“When you first start out you’re always striving for greatness and perfection and then after some years reality sets in and you realize that you’re not going to get it.” — Woody Allen between shots of his latest London-based film (allegedly titled You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger), talking to the Telegraph‘s John Hiscock in a piece than ran ages ago (i.e., 9.29).

Maybe you’re “not going to get it” just so, but urgent creative strivings of talented young (or younger) directors looking to mark their mark tend to produce their best films. Allen seems to be saying he’ll never make a film like Manhattan or Annie Hall or even Stardust Memories ever again, and that he’s more or less content with that. That’s a rather grim attitude. I’ll take the young Scorsese (Mean Streets to Raging Bull) over the latter-day version any day of the week. Ditto young Coppola vs. old Coppola. Or young Bertolucci (Before The Revolution, The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris). Or young DePalma (The Phantom of the Paradise, Sisters, Greetings). Or young Jim Cameron (Piranha, Terminator, T2, Aliens) over the silver-haired Avatar techno-maestro he’s since become.