Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy has never made a secret about seeing the world (and reporting about it) through woke-colored glasses.

At the start of the May ’22 Cannes Film Festival, for example, she was one of a trio of Variety reporters (along with Elizabeth Wagmeister and Matt Donnelly) who were shocked to discover that Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu and Johnny Depp are featured in a celebrity mural on the 2nd floor of La Pizza, a popular eatery adjacent to the Cannes marina.

Keslassy’s co-bylined story, by the way, stated that Allen “was accused of rape by his then 7-year-old adoptive daughter, Dylan [Farrow], in 1992″ — dead wrong.

Keslassy has now posted a Venice Film Festival interview with Allen, ostensibly about Coup de Chance (which screened for press this morning) but more importantly, or at least from Keslassy’s perspective, an opportunity to try and persuade Allen to fall upon the church steps and finally admit that he’s guilty of being the unregenerate monster that wokesters have accused him of being for several years.

Alas, Keslassy was only successful in changing Allen’s mood during their chat.

When she brought up the Farrow molestation charge, “Allen’s tone and demeanor [shifted] noticeably,” she notes. “He was jovial and talkative when discussing his film and his love for French cinema classics, looking enraptured. [But] his mood suddenly turned gloomy, however, [when] I asked him to comment on Farrow, as well as the impact that her claims has had on his reputation in the U.S.

“By the end of our interview, Allen [had] became pensive, gazing off into space.”

Get him, Elsa! Or at least, you know, make him emotionally suffer. Woody haters worldwide are counting upon you to wield a terrible swift sword. What are facts compared to this historic responsibility?

“Allen [has] returned to the Venice Film Festival for the world premiere of Coup de Chance, a romantic thriller that marks his 50th, and he suggests, quite possibly his last feature film,” Keslassy writes. “Coup de Chance represents the continued mutual embrace between the director and the [European] continent, after controversies have limited his funding stateside.

“This accounts for his pondering retirement: Allen says that producing a new movie means hustling to secure backing and at 87, he’s not sure he still wants to do that kind of work.”

“I have so many ideas for films that I would be tempted to do it, if it was easy to finance,” Allen told Keslassy. “But beyond that, I don’t know if I have the same verve to go out and spend a lot of time raising money.”

The sub-headline of Marlow Stern‘s Rolling Stone piece about Allen and his film is — I want to put this gently, carefully — flat-out disgusting.

September 4, 2023by Jeff Wells9 Comments