Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our goal here
is always to dig into these really complex careers,
these legacies, sift through, you know, mountains
of information and pull out what you actually
need to know. And today we are tackling one of
the most, I think it's fair to say, polarizing
and prolific figures in modern cinema, Woody
Allen. Yeah, it's a huge undertaking. We're talking
about, what, an eight decade career? Yeah. 50
feature films, plays, albums. I mean, it's just.
constant creation. Right. But it's also defined
by these huge artistic shifts and what you can't
ignore the massive public focus on his private
life. So our aim here is to be really strict,
just trace the path of Alan Stewart Konigsberg
based purely on the facts, the timeline, the
official record we've got in front of us. Exactly.
And what strikes you right away looking at the
early stuff is how that image we all know, the
insecure, intellectual, fretful nebbish, that
was something he had to kind of build. Consciously?
Almost from day one? Yeah. So let's dig into
that. Where did the Woody Allen persona actually
come from? Okay, so we start back in the Bronx.
He was born Alan Stewart Konigsberg, November
30th, 1935. Although there's a little note in
the sources, sometimes he'd say December 1st.
Apparently his parents might have fudged it a
bit because he was born close to midnight. Huh,
okay. He grew up mostly in Brooklyn though, Midwood
neighborhood, with his younger sister, Lettie
Aronson. And she becomes important later, produces
a lot of his films. Right. Right. And his parents,
Nettie and Martin, bookkeeper and jewelry engraver
slash waiter. Grandparents were Jewish immigrants,
Austria, Lithuania. So a pretty typical, you
know, New York immigrant background in some ways.
Absolutely. But what's interesting, going back
to that intellectual persona, it really wasn't
built on like. academic achievement in the usual
sense. No, not at all. He dropped out of NYU
-failed motion picture production, ironically
enough. Right. And City College, too. He always
described himself as self -taught, which really
kind of sets the tone for his whole career, right?
Always a bit of an outsider doing his own thing.
Yeah, priding himself on it, almost. And that
name change, Alan Stewart Konigsberg to Woody
Allen, that happened back in high school. It
was all about music. Ah, the jazz connection
already. Yeah, he named himself after Woody Herman,
the clarinetist. Which, you know, foreshadows
just how central music, especially that New Orleans
jazz sound, would be for him. But before the
performing, before the directing, it was just
work. Hard graft. Writing jokes. Relentless work.
Started at 15, selling gags to agents, newspaper
columnists. By 1955, he's 19, and he gets into
the NBC Writers Development Program, making like
25 bucks a week writing for Herb Schreiner. $25.
But that didn't last long, did it? His stuff
was just too good. Apparently so. Abe Burroughs,
big -name writer -director, saw his early stuff
and just called it dazzling. And he lands right
in the middle of this incredible scene, the golden
age of TV comedy, writing for Ed Sullivan, The
Tonight Show. And look who he's rubbing shoulders
with. Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart,
Neil Simon. I mean, legends. It's an incredible
cohort. Mel Brooks said even back then, as a
teenager, Alan was so wise, so smart. He had
this tricky little mind. That must have been
some education in comedy. No kidding. And the
money followed the talent. By the time he's writing
for Sid Caesar, he's pulling in $1 ,500 a week.
And the sheer volume is just staggering. Sources
estimate that in one year, 1962, he wrote something
like 20 ,000 jokes for other comics. 20 ,000?
How is that even possible? Big Cabot apparently
said he'd just see Alan at the typewriter from
morning till night, just pounding them out, maybe
a quick walk for coffee, then back at it. That
kind of discipline. That's where the 50 films
come from later, you know. Totally. But it wasn't
just gag writing, was it? He was already aiming
higher, writing those humor pieces for places
like The New Yorker. Right. Trying to be like
S .J. Perelman or George S. Kaufman. So you have
this kind of dual track, the high volume jokes
for TV and then this more polished literary satire
for print. That's the foundation. And that foundation
lets him make the leap to stand up in the early
60s. Exactly. Down in Greenwich Village, the
bitter end. Cafe Ogogo. Legendary spots. Sharing
stages with Lenny Bruce, Joan Rivers, Mort Sahl.
Mort Sahl, who Alan said was his favorite. Yeah.
