It helps to have other editors review changes. --Javaweb (talk) 14:28, 22 July 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

Did Allen get good performances from his actors

the removed text is not trivial. It helps answer that question. --Javaweb (talk) 22:05, 11 September 2011 (UTC)Javaweb

It doesn't mention how he got good performances from his actors it just says that some actors and actresses in his movies won awards. It didn't tie into Allen at all, it wasn't him personally winning those awards and it just seemed odd to mention others in a section devoted to the awards that he himself won--GroovySandwich^Yum. 04:22, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

The recent American Masters Doc from PBS mentions this exact thing and I think it's encyclopedic and interesting information about Woody himself to learn how many of the actors and actresses in his films have won awards, especially academy awards, and I've come to this page to find that exact information. I think it should be mentioned. Dancindazed (talk) 20:18, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Atheism

Did he renounce his atheism or something? The cats for him are gone. Rusted AutoParts (talk) 2:29 7 October 2011 (UTC)

potential resource American Masters

Woody Allen: A Documentary premiered November 20 2011 from 9-11 p.m. (ET/PT) and Monday, November 21 from 9-10:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on PBS 99.56.120.136 (talk) 02:20, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

"O.P.S. prices"

Buried in the Talk archives is the explanation that "O.P.S. prices" refers to the Office of Price Stabilization, an agency of the Economic Stabilization Agency, which exist4ed only during the Korean War. I think if the joke is worth including at all, "O.P.S." needs to be explained in the article, not just on the Talk page. While explaining a joke means it will not be funny, it would at least be understandable. If the joke cannot be explained without a lot of tangential exposition, I suggest deleting it as unencyclopedic trivia. jnestorius^(talk) 17:58, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

help with the name of this "film"

Some one knows the name of this film by Woody Allen, in which he play a joker that wants to have sex with a queen... I don't really know if he directed it or if he wrote it

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) --Javaweb (talk) 01:42, 3 September 2012 (UTC)Javaweb

Carla Bruni , French First Lady

There was a change to show Carla Bruni is now the former French first lady. At the time of "Midnight in Paris", Carla Bruni was the current First Lady. Can someone think of a way of wording it that would capture that? --Javaweb (talk) 08:18, 8 September 2012 (UTC)Javaweb I revised the clause of that sentence to, "Carla Bruni, who was the First Lady of France at the time of production." It accurately reflects her status during shooting in a concise way that maintains the flow of the sentence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.151.106.171 (talk) 17:26, 19 March 2013 (UTC)

He' the one

He is so good. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.254.147.68 (talk) 08:35, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Need a section for the TV show, 'Kraft Music Hall: Woody Allen looks at 1967'

On December 27th, 1967, Woody Allen hosted a televised variety show titled “Kraft Music Hall: Woody Allen looks at 1967". The "Kraft Music Hall", which ran from 1967 to 1971, featured a different host on each weekly show. Woody Allen's clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNErWi_lTig Shouldn't mention of this be in the main article? Theaternearyou (talk) 04:44, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Allen is an author too

Allen is an author too. he has at least three published books. i don't know how to add "author" to the list of his occupations under his photo. 15:45, 16 May 2013 (UTC) Michael Christian — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.229.11.14 (talk)

Oscar night tradition?

I read somewhere that on Oscar night (or perhaps only on Oscar nights in which he is nominated), Allen performs music at a New York club in lieu of attending. This isn't mentioned in the Academy Awards section; I'm sure it's probably referenced in a biography of him. 70.72.201.229 (talk) 15:47, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

"Born" vs né

Re:this edit: "Woody Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg)" in the context of the article is clearer and simpler in English, the language of pages beginning with urls "http://en.wikipedia.org/..." "Woody Allen ([né] Allan Stewart Konigsberg)" is so unclear, the word needed a link to its definition. --Javaweb (talk) 10:45, 2 July 2013 (UTC)Javaweb

Which is it?

In the wives section, there are two conflicting dates for his fist marriage.

54 - 59 and right below that 56 - 62

So which is it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.183.100.176 (talk) 04:16, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Infobox bloat

The infobox is already bloated with irrelevant details about his personal life, including a list of his children and other relatives. Adding his girlfriends to the box overloads it with trivia. As it is, there are already entire subsections devoted to old girlfriends from his school days, when at most that kind of personal romance trivia shouldn't warrant entire sections, IMO. --Light show (talk) 21:23, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Birth name Allen, Allan

This subject has come up twice before on this talk page, but nobody has suggested multiple birth names. In looking up Woody Allen's birth name, I found a lot of sources saying Allen, a lot of sources saying Allan, and a few saying Alan. I was looking only at sources published before Wikipedia started in 2003, so as to avoid circular referencing.

Here are some Allen sources

• Page 12 of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, ISBN 0198601735
• Page 7 of Love, Sex, Death, And The Meaning Of Life: The Films Of Woody Allen, ISBN 0786748419

Here are some Allan sources

• Page 24 of Woody Allen: A Biography, ISBN 0306809850
• Page 7 of Woody, from Antz to Zelig, ISBN 0313311331

I think we should tell the reader that various birth names are reported. I do not think we should choose one of them as being the one true answer. Binksternet (talk) 17:37, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

Sexual Abuse Allegations

I believe that the sexual abuse allegations warrant a section. This was removed and I added it back - but an editor is trying to whitewash the page. The reason these warrant a section is that:

• The allegations continue to be a source of widespread discussion among critics and fans of Allen's work
• Allen's daughter, Dylan, not only complained of abuse when she was young but, now, as an adult, says that Allen did indeed molest her
• Allen's family has cut off ties with him and his biological son maintains that Allen is a child molester

I don't see how these facts do not warrant inclusion in an even handed discussion of anyone's personal life. To remove mention of any of these things violates NPOV.

Clubintheclub (talk) 19:55, 14 January 2014 (UTC)

Agreed I checked the New York Times reference and it says what you said, no OR or SYNTH. I can't check the vanity fair reference from work, so I can't vouch for that one, but the New York Times reference is fine. New York Times is a reliable source.  KoshVorlon. We are all Kosh   18:04, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Great Do you mind adding a section when you have a chance? I am trying mediation/administrative warning w.r.t. the dispute with the editor who is whitewashing this page. I do not want to modify anything here myself. Clubintheclub (talk) 18:12, 15 January 2014 (UTC)

Here is the proposed section that was removed. Vanity Fair is a great source here because its the only interview Dylan has done with the media since the initial abuse allegations were brought to light years ago.

Proposed Addition

During the divorce proceedings between Mia Farrow and Allen, Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually molested their adopted daughter Dylan, who was then seven years old. The judge eventually found that the sex abuse charges were inconclusive. Allen was accused of "[sticking] his finger up her vagina and [kissing] her all over in the attic". These allegations were never proven in court and Allen denied molesting Dylan. As an adult, Dylan (whose name has now been changed), has spoken out against Allen and confirmed that he sexually abused her when she was 7 years old. In an interview, Dylan told Vanity Fair, “There’s a lot I don’t remember, but what happened in the attic I remember. I remember what I was wearing and what I wasn’t wearing.”

Clubintheclub (talk) 18:24, 15 January 2014 (UTC)