I'm too old to play romantic leads, says Woody Allen

Published on Saturday 15 May 2010 20:30

WOODY Allen confessed yesterday that he stopped acting in the films he directs because it was "no fun" growing too old to play the romantic lead.

The Annie Hall director, whose new movie You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger screened out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival, said it was "frustrating" watching younger actors play opposite his leading ladies.

Allen, 74, said: "For years I played the romantic lead, and then I couldn't play it any more because I got too old to play it, and it's just no fun not playing the guy who gets the girl."

The director, who cast Naomi Watts, Freida Pinto and Anna Friel in his latest project, continued: "You can imagine how frustrating it is when I play these movies with Scarlett Johansson and Naomi Watts – and the other guys get them and I'm the director."

He added: "I would like to be the one that sits opposite them in the restaurant and looks into their eyes and lies to them, so if I can't do that it's not that much fun to play in the movies."

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, which also stars Josh Brolin, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Gemma Jones, focuses on the disintegrating relationships and new pairings of a group of people in London.

The film's title refers to both predictions made by a fortune teller and to the fears the characters experience concerning their own mortality.

The film was shot in London, as were previous projects Match Point, Scoop and Cassandra's Dream, a habit Allen said was motivated by the city's relative cheapness and bad weather.