But Alan's style was completely different from
those guys. He wasn't doing set -up punchline
jokes. He was doing monologues. Creed. Creed
-ing this character. The character. The insecure,
intellectual, fretful nebbish. And what's really
key is, at first it wasn't improv. It was all
carefully scripted based on his life, but delivered
with this totally deadpan, serious face. Someone
called it, like, the best schtick because it
had no schtick. Yeah. The utter absence of showbiz
veneer and schtick was the best schtick any comedian
had ever devised. That tension between the smart
jokes and the nervous delivery. That was the
hook. And it worked. Big time. 17 times hosting
The Tonight Show for Carson. That's mainstream
success. Huge. Plus three hit comedy albums between
64 and 68. Gets a Life magazine cover in 69.
So by then the persona is set. The audience is
there. Yeah. The next logical step. Film. Okay.
So the move into film wasn't initially smooth
sailing, right? His first script that got made.
What's new, Pussycat? 1965. Huge hit commercially.
But Alan hated it. felt they butchered his script.
And that experience basically set the rule for
the rest of his career. Pretty much. From then
on, if he wrote it, he directed it. The only
exception was Play It Again, Sam in 72, which
is based on his play anyway. His actual first
directing gig was pretty weird though, wasn't
it? What's up, Tiger Lily? Yeah, 1966. Took an
existing Japanese spy movie and just dubbed completely
new funny dialogue over it. Yeah. Very off the
wall. But then came the films where he was front
and center, basically translating that stand
-up persona to the screen. Right, the early slapstick
stuff. Take the Money and Run in 69, that mockumentary
style. And Bananas in 71, the political satire.
Still very much gag -driven. But you start seeing
a shift, more ambition maybe, with Love and Death.
Definitely. 1975. It's this big, sprawling satire
of Russian literature set during the Napoleonic
Wars. Vincent Camby, the critic, called it his
grandest work so far. It wasn't just jokes anymore.
He was juggling bigger themes. OK, so that sets
the stage. But the moment everything changes.
The moment he goes from funny director to, like,
major auteur has to be Annie Hall. Oh, 1977.
Yeah. Absolutely pivotal. It felt so personal,
so different. And it just cleaned up at the Oscars.
Best picture, director, screenplay, best actress
for Diane Keaton. It wasn't just the awards,
though. It was how it was made. Totally. Stylistically,
it was a breakthrough. breaking the fourth wall,
talking to the audience, split screens, animation.
The subtitle showing what they were really thinking.
Yeah. All that stuff felt incredibly fresh. It
blended a relatable story with these really modernist
experimental techniques. That's what put him
right in the conversation with that new Hollywood
group, filmmakers getting more control, influenced
by European cinema. And speaking of European
influence, the very next year, he does interiors.
Which must have just thrown audiences for a loop.
Because they had no jokes. Right. It was pure
Ingmar Bergman territory. Totally Bergman -esque.
The look, the themes, family dysfunction, artistic
angst, existential dread, lots of long takes,
heavy dialogue. It was a huge risk showing he
wouldn't just stick to comedy. And that confidence
leads into this amazing run through the late
70s and 80s. His classic New York period. Absolutely.
You get Manhattan in 79, gorgeous black and white,
that iconic Gershwin score. Then later films
like Hannah and Her Sisters in 86. Which felt
so intricate, weaving those storylines together
over years. Yeah, brilliant structure. And Crimes
and Misdemeanors in 89, which is maybe his darkest,
most philosophical film. A lot of critics think
that's his peak in terms of maturity. But he
wasn't just doing those dramas. He kept experimenting.
Like Stardust Memories. 1980. Very surreal, very
self -reflexive about being a famous director.
It's basically his version of Fellini's Eight
and a Half. And Zellig in 83. That mockumentary
about the human chameleon was technically amazing.
Flawless execution, using old newsreels, integrating
himself. And then there's the Purple Rose of
Cairo in 85. Ah, the one where the movie character
walks off the screen. Yeah. Such a beautiful
film about escapism and the power of movies.
And it's interesting, Allen himself puts that
one, along with Stardust Memories and later Match
Point, as his personal top three. Really? Even
though it wasn't a huge box office hit like Annie
Hall? Yeah, seems like the ones that explore
those themes about art and reality really resonate
with him personally. So into the 90s, the pace
just doesn't let up. Still pretty much a film
a year. Relentless. And he keeps switching it
up. You get Shadows in Fog in 91, that black
and white homage to German expressionism. Husbands
and Wives in 92, which felt incredibly raw and
almost documentary -like. Shot right around the
time his relationship with Pharaoh was ending,
too. Very tense. Yeah. Then lighter stuff like
Bullets Over Broadway in 94, a great showbiz
comedy. He even did a full -on musical, Everyone
Says I Love You, in 96. Singing and dancing,
the whole thing. Right. and Mighty Aphrodite
in 95, bringing in elements of Greek chorus and
tragedy, always mixing things up. Now, you can't
talk about this era without mentioning the key
collaborators, Diane Keaton, obviously. Absolutely.
