Woody Allen arrives in Venice, talking about his new movie, Chance – Deadline

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Woody Allen had a rapturous welcome upon his arrival at the Venice Film Festival on Monday with his 50th feature film, the French-language thriller. Opportunity coup which will premiere out of competition this evening.

Reporters at the press conference erupted into spontaneous applause when the 87-year-old director entered the room.

“I’ve been very, very lucky. I’ve been lucky my whole life. I had loving parents and good friends. I had a wonderful wife, a wonderful marriage, two children… When I started making films, all people chose to emphasize What I was able to do well…they were generous.”

It is Allen’s first A-list festival appearance since the premiere Café Association In Cannes in 2016, the director withdrew from the limelight amid repeated allegations of sexual abuse by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, which Farrow denied.

Allen was last in Venice in 2007 Cassandra’s dream Starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, and before that he was invited in 1995 to receive the Golden Lion Award, but he did not attend. He made his debut in Venice in 1983 with a satirical documentary Zelig.

Parisian movie Opportunity coup – Starring Lou de Laâge, Valérie Lemercier, Melvil Poupaud, Niels Schneider – The film is about a married couple whose perfect life is turned upside down when the wife falls in love with an old classmate.

Allen said his decision to film in France and in the French language stemmed from his lifelong love of European cinema.

“When I was younger, the films that were most impressive to us when we all started and aimed to be filmmakers were European cinema, all French films, Italian films, Swedish films. We all wanted to make films like European films,” he said.

“I was going to make this movie with Americans living in Paris, and I said to myself that it is my fiftieth movie and I love Paris so much that I am going to make it in French. I don’t speak French but it didn’t bother me because all the actors speak English… I had a great time and then I felt like a director Real European Movies.

Allen said he had no trouble directing a cast that spoke a language he did not understand.

“If you watch a Japanese movie, you can tell if the acting is good and realistic and natural or if it is dramatic and silly, or just too exaggerated. Same here, I can tell by the body language and emotion of the actors without understanding the language, when they were realistic, they weren’t.

“I wrote the words but if they make it their own, that’s fine, and they do whatever they want, but if I can’t get the gist of it, I’ll ask my assistants. The cast read the script and understood it, it was out of my hands. They’re top-notch actors and actresses.” “They did it and I didn’t have to direct them so much. It wasn’t difficult.”

When asked if he was considering filming films in other European languages, Allen said it was not out of the question.

“Sometimes I get a phone call from someone in another country who tells me we will fund your film if it is made in Icelandic, or any other language. If I have a good idea, I might consider it. I had a great experience in France, which is Something I will definitely consider.”

The director said he would take the opportunity to shoot against the backdrop of his native New York.

“I have a very good idea for New York, and if someone comes out of the shadows and says, ‘I’m going to fund your movie in New York,’ they’ll stick to all my horrible strings, read the script, give me the money and do it.” “Then go away, I’m going to make a movie in New York,” he joked.

He was joined by director Allen at the press conference, joined on stage by actresses de Laages and Lemercier, and revealed that he had always preferred writing the female parts to the male ones.

“Twenty or thirty years ago I was acting in roles I wrote, so I wrote for myself, but I’ve always been able to write better and more interesting parts for women… I don’t know why, perhaps because the writers and filmmakers who influenced me the most were Ingmar Bergman,” he explained. And Tennessee Williams, and these guys wrote for women.

Allen was last in Venice in 2007 Cassandra’s dream Starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, and before that he was invited in 1995 to receive the Golden Lion Award, but he did not attend. He made his debut in Venice in 1983 with a satirical documentary zellig, which won Best Film at the Paciniti Awards.