Woody Allen Talks Miley Cyrus Amazon Series, ‘Regret’ Comments
The prospect of a Woody Allen TV series hasn’t gotten any less strange since its announcement, between Allen’s public regret of the Amazon deal and the addition of Miley Cyrus, nor does the latest word from the controversial filmmaker, who admits in the same interview to knowing Cyrus from Hannah Montana, but never having seen Breaking Bad. Now, Allen reveals new details of the untitled project, as well his initial discomfort with TV.
A lengthy (and occasionally troubling) interview with Allen at The Hollywood Reporter sees the famed director admitting that while the six-episode limited series is largely shot, and ready to deliver, it lacks a formal title. Allen only met Cyrus for the show, having some passing familiarity with her talent from ambient episodes of Hannah Montana and her SNL hostings, though the prospect of directing for TV still daunted Allen at first:
It was much harder to do than I thought. I thought, ‘I’ll sandwich this in between two films and knock it off. What’s the big deal? It’s television.’ But over the years, television has made enormous strides, and wonderful things are being done on television. And I found as soon as I started to get into the project, I couldn’t bring myself to slough it off because this is not television of 50 years ago, where every silly thing was acceptable. You’re working in a medium that has grown up and has got wonderful things being done in it, and, yes, you may prove to be an embarrassment, but you don’t want to be a total embarrassment.
Allen both wrote and direct ‘60s-set project, taking a role alongside Cyrus and actor Elaine May, with whom he’d previously worked in Small Time Crooks.
If indeed Allen’s claims of completion are accurate, we’ll likely see an Amazon premiere announced in the near future, but what should we make of the director’s first TV project?