Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Woody's Women (Ranked)

It's official: Scarlett Johansson will be making a third movie with Woody Allen (his Barcelona picture, set to film this summer). I've already seen three misleading entertainment reports circling that says she's his most frequent actress now after Diane Keaton & Mia Farrow. That's completely false so let's set the record straight before other outlets make the same mistake.

I'm counting only his feature films for this. The actresses who've logged the most time with the prolific writer/director are...
  1. Mia Farrow -13 features. Remarkably (and horrifically) despite the plentiful acting nominations earned by Woody Allen films she's still never been nominated.
  2. Diane Keaton -7 features including her Oscar win for Annie Hall
  3. Julie Kavner -"Marge Simpson!" 6 features most memorably as his co-worker in Hannah and Her Sisters
  4. Dianne Wiest -5 features including both her Oscar wins for Hannah and Her Sisters & Bullets Over Broadway (If you've ever wondered why actors are so obviously desperate to work with him, consider this: He's guided thespians to 14 nominations with 5 wins among them -one of the best records of all time.)
  5. Louise Lasser -5 Films including Woody's first: What's Up Tiger Lily (1966) if you count voice work.
  6. Judy Davis -4 Films including her Oscar nominated turn in Husbands and Wives
  7. Blythe Danner, Julie Halston, Annie Joe Edwards and Camille Saviola -3 Films (character roles)
  8. Scarlett Johansson -soon to be 3 Films. Even if you discount the actresses who never had prominent roles, Scarlett would still be in only 6th place.
  9. A lot of actresses with 2 films including: Charlize Theron, Debra Messing, Lynn Cohen, Tracey Ullman, Mariel Hemingway, Julia Louis Dreyfuss, Joanna Gleeson, Anjelica Huston, Marian Seldes, Gretchen Mol, Tina Sloan, Erica Leerhsen and Loretta Tupper... possibly some others, too.
Who do you wish he would work with again? Or have you long since given up?

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a quick note, it's five wins:

Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Michael Caine, Hannnah and her Sisters
Diane Wiest, Hannah and her Sisters
Diane Wiest, Bullets Over Broadway
Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite

NATHANIEL R said...

right you are. i forgot Mira! it's updated

Anonymous said...

"I'll never let go. I'll never let go."

I'd LOVE to see him team up with Diane again, but that's such an obvious choice that maybe I'll suggest Tracey Ullman. Loved her in Bullets but LOVED her in Small Time Crooks.

Rob

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see him work with any and all of these ladies again - but the one I'd most like him to work with is Elaine May, so wonderful in Small Time Crooks (which, btw, I think is too quickly lumped in with the weak comedies that followed - STC isn't a classic, but it might be the Woodman's last fully realized work).

SamuraiFrog said...

I love his work with Scarlett Johansson and hope he continues to work with her.

NATHANIEL R said...

flower and rob --good choices.

small time crooks is probably underrated because when ever anyone mentions it i get a psychic giggle and hear Ullman's voice saying "I was really quite agog"

samurai --i love them separately. my jury is still out on them together.

StinkyLulu said...

Mia Farrow + Woody + the mid80s = some of my most favoritest movie roles ever. Hannah? Cecilia? And my absolute favorite, Sally White (Radio Days)...

Zowie. Dem's good times...

Anonymous said...

Diane Keaton. I keep hoping they'll do one more together. just to make it "seem like old times."

Cinesnatch said...

Thank you Mr. List Man!

Thank you Flower. Small Time Crooks was on TV yesterday. I knew that woman I saw with Woody was a director/comedian, I just couldn't remember who. (I'll I could come up with was Nora Ephron!)

Anonymous said...

Diane Keaton, absolutely. He must do another film with ther, I just miss so much Diane era, plzzzzz Woody, come on!

par3182 said...

wasn't there a rumour floating around about ten years ago that woody was writing a script for diane, dianne and judy? i wish that was true

Anonymous said...

He needs to work with Felicity Huffman or Gwyneth Paltrow...

RC said...

thanks for doing the work here...

now how many films is Ridley Scott going to do with Russel Crowe and how many Burton films will star Carter and Depp...the world will never know.

Beau said...

I'd love to see him work with Keaton again. I just think it'd make for such a grand reunion. But I love the Scarlett pairing entirely.

I think it'd be interesting to see Nicky Kidman in one of his films. Don't know how it'd turn out, but the thought of it is intriguing. Or Jack... can you imagine Jack Nicholson in a Woody Allen film? Boggles the mind.

(Note: Those two are just individuals who came to mind, I don't know how I'd feel about them actually being in one of his films but you can't deny the curiosity factor involved...)

Anonymous said...

While we're at it, I'm disappointed that there are two DVD versions of What's Up, Tiger Lily?, but no DVD of the original Japanese film, Key of Keys. Coincidentally, Mie Hama and Akiko Wakabayashi were also in You Only Live Twice.

Glenn Dunks said...

I'm still needing to do much catchup on Woody's earlier work. I have Hannah and her Sisters on the HDR waiting to be watched.

Paul C. said...

I keep holding out hope that he'll be able to work with Winslet, after what happened with MATCH POINT. That film might've turned out quite differently with her instead of Scarlett, as was originally the case. But I'd much rather see her in one of his comedies. She's great in comedy, and doesn't get enough chances to do them. Couldn't be worse than THE HOLIDAY, right?

NATHANIEL R said...

paul --i had totally forgotten she was supposed to be in that. it would be great to see winslet in one of his films.

kamikaze -i trust you'll share your reaction. such a special film i think. though not my favorite of his it's way up there.

peter --i've never seen tiger lily! and i'm a woody allen nut. he makes so many movies and i'm closer to finishing his filmography than any other significant enudring director but still... so many!

RC ---i imagine the Depp/Burton pairing will continue on heading for Woody/Mia numbers. though probably not that high since Burton is not as prolific.

Anonymous said...

I can only fervently hope that Woody delivers Diane Keaton from the idiocy of middle age chick flicks she's been slumped in since the 90's. Diane Keaton was in Reds the same year that Helen Mirren was in Caligula. And now look at the shift in quality project selection!

Otherwise, any use of Dianne Wiest is awesome.

-- Mad Percolator

NATHANIEL R said...

agreed. i'm actually more eager to see DIANNE WIEST back in his movies than anyone. Diane and Mia had such great runs that it feels greedy to demand that they return (not that Mia and Woody ever would -oops)

but Dianne. she needs to return

Anonymous said...

Judy Davis was amazing in Deconstructing Harry. She's owed a great film role (her small parts in Marie Antoinette and The Break-Up just whetted my appetite).

Anonymous said...

Keaton's closer to 8 if you count Play it Again Sam (hell Woody wrote and starred). Got to go with Radio Days as Kavner's best (at least meatiest) role. Radio Days is a good answer to a trivia question....what film has both Mia and Diane.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Maureen Stapleton win for Interiors? Or just nominated?

NATHANIEL R said...

no just a nomination

great discussion of maureen in interiors over here

Kai said...

Let's not forget Jessica Harper. Not only did she co-star in Stardust Memories and have a brief cameo in Love and Death, but was also offered a supporting role in Annie Hall, which she turned down to film Suspiria.

One actress I wish Woody had used more than once is Mary Beth Hurt, who was great in Interiors.