Started on stage together in 69 with, play it
again, Sam, eight films together. Alan called
her a natural, a great, great inspiration, said
Annie Hall wouldn't have been the same without
her. And then the other huge figure, Mia Farrow.
Yeah, their relationship, personal and professional,
defined that whole period from 1980 to 1992,
13 films together. Radio Days, a Midsummer Night's
Sex Comedy, Hannah and Her Sisters. She was central
to his work throughout the 80s. But then, around
the turn of the century, things started to wobble
a bit, critically and commercially. Yeah, the
sources definitely point to a downturn. Films
like Hollywood Ending or Melinda. Melinda just
didn't connect in the same way. Box office wasn't
great. Reviews were more mixed. Some people felt
the formula was getting maybe a little tired.
And that dip, that perceived slump actually forces
his hand and leads to the next major chapter.
Exactly. It pushed him out of his New York comfort
zone and forced him to look elsewhere. So the
perceived decline in the early 2000s really prompts
a change in how he makes movies. Yeah. He basically
said the American studios were only interested
in making $100 million blockbusters. And that
just wasn't his kind of film. So he had to look
overseas for money. Which leads to the London
shift. Right. Starts with Match Point in 2005.
And this was a real gamble. Shot in London. Totally
different vibe. It's this dark, twisty thriller
about class and morality. Very Hitchcockian.
Nothing like the neurotic comedies people expected.
Not at all. And it completely paid off. It was
his biggest hit in almost 20 years, made over
$60 million internationally. And crucially, Allen
himself called it his best film ever. Wow. So
that freedom, maybe being away from New York,
it really clicked for him. Seemed to rejuvenate
him. And it opened the door to this whole European
phase. Basically... Using local funding, often
tied to tourism, to shoot in these amazing cities.
Like Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Yeah, shot in
Spain in 2008. Another big hit. Won the Golden
Globe for Best Musical or Comedy. Just beautiful
scenery. Great cast. It worked. But the absolute
peak of this European run has to be Midnight
in Paris. Oh, 2011. Huge. He talked about wanting
to capture Paris emotionally, not just geographically.
And audiences loved it. Made over $150 million
worldwide his biggest gross ever. And won him
another Oscar for screenplay, his third one.
Right. So this period really proved he could
still deliver critically and commercially, just
in a different context. And he didn't abandon
American stories either. Blue Jasmine came soon
after. 2013. Set in San Francisco and New York.
Critics hailed it as a major return to form,
maybe his most substantial film in years. And
Cate Blanchett won the Oscar for Best Actress
for it. So he's back on top, in a way, which
leads him into the streaming world. Yeah, Amazon
Studios came calling around 2015 big deal for
films in a TV series. But the sources say Allen
was incredibly nervous about it. Really? About
doing TV? Yeah. He apparently called the whole
streaming series idea a catastrophic mistake.
Before he even started, predicted it would be
a cosmic embarrassment. That series became Crisis
in six scenes in 2016. Okay. And that relationship
with Amazon didn't exactly end smoothly? No.
Things got very tense later. Amazon decided not
to release his next film, A Rainy Day in New
York, in 2019. They specifically cited the resurfacing
of that 25 -year -old allegation we'll get into
later. Right. And Allen sued them? Yeah. For
$68 million, breach of contract. Said they were
damaging his reputation unfairly. It was eventually
settled. or dismissed, the details aren't totally
clear. But the film did eventually get released
elsewhere. Despite all that turbulence, he just
keeps working. It's kind of amazing. 2023, he
releases film number 50, Coup de Chance, his
first movie entirely in French. And the reviews
were pretty good for that one, weren't they?
Yeah, quite positive. Some critics called it
his best since Blue Jasmine, even Match Point.
So even when he hinted at maybe retiring in 2022.
