Wonder what it’s like working in a Woody Allen movie? Scarlett Johansson—who is quickly becoming Allen’s newest muse, having also starred in the writer/director’s much darker Match Point last year—and Deadwood’s Ian McShane share a few choice words about the experience with Hollywood.com, after starring together in Allen’s latest madcap murder mystery Scoop. Also co-starring the writer/director himself, the story centers on a kooky would-be journalist (Johansson) who teams up with a has-been magician (Allen) and the ghost of a departed reporter (McShane) to track down a possible serial killer called the “Tarot Card Killer.” Let’s just say there was never a dull moment on the set.
On playing the slightly nerdy Sondra:
“It was a great character to play. I don’t think she wants to be cool per se but has some idea of being someone fabulous. I think Woody sort of patterned her after Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday. Not that exactly, but the fact [Sondra] is a lovable idiot. It was a lot of fun to play all of her kind of weird mannerisms.”
On Woody Allen writing the role for her:
“If [Woody] had [anyone else in mind for the role], I didn’t know about it. I’d be very jealous. No, I think he wrote it for us. I mean, when we were shooting Match Point, Woody and I had this nice banter between us. And because I’ve always admired him as an actor/director/writer/comedian, I thought it would be great if we could work together because we had such a great relationship. And he was like, ‘All right, I’ll think of something.’ And he thought of Scoop. It was very easy to go from bantering off screen to bantering on screen. But I would never attempt to imitate him or even want to. He’s a 70-year-old man, for chrissakes!”
On the differences between Woody the director and Woody the actor:
“Woody doesn’t use any monitors when he’s doing anything. When we were shooting Match Point, there would be a lot more circumstances where we might have to go back and re-shoot something if he was unhappy with it cutting it together. But when he’s working with you [as an actor], we could tell immediately if something wasn’t working. He’d yell, ‘Cut! That’s not going to work. The energy you came in with has to change’ or whatever it may be. So that was nice, much more convenient, I thought.”
On being compared to other Woody Allen muses like Diane Keaton:
“Um, I think it’s amazing, quite unbelievable. Of course, I’ve been paying [people] on the side to say that! [Laughs]”
On choosing the right projects:
“I don’t have criteria. I just choose films that I’d pay $10 to see. And that’s it really, if there’s something interesting there, a director I want to work with. The most important thing to me is if the script is solid. Even if it’s a great director, if the script is not right, then I can’t commit myself. There’s too many chances for it to be a complete disaster. I mean, even The Island. It was the best science fiction script I had ever read. It was amazing. There were some plot points that were re-worked, but there weren’t any major changes while we were shooting.”
On sticking with showbiz:
“I don’t ever see myself doing something instead of acting, but I would love to direct someday. I’ve been in this industry for a long time, more than half my life. But [directing] is something that I’ve thought about for a long time.”
On her political beliefs:
“In a lot of ways, I think we’ve regressed to a certain conservative way of thinking. It even reminds you of the McCarthy era. It’s like if anyone is anti-war, they are unpatriotic or something like that, un-American. Bizarre. I think we live in a very conservative time, all around. I’m pretty liberal minded. My parents were, too. And although you don’t necessarily inherit your political beliefs from your parents, I still admire what they stood for. But I won’t say I’m for or against any parties. I’m independently minded.”
On being in the public eye:
“I don’t think actors have any responsibilities to talk about anything at all. Their responsibility is to show up on the set. But I do think as a person in the public eye who passionately believes in something can help. I don’t believe in forcing your opinion on anybody, but if people think, ‘Oh, I kinda dig what she does and into working for the cause’ then you can tell them, ‘Hey, I found this place where you can give some money, if you’re interested. They have a website, if you want to check it out.’ Then it can be great and bring some publicity to a smaller organization.”
On the tabloids:
“I completely avoid it at all costs. That’s the only way to deal with it. Because once you start getting involved, then it’s like the end. Most of it is just crap anyway. My publicist will call about killing some story and it would be some insane, crazy thing. It’s like, ‘Who the hell came up with that?’ You just have to ignore those things. But then when they print something that’s semi-true, it’s like, ‘Who the hell told them that?’ That’s so rare, though. I also don’t like to be followed by photographers when I’m doing shopping or whatever. That’s kinda disturbing, a complete invasion. Especially since I don’t invite it in anyway. If I’m being private, I’m being private. Leave me alone.”
[PAGEBREAK]Ian McShane
On Woody Allen:
“Half the time you don’t even know he’s there. He’s very low-key, easy, gentle. He plans the scene in advance with the cameraman and the stand-ins and you just go in and do it. He expects you to know your lines and do what you do. And there’s very little after that, very little directing. There were a lot of English character actors there. They were expecting a director who would do some magical directing. But in fact, it’s a very simple process. We were always finished by lunchtime, by mid-afternoon most days. Obviously, the idea of working with Woody Allen appeals to most actors because of his volume of work, which is great. I particularly liked this movie because he is in it, so I got to work with Woody as well [as an actor]. I mean he goes to work everyday, but he has his kids, plays clarinet, he loves sports. He’s a guy from Brooklyn who just happens to make movies for a living, and very good ones.”
