Woody Allen has always been known for his somewhat offbeat casting, as well as working with pretty much every actor in Hollywood, but today’s casting news regarding Allen’s next film is both long overdue, and completely surprising. Comedians Louis CK and Andrew Dice Clay are both set to star in Woody Allen’s next film. With no title or any plot details released, the only thing we know is that the cast will also include Alec Baldwin, Cate Blanchett, and Peter Sarsgaard.
According to Film Drunk, Louis CK hired story editor, Susan E. Morse, a woman who used to work for Woody Allen. In an interview regarding the film, she had this to say:
“I think it would be absolutely great for those two guys to work together and to collaborate on some level. I think they would appreciate each other. They have different and similar personalities; it would be interesting to see them together. I think one of the things Woody would love about Louis would be the fact that there’s no way in hell Louis would be trying to “do Woody,” if he were to take on the “Woody Allen role” in a film. That was always an exasperating thing that would happen when people were trying to carry that lead role, they would often try to mimic Woody’s delivery, whereas he encouraged them to be themselves. He was always happier if they took whatever he wrote and put it in a vocabulary that was natural to them, rather than to say things literally, the way he had written them. Nothing was to be taken as though it was etched in stone.”
The casting of notoriously foul-mouthed Dice Clay is still a surprising turn of events, but considering Allen has worked with everyone from Owen Wilson to Alan Alda to Will Ferrell to even Leonardo DiCaprio, I’m sure he can make it work. Fresh off of winning an Oscar for his 2011 film Midnight In Paris, Allen’s next film, To Rome With Love, is set to be released on June 22nd of this year, but that hasn’t stopped Allen from getting right back to work on his 2013 film.
As for Louis CK, well, there’s no doubt that it’s going to spark comedic gold. Although 2009’s Whatever Works wasn’t Allen’s best film, there’s no question that Larry David’s committed performance wasn’t a near-perfect meeting of the minds. With that being said, I wish Allen would use CK for a more dramatic role, something I know he’s capable of. The 2000s gave fans of Allen two great dramas, Match Point and Cassandra’s Dream. I think it’d be pretty cool if Allen went against expectations and, instead of bringing a bunch of funny people together to do a comedy, he did a drama instead. Still, this probably won’t be the case and I’m excited for any collaboration between Allen and CK.
Grizzly Bomb 