3. Allen Couldn’t Convince Fellini Or Bunuel To Appear, But Did Get Truman Capote
These days, Allen’s able to rustle up virtually any celebrity he likes to act in his films, but before “Annie Hall,” it wasn’t so easy. Marshall McLuhan‘s “You know nothing of my work” scene is one of the film’s funniest gags (watch it below), but McLuhan was by no means the director’s first choice: ever the cineaste, he’d approached both Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel first, who both turned him down. One person that he did manage to bag however was author Truman Capote, although he’s hiding in plain sight: when Alvy and Annie are in the park together and Alvy jokes “there’s the winner of the Truman Capote Look-A-Like Contest” — the man he’s pointing out is Capote himself.
4. One Scene Of The Film Is Based On A Comic Book. Kind Of.
One of the things that’s made the film a resonant classic is the way in which Allen plays around with form — breaking the fourth wall, adding subtitles, split screens etc. One of the more notable elements is the animated sequence, in which cartoon versions of Alvy and Annie (dressed as the wicked queen from Snow White) are voiced by Allen and Keaton. And the design of Alvy is borrowed from comic artist Stuart Hample, who in 1975 approached Allen to write a newspaper comic strip based around the comedian. “Inside Woody Allen,” penned by Hample and technologist David Weinberger among others, and based on material by Allen who had approval over the strip, debuted on October 4th, 1976, just over six months before “Annie Hall” hit theaters. The strip ran for eight years.
5. Allen Has Flirted With The Idea Of A Sequel
Across his forty-odd year career, Allen has never made a sequel to one of his films, but if one were to emerge, “Annie Hall,” his most beloved film, would surely be the top contender. The director told Peter Biskind in Vanity Fair that he was approached “all the time” about the possibility, and admitted in the book “Woody Allen On Woody Allen” that, “I did think once that it would be interesting to see Annie Hall and the guy I played years later. Diane Keaton and I could meet now that we’re about twenty years older, and it could be interesting, because we parted, to meet one day and see what our lives have become.” But ultimately, the idea was never more than that, Allen being resistant to the idea of selling out: “It smacks to me of exploitation. Sequelism has become an annoying thing. I don’t think Francis Coppola should have done ‘Godfather Part III‘ because ‘Godfather Part II‘ was quite great. when they make a sequel, it’s just a thirst for more money, so I don’t like that idea so much.”
[Deleted scene images via Bread City, Lewis Wayne Gallery, Technicolor Dreams 70]
