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New Woody Allen cast: experienced actors, musical fledglings
December 6, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. ESTFrom Correspondent Cynthia Tornquist
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Many of the stars of the new film "Everyone Says I Love You" had no idea that director Woody Allen was casting them in a musical.
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"I get this call, we're going to send you some tapes of some songs and some music sheets, we want you to learn them because we're making a musical," said Ed Norton. "So, you hyperventilate for a day and a half. But actually it was fun."
He is one of the members of the movie's large cast, but not one with any past musical comedy experience. In fact, out of the entire cast, only Goldie Hawn and Alan Alda had any experience in the genre.
"Maybe other actors felt suddenly shocked but that seemed like a nice attractive thing. I thought, 'Oh boy, this will be fun,'" Alda said.
And though almost nobody had experience in musicals, only Drew Barrymore, she of the self-described "croaky voice," had to have her singing roles sung by someone else.
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The film combines intimate scenes with big production numbers. Although Allen was directing a musical for the first time, he worked in the same unique way he directs comedies and dramas.
Often, an actor or actress was only given script pages that pertained to his or her character. There was no rehearsal, and Allen gave few notes. Actress Julia Roberts described a shoot: "He says, 'This is how we're gonna do it for the camera, and where we're gonna be, and where we're gonna move. Say whatever you want, and here we go!'"
Alan Alda found the director's style disconcerting at first, but quickly grew accustomed to Allen's strategy, which he said was "to put you off balance." Once he got used to the director, Alda said, "I knew good stuff was coming out."
Because Allen encourages his actors to come up with ideas, he is regarded as an actor's director. "I think it's the epitome of my happiness to get to do a Woody Allen movie," Barrymore said. "It's like the greatest gift I've ever received."
Allen might say the same, because his stars have helped him to realize one of his most ambitious films.
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