His publicist quickly walked that back, said,
nope, no plans to retire. But you do see the
struggle now. The sources talk about challenges
finding funding, especially in the U .S. Plans
for a film in Italy fell through. Now he's apparently
planning his next one, untitled for 2025, to
be shot in Barcelona. So the drive is still there,
that one film a year habit, but the logistics
are getting tougher. Seems that way. It's a constant
search for financing now. It's easy to just focus
on the 50 films, but that's not the whole picture,
is it? His work in theater, for instance, started
really early and was pretty successful. Oh, yeah.
Right alongside the stand -up and early film
work. His first Broadway play, Don't Drink the
Water, back in 66, ran for almost 600 performances.
That's a solid hit. And then play it again, Sam,
in 69, with him and Diane Keaton starring. That
also did really well. Over 450 performances.
Got Keaton a Tony nomination. So the stage was
definitely a place where he honed that voice,
those characters, before they fully translated
to film. He kept writing for the stage later
too, right? More serious stuff sometimes. Yeah,
things like The Floating Lightbulb in 1981. Didn't
run as long, but still got a couple of Tony nominations.
And then later he did collections of one -act
plays like Central Park West, or that evening
called Writer's Block Off -Broadway in 2003,
which had Old Saybrook and Riverside Drive. That
sold out instantly. And he even directed plays
he didn't write. And opera. Yeah, dipped his
toe into directing opera in 2008. Puccini's Gianni
Scicchi for the L .A. Opera. He joked about having
no idea what he was doing, that typical self
-deprecation. It just shows the breadth, though.
He wasn't just a filmmaker. Not at all. And then
there's the stage adaptation of his own movie,
Bullets Over Broadway. That got him a Tony nomination
for Best Book of a Musical in 2014. Okay, let's
talk about the music, the jazz, the whole reason
for the name Woody. This is clearly not just
a side hobby. It's deep. He's a passionate clarinet
player, focuses specifically on that early New
Orleans style, honoring guys like Louis Armstrong,
Sidney Burchette. And he actually performs regularly.
For decades. Every Monday night, pretty much
without fail, he'd be playing with his New Orleans
jazz band at the Carlisle Hotel in Manhattan.
Kind of the ultimate Woody Allen thing, right?
This world -famous filmmaker having this regular,
low -key, weekly gig playing very traditional
jazz. That commitment is amazing. And wasn't
there a documentary about his band? Yeah, Wild
Man Blues from 1997. It followed them on a European
tour in 96. Reviews were mixed on his technical
skill, maybe, but people noted his obvious love
and respect for the music. It really felt authentic.
And you hear that love in his film soundtracks
all the time. That jazz score is almost another
character in his New York films. Absolutely.
It's woven into the fabric of his work. And one
more area is advocacy, particularly around film
itself. Right. He was actually a co -founder
of the Film Foundation back in 1990 with Scorsese,
Spielberg, Coppola. dedicated to preserving and
restoring old movies. That's significant. And
he spoke out publicly, too. He did. Fantasy testified
before Congress in 1987, alongside Ginger Rogers,
fighting against the colorization of black and
white films without the director's consent. Wow.
What did he say? Called it mutilation of art
for a few extra dollars. Really passionate defense
of artistic integrity. Which makes sense, coming
from someone who chose to shoot masterpieces
like Manhattan in black and white. Okay, so we've
covered... The output, the shifts, the other
creative work. Let's talk about the recognition.
The awards are just staggering. They really are.
Especially for writing. He holds the all -time
record for Academy Award nominations for Best
Original Screenplay. 16 nominations. 16! That's
insane consistency. And he won three of those.
Three wins, yeah. For Annie Hall, Hannah and
Her Sisters. and Midnight in Paris. That record
alone tells you something about his stature as
a writer. Cotton Tarantino called him one of
the greatest screenwriters of all time. And a
lot of people would agree, beyond the screenplay
nods, he's got four Oscars total, ten BAFTAs,
two Golden Globes, even a Grammy. Plus all the
Lifetime Achievement stuff. Alright, the Honorary
Golden Lion in Venice, the BAFTA Fellowship,
Honorary Palme d 'Or at Cannes, the Golden Globe
Cecil B. DeMille Award, and Annie Hall in Manhattan
are in the National Film Registry. culturally
significant. It's kind of funny, though, for
someone with so many awards, he famously hates
award shows. Hates them. Never shows up. The
only time he ever went to the Oscars was in 2002.
