USA: Woody Allen's new film, "Scoop" starring his current muse - Scarlett Johansson - has a special New York screening

Record ID: 566803

  • Title: USA: Woody Allen's new film, "Scoop" starring his current muse - Scarlett Johansson - has a special New York screening
  • Date: 27th July 2006
  • Summary: RED CARPET LAUREN BUSH (IN GREEN SKIRT), U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH'S NIECE
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2006 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA52DH7P41Y37B2SB631EE63V6Q
  • Story Text: For over two decades Woody Allen has made on average a film a year and 2006 is no exception. In his latest caper, "Scoop", the creator of classic films like "Annie Hall" and "Mighty Aphrodite" stars alongside Scarlett Johansson in a comedy about murder, mystery and magic.
    In Allen's hometown of New York, there was a special screening of "Scoop" to honor the film-maker's muse - Johansson.
    The film was written with the 21-year-old actress in mind and with its inspiration as the off-screen banter that went on between Allen and Johansson, during their previous film together, "Match Point."
    "I think we were looking for, we were shooting Match Point and I always loved Woody as a director and a comedian and a writer, and as an actor, and we had such a nice banter between us that I said - well, I wish we could act together. He said all right, well, I'll think of something. And so that's kind of where Scoop came from, I guess. So, I guess you could say he wrote it for us," said Johansson.
    Unlike Allen's crime drama "Match Point," he returns to comedy in "Scoop," a light-hearted if ghostly murder mystery that for all the contemporary English locations feels like a 1930s studio film. Along with Johansson, the film offers fun roles for Allen, Hugh Jackman and Ian McShane.
    In the film, Johansson plays Sondra Pransky, an American journalism student in London who gets a hot tip from the ghost of deceased journalist, Joe Strombel (played by Ian McShane).
    A magician named Splendini, who actually is Sid Waterman from Brooklyn (played by Allen) is performing his act in London. Pransky is plucked from the audience to be placed inside the "De-Materializer." To her astonishment, when the door shuts, Joe's spirit appears to her and quickly fills her in on his big scoop. Joe's tip is that a serial killer called "Tarot Card Killer," might be British aristocrat Peter Lyman ( played by Hugh Jackman).
    This metaphysical event sends Sondra and Sid into the streets of London and surrounding countryside in pursuit of Lyman.
    Johansson said she really enjoyed acting alongside Allen and her favorite part of the shoot was having breakfast with the film-maker every morning.
    "We're basically playing two kind of idiotic characters, just traipsing all over London, looking for this murder suspect and it's just, it's a kind of classic Woody Allen comedy," said Johansson.
    Also attending the screening were actresses Lauren Bacall and Bebe Neuwirth, and American President George Bush's niece, Lauren.
    Bacall said that she liked both the comedies and serious films in Allen's repertoire.
    "I think his work is interesting always and I think it's unusual and sometimes it's very funny. I mean the last one - "Match Point" - was not very funny and I enjoyed that very much. Very unlike his usual work. He has tremendous variety and he's a tremendously talented man," she said.
    Neuwirth admitted that she was partial to Allen's flair for comedy, adding that she found him "extremely funny."
    In "Scoop", Allen romanticizes London just as he did with Manhattan. This is an ideal England with pleasing interiors and gracious exteriors, often gardens or parks, where everyone moves to the sounds of classical music.
    The film-maker also plays his stereotypes to the hilt. Sondra is a clever but dizzy American blonde, who immediately falls for the suave charm of her prey. Sid is an old wind-bag, who talks in trite phrases -- "from the bottom of my heart" and "with all due respect" -- and treats everyone he meets as an audience. Peter oozes upper-class allure and glamour with small hints that darkness may lurk beneath this too-smooth exterior.
    Audiences reportedly appreciated London as a backdrop in "Match Point" and the change in Allen's approach in the film took in $23 million in the domestic box office. Critics are saying that "Scoop" might expect more of the same with the amusing if minor work delivering many of the hallmark Woody Allen pleasures.
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