Woody Allen Can’t Afford Big Stars Like De Niro, Nicholson, Hoffman…
Woody Allen says Robert De Niro snubbed a chance to work with him because the director couldn’t afford his huge wage demands.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker singled out De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman as actors who had turned him down over pay.
“There are plenty of actors and actresses that say they are desperate to work with me but then they are not available or they can’t work for the pay I’m offering.”I couldn’t afford De Niro, Nicholson or Hoffman.”
Allen, 72, makes most of his films on relatively low budgets of around $15 million.
He wanted to get Nicholson or Tom Hanks for the lead role in his film “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” but they both turned him down.
Allen said it’s not just male leads that he has problems casting. Emma Thompson and Reese Witherspoon have both been unsuccessfully approached about roles in his films.
He has been filming in Europe rather than Hollywood for his last four films, saying his productions are better received by audiences there.
Allen made three consecutive films in London - “Match Point“, “Scoop” and “Cassandra’s Dream“. Read the rest of this entry
Jack Nicholson: “I’m an Oscar man”
Jack Nicholson thinks he deserves an Oscar for “being a pain in the (expletive) for so long”.The 70-year-old actor says he would love to add a Lifetime Achievement Award to his already bulging collection of prizes. Nicholson has won three Academy Awards during his career -
He said, ‘I wouldn’t mind winning another Oscar. Even one of those sentimental ones for being a pain in the (expletive) for so long.”
Nicholson is presenting a prize at the prestigious Los Angeles ceremony on Sunday. He admittedly loves to use the Oscars to hit on beautiful women.
“What can I say. I’m an Oscar man. What are you going to do, not enjoy the beauties in the room?” Nicholson said.
The veteran star said he was nearly blinded by photographers’ flashes when he attended his first ever Academy Awards in 1970 where he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for ‘Easy Rider.’
He told the USA Today newspaper, ‘There were so many of them, it blinded you. I just stood there, trying to count them all. And I thought, ‘Jesus, I’m really here. I really made it.’ “
Jack Nicholson On Heath Ledger’s Death: “I Told Him So”
Ledger – who has taken over Nicholson’s role as the Joker in the latest instalment of the Batman franchise - was pronounced dead in New York on Tuesday following a suspected drugs overdose.
Entertainmentwise has learnt that Nicholson – who is in London promoting The Bucket List - was confronted by a fan outside the Wolseley restaurant, who asked the veteran actor what he thought about the 28-year-old’s sudden passing.
“I told him so,” the 70-year-old replied cryptically.
Ledger’s body was discovered by a maid in his Manhattan apartment on Tuesday night.
The actor was reportedly found naked in his bed by the maid and the masseuse with pills scattered across his body.