Not even to pick up an award, right? No, it was
right after 9 -11. He came out to introduce a
tribute montage to New York City in film. Got
this huge, really emotional standing ovation.
But that was it. One appearance. So who influenced
him? We mentioned Bergman, obviously. Bergman's
huge for him, especially for the serious dramas.
Ernst Lubitsch for sophisticated comedy, but
also comedians. He always cited Bob Hope and
Groucho Marx. That mix again, eyebrow and lowbrow.
And his own influence is just undeniable, right?
Especially on comedy and independent film. Massive.
You look at modern standups like Louis C .K.,
Larry David, Chris Rock, John Mulaney. They all
owe something to his persona or style. And filmmakers,
Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach,
even Martin Scorsese. Scorsese? Their style seems
so different. Scorsese actually said something
interesting about that. He said Alan's version
of New York felt like another planet to him.
Totally different from his own experience, but
he loved it. Alan basically created a specific
cinematic New York that everyone else now reacts
to or plays off of. Okay, and what about his
own favorites? We mentioned the three he considers
his best. Stardust Memories. The Purple Rose
of Cairo, and Match Point. Interesting choices,
not necessarily the biggest hits. And his favorite
films by other people, that sight and sound poll
list. Yeah, heavily European arthouse. Fellini's
Eight and a Half, Bergman's Seventh Seal, Truffaut's
400 Blows, Bicycle Thieves. Tells you where his
artistic heart lies. Did he single out any American
films? He raved about Kazan's A Streetcar Named
Desire in his autobiography, called it total
artistic perfection. Script, acting, direction.
Just perfect in his eyes. All right. Now we have
to turn to the part of the story that has become
inseparable from the art, the part that dominates
so much of the conversation around him today.
And just to reiterate, our job here is just to
lay out the timeline, the relationships, the
official findings as reported in our sources
with complete impartiality. Exactly. It's crucial
to stick to the documented record here. Looking
at his early life, there were two brief marriages
before Mia Farrow. First to Harleen Rosen from
56 to 59. Interestingly, she actually sued him
later over a joke he told about their divorce
in his act. Wow, okay. Then he married Louise
Lasser. Yes, from 1966 to 1970. She was an actress,
appeared in four of his early films. Before the
Farrow relationship started, there were other
relationships mentioned in the sources that drew
attention later, particularly around age differences.
Yes. There was a relationship with Stacey Nelken,
reportedly starting when she was 17. And another
woman, Bobbi Kristina Englehart, came forward
saying she had an eight -year affair with him
starting in 1976, also when she was 17. Englehart
suggested that the character Tracy, the 17 -year
-old girlfriend in Manhattan, might have been
based on her or others from that time. Okay.
Then comes the relationship with Mia Farrow starting
in 1980, which was, by all accounts, quite unconventional.
Very. Thirteen films together over 12 years,
but they famously lived in separate apartments
across Central Park. During that time, Farrow
adopted Dylan, then Moses. Allen took on a fatherly
role and later legally adopted both Dylan and
Moses in December 1991. And they had one biological
child together. Ronan Farrow, born in 1987. Now,
a key point noted in the sources is Allen's claim
that his intimate relationship with Mia Farrow
ended completely after Ronan was born. Okay.
Which brings us to Sunye Previn. Right. Sunye
was adopted by Mia Farrow and her previous husband,
Andre Previn, back in 1977. Her birth year is
presumed to be 1970. Allen and Sunye started
being seen together publicly. like at Knicks
games around 1990. The romantic relationship
began around 1991. At which point Soon -Yi was
21. Correct. The relationship became public knowledge
in a really explosive way in January 1992, when
Mia Farrow found nude photos of Soon -Yi that
Allen had taken. Allen was 56 at the time. And
Allen's response to that becoming public. He
issued a statement saying, quote, I am not Soon
-Yi's father or stepfather. I was not a father
to her adopted kids in any sense of the word.
Which, as the sources point out, seemed to contradict
his legal adoption of Dylan and Moses just months
earlier. Allen and Soon -Yi later married in
Venice in 1997 and have adopted two children
together. This rupture, this public falling out,
leads directly into the most serious and lasting
controversy. The sexual abuse allegation. In
August 1992, during the custody battle, Dylan
Farrow alleged that Allen had sexually touched
her in the attic of Farrow's Connecticut home.
Allen denied it immediately and has denied it
ever since. OK, this is where it's absolutely
critical to detail the official findings from
that time based on the investigations that followed.
