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“. His latest movie “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was shot in Spain and premiered in May at the Cannes film festival in France.