On Scarlett Johansson:
“She’s delicious. I mean, that’s the word for Scarlett. Absolutely delicious. [Woody] and [Scarlett] had worked on [Match Point] before, so there was an obvious rapport. Which is always nice on the set. She’s a delightful girl, very smart, down to earth. I do think she’s been very smart with her choices. That she hasn’t decided she needs to do a franchise picture. She’s smart about what she’s chosen to do, the people she’s worked with. She’s a smart kid and extremely nice to work with.”
On improvising the lines:
“Woody only gave me the scenes I was in originally and then asked me if I wanted to read the rest of the script. I said, no and in fact, when I see the movie, I’d like to see only the scenes I’m in. [Laughs] Not too much improvisation, though. When [Woody] was doing his own stuff, when he assumes the Great Splendini, he does his shtick and also with Scarlett. For my part, which was obviously written for an English guy—my part and Hugh’s [Jackman] part—Woody said I could change it. But I didn’t find I needed to. On Deadwood, however, you have to improvise that kind of stuff.”
On Deadwood:
“I think the acclaim [Deadwood has] gotten is due to [creator] David Milch. There’s nobody like David, just like there’s nobody like Woody Allen. Working with Milch is a very different proposition than working with Woody. It’s very intense process, apart because its television, too, because we don’t have as much luxury. Actually, we DO have luxury because its unlike working on any other TV show. On Deadwood, its 15 working days to do a show. I think that’s one of the contentious reason why the show was abruptly halted this year because it’s a very expensive show to do for television. On the other hand, you thought they could have reached some kind of finish. The real town of Deadwood burned down—twice. And my character, the real character of Swearengen, died in stockyards in Denver in 1899. But with the two two-hour movies, who knows what David will do? The way the series is structured now—every episode is the day in the life of Deadwood—you couldn’t do that and finish it. So two hours gives, who ever directs them, time and space. You can tell more in a fluid two-hour movie than you can in a one-hour TV episode. We are suppose to do them next May, the two movies.”
On Deadwood’s foul language:
“I don’t really know if they actually talked that way. I’m sure they didn’t say ‘Yes, ma’am’ like Gunsmoke, which mythologized the West. But if you’ve ever met Milch…I mean, Milch is a force of nature himself. And what he did for Deadwood is create his own language. The colorfulness, the Shakespearean thing, the double inversion and levels of language. I think he deliberately invented a language for Deadwood. And I think he’s been forced to defend it in a way. But that has died down. I remember when it first came out that was the intention, who talked like that? And David became even more entrenched on this is how they talked. It’s a style choice as well as a reality, a combination. I don’t think they probably swore as much as we do. But on the other hand, its very much a part of the landscape of the program. And its very deliberate. [The bad language] is not put in willy nilly. And I will say if you put one of those words in the wrong place, then you are really f**ked. [Laughs] When you are learning it because there’s a rhythm to it.”
On the Internet blogs about Deadwood:
“Everyone is so subjective about what they like, whatever programming. You’re not making a show according to fan responses. What the hell is that? It’s not a democracy art, you know? It’s one person’s vision, well, for our show it’s one person’s vision. David’s the guy, he’s the elephant in the room. Just like Woody. I think if fans go, ‘Oh, you’re not doing this or that,’ then say, ‘Well, do your own thing then!’ Don’t criticize me. If you like it, you’ll go with it.”
On worrying about the next acting job:
“When you come to the end of a gig, no matter what you do or how successful you are, you think you’ll never work again. Even though you say, ‘I don’t want to work for awhile,’ you’re wondering, ‘What’s coming up? What’s happening?’ Deadwood, for example, why the hell they couldn’t cast in America, we’ll never know. They didn’t, they came to England. And they didn’t just come to me. But when I read the part, I said, yeah, it’s got my name written all over it. But whether it comes true, you just never know.”
On working in animation:
“I’m doing the voice of Captain Hook for Shrek 3. It’s very strange doing [animated movies]. You go in for a few days, you don’t work with anyone else. You do your lines alone. And you’ve got all the animators there, like 17 nerds looking at you. But DreamWorks has an incredible studio. They call it ‘Nerd Heaven.’ They try to physically adapt the character literally to look like what you do when you’re doing it. Because you do the dialogue first and then they put it together. I’m also doing [the DreamWorks animated] Kung Fu Panda, with Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black. And I play Tai Lung, the evil snow leopard. But they are fun to do [animated movies], they really are. You go in for a day and get a chance to do something different. You get to exercise your voice. And I’m interested in doing it because its something my grandkids can see. Because obviously, they can’t stay up for Deadwood.”
Lisa Collins and Kit Bowen contributed to this story