What did they conclude? There were four main
official findings reported in the sources spanning
1993. First, the child sexual abuse clinic at
Yale New Haven Hospital conducted a six month
investigation. Their conclusion. released March
1993, was that Dylan had not been sexually abused.
Okay, that's the Yale Clinic finding. What else?
Second, in June 1993, Judge Elliott Wilk ruled
on the custody case. He denied Allen custody.
However, the judge explicitly stated that while
he found Allen's behavior towards Dylan grossly
inappropriate, he did not find that sexual abuse
occurred. So, inappropriate conduct cited, but
the abuse allegation itself was rejected by the
judge. Third. Third. The state prosecutor handling
the potential criminal case announced in September
1993 they would not press charges. They stated
they believe they had probable cause, but decided
against prosecution, citing the specific reason
of wanting to avoid the unjustifiable risk of
exposing a child to the rigors and uncertainties
of a questionable prosecution. So probable cause
cited, but no charges filed due to concerns about
the impact on Dylan. And finally, finally, the
New York Child Welfare Agency finished its own
separate 14 month investigation in October 1993.
Their finding was that the allegation was unfounded.
OK, so Yale Clinic, no abuse. Judge Wilk, no
abuse, though inappropriate conduct. Prosecutor,
probable cause, but no charges. Child Welfare
Agency, unfounded. That's the official record
from 1993. That's the summary of the findings
presented in the sources from that period. But
obviously the issue didn't go away. It came back
very publicly years later. It did, particularly
in 2014 when Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille
Award. Dylan Farrow published an open letter
in The New York Times reiterating the allegation
in detail. Allen responded with his own piece,
again strongly denying it, calling it false and
part of a longstanding effort by Mia Farrow to
punish him for the relationship with Sunni. And
the family dynamics got even more complex when
another one of the children spoke out. Right.
In 2018, Moses Farrow, Allen's adopted son, published
a blog post. He not only defended Allen, strongly
denying the abuse allegation against him, but
he also made his own allegations against Mia
Farrow, claiming she had been physically abusive
towards him and several of his siblings, particularly
those with disabilities. Which adds another layer
of conflicting narratives within the family itself.
A deeply complex layer. And then most recently,
you had the HBO documentary series in 2021, Alan
v. Farrow. Which focused heavily on Dylan's account
and Mia Farrow's perspective. Yes. Alan and Soon
-Yi condemned it, calling it a hatchet job riddled
with falsehoods. They claimed they were only
given days to respond. The filmmakers disputed
that, saying they gave them two weeks, which
they felt was sufficient. So the public discourse
remains incredibly divided. You have colleagues,
actors, commentators lining up on both sides.
Some believe the allegation implicitly. Others
point to the original 1993 findings and the context
of the breakup with Mia Farrow. It's left Hollywood
and the public really split. There's no consensus,
just deeply entrenched opposing views, often...
referencing different pieces of this very complicated
history. Hashtag tag outro. So after digging
through all of this, I mean, the scale of the
career is just immense from stand up and tiny
village clubs to directing opera, winning four
Oscars, making 50 films. Yeah, the artistic output
is undeniable. Record for screenplay nominations,
that decades long jazz gig. The sheer discipline
and breadth are remarkable. A truly monumental
figure in 20th and 21st century arts. But the
paradox is just. unavoidable isn't it based on
everything we've covered he's this artist obsessed
with neurosis with moral gray areas someone famously
private yet his own intensely personal life specifically
the start of his relationship with sunyi and
that subsequent harrowing allegation became incredibly
public and remains so it creates this fundamental
tension The sources show us this artist reaching
the absolute peak of his profession while simultaneously
his personal life generates controversies that
challenge many people's ability or willingness
to separate the art from the artist. Right. And
seeing him now reportedly struggling to get funding
for his next film, trying to set it up in Barcelona,
it kind of crystallizes the whole thing. It leaves
you, the listener, with this question, I think.
Yeah. In today's world where we demand so much
transparency, where the artist and their perceived
morality are so closely linked, can someone whose
work constantly dives into human flaws and complexities,
can that artist ever really escape the public's
demand for simple answers, for clear moral judgments
about their own life? It's the question that
hangs over this entire legacy, isn't it? Yeah.
That tension between the art, the artist, and
the audience's expectations in the information
age. It's something that likely won't be resolved
anytime soon.