To Rome With Love: Woody Allen And His Muse

TO ROME WITH LOVE is released this week in the UK and we’ve been looking at Woody Allen’s ever-present muse and we’ve picked five of the best!

Louise Lasser – Take the Money and Run, Bananas, Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask and Stardust Memories.

Woody and Louise were married for 3 years between 1966 and 1969, but she only worked with him after they got divorced. Lasser appeared in four of Allen’s early comedies. After working with Woody Allen she appeared in many TV series such as Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and Taxi.

Louise Laser on Woody Allen: “In our relationship, he was the stable one.”

Diane Keaton – Sleeper, Love and Death, Annie Hall, Interiors, Manhattan and Manhattan Murder Mystery

Diane Keaton will forever be the true Woody Allen muse. She changed his way of writing when Woody saw that Dianne made her character in ANNIE HALL more important on screen than his own. He then decided to give her important roles in his films in which she’d discuss women’s problems with the same confidence as his male neurotic characters did. She was not only a great actress but she inspired Woody Allen to be better at his filmmaking. That’s a true muse power.

Diane Keaton on Woody Allen: “I was in love with him before I knew him. He was Woody Allen … He was so hip, with his thick glasses and cool suits.”

Mia Farrow – A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy, Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters and 9 other films.

Mia Farrow’s relationship was the longest and also most troublesome of all his muses. They were in a balanced love and work relationship for 14 years, which abruptly ended in scandal when Mia found out that Woody was having an affair with her adopted daughter.

Scandals apart, their relationship resulted in 13 films, including some of his best work such as THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (which received seven Oscar nominations).

Mia Farrow on Woody Allen: “Woody is the director and so I know he is evaluating my performance at the same time he’s acting with me, something quite apart from our relationship.”

Scarlett Johansson – Match Point, Scoop and Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Woody Allen casted Johansson as the lead in MATCH POINT after Kate Winslet dropped the part in the last minute. He was happy with the change after all and ended up calling Scarlett back for another two films. When first meeting Johansson, Woody was impressed how ‘very charming, very bright, very amusing’ she was. Their relationship is purely platonic (phew!) and Scarlett has stated that she’s still waiting for him to write her Citizen Kane.

Scarlett Johansson on Woody Allen: “I’d sew the hems of his pants if he asked me to.”

Judy Davis – Alice, Husbands and Wives, Deconstructing Harry, Celebrity and To Rome With Love

Judy Davis was present in four of Woody Allen films in the 90s – including the critically acclaimed HUSBANDS AND WIVES, which she has received an Oscar nomination for. Woody has once said that Judy is the best actress he has ever worked with. Of all his muses, she’s definitely the one with the most respected career and with whom he did not have a love interest whatsoever.

Judy Davis on Woody Allen: “I can’t speak for Woody Allen, but certainly it’s difficult for somebody like me to have a normal relationship with him. I’ve seen him too many times on screen and, it’s hard, you know. It’s kind of hard to get over that. It was the same with somebody like Clint Eastwood.”

TO ROME WITH LOVE is out today, 14th September.