- Chose the name Melinda for his lead character in MELINDA AND MELINDA because it was easy to type.
- Was furious with Kate Winslet after she pulled out of his forthcoming English film. Allen was offended Winslet did not tell him of her decision face-to-face and opted to write a three-page letter to producer Nicky Barnes. (June 30, 2004)
- Has lost a six-year legal battle, after the New York State court dismissed efforts to halt the construction of a building site. (March 29, 2004)
- Is unlikely to write his memoirs despite recent reports to the contrary, according to his publicist Leslee Dart. (October 20, 2003)
- HarperCollins U.K. has made an offer for the British rights for Allen's yet-unwritten memoirs, a spokeswoman said Friday at the Frankfurt Book Fair. (October 11, 2003)
- Is reportedly set to publish his memoirs, which will tell-all about his many affairs and relationships. (October 9, 2003)
- Allen's new film ANYTHING ELSE debuts at Venice on Wednesday -- The film tells the story of a young comedy writer who falls for a manipulative seductress and then struggles with the consequences. (August 28, 2003)
- Allen will open the 60th Venice Film Festival next month with the premiere of his new movie ANYTHING ELSE, organisers announced -- Venice's annual Mostra film festival, a top fixture of the international film festival round, opens August 27 and runs until September 6. (July 21, 2003)
- Allen, known for his fierce devotion to New York, is working as a pitch man for France, urging Americans to eat french fries, to French kiss and travel to the European nation -- In a French tourism promotion video, Allen says it is time to put behind them the animosity over France's opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which soured the long-standing relationship. (June 11, 2003)
- Was the bassist for the Southern jam-rock band and when the rest of the band - guitarist Warren Haynes and drummer Matt Abts - had to make another record, they couldn't deal with finding a new bassist. (November 2002)
- Allen went one-on-one against a prominent psychiatrist on Thursday night in front of more than 800 people, fending off a stream of suggestions on how psychoanalysis affected his life and work. (November 9, 2002)
- Woody Allen and Steve Bing explain WHY MEN SHOULDN'T MARRY - Bing writes and directs the comedy, which stars the thrice-married Allen and twice-married Sean Penn. (November 5, 2002)
- When he was promoting his latest film HOLLYWOOD ENDING IN ROME on Sunday, Allen dismissed himself as a failed artist on Saturday and described American cinema as a sink-hole of mindless entertainment where everyone was obsessed with money. (October 28, 2002)
- While editing his murder mystery movie, Woody Allen realized that all the best recording was of its romance subplot, so he reedited ANNIE HALL (1977) as a romantic comedy.
- Refuses to watch any of his movies once released.
- During his college days Allen wrote gags for Bob Hope.
- Suspended from New York University.
- He loves Venice, and helped to raise funds to rebuild the venetian theatre La Fenice, destroyed by a fire.
- Frequently hires musical director Dick Hyman to adapt classic American songs and jazz works into his films.
- Once invited to appear with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stanley Kubrick also considered casting him in Sydney Pollack's part in EYES WIDE SHUT (1999).
- One of the most prolific American directors of his generation, he has written, directed, and more often than not starred in a film just about every year since 1969.
- All of his films are mixed and released in monaural sound.
- Made what was apparently his first and probably his last appearance at the Oscars in Hollywood in 2002 to make a plea for producers to continue filming their movies in New York, after the 9-11 tragedy.
- Allen says HOLLYWOOD ENDING is different from many of his films -- because he actually likes it.
- Allen said that whatever his attributes as a director, writer and keeper of the comedic flame, he did not much like himself as an actor and could live without casting himself.
- Used KOKUSAI HIMITSU KEISATSU: KAGI NO KAGI (1964) to make WHAT'S UP TIGER LILI? (1966). He changed the subtitles to make the plot revolve around a secret egg salad recipe.
- Was originally going to have a more downbeat ending, but the studios asked him to make it more upbeat in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986).
- Before filming for SCENES FROM A MALL (1991) began, he had never set foot in a mall.
- Directing SEPTEMBER (1987), he cast and shot this film twice, without telling the original cast.
- He has said many times that, along with THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985), STARDUST MEMORIES (1980) is his favorite of the movies he's made.
- In SLEEPER (1973), he confirmed the scientific feasibility of his screenplay ideas in a single lunchtime meeting with 'Asimov, Isaac'.
- Jessie Keosian, who plays Aunt Ceil in his segment, Oedipus Wrecks, was his high school biology teacher. They had not met since high school until the audition for this NEW YORK STORIES (1989).
- Originally going to have a more downbeat ending, but the studios asked him to make it more upbeat in HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986).
- The scene in WHAT'S NEW, PUSSYCAT (1965) where his character celebrates his birthday on the wharf was filmed on December 1, 1964 - Woody's 29th birthday.
- When waiting in front of the movie theater Woody Allen's character Alvy Singer (the 1977 Annie Hall) says, I'm standing out here with the cast of the Godfather, to Diane Keaton, who was in the cast of The Godfather
- had to tell Goldie Hawn to try to sing worse in EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU (1996) because she sang too well to be believable as a normal person just breaking into song.
- EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU (1996) is the first and only Woody Allen-directed film where the credits appear at the end.
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (1998)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for MIGHTY APHRODITE (1996)
- Nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards for BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1995)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1993)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for ALICE (1991)
- Nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards for CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1990)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for RADIO DAYS (1988)
- Nominated for Best Director - Motion Picture and Best Screenplay - Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards for HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- Nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards for HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- Nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards for BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1985)
- Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical at Golden Globe Awards for ZELIG (1984)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1984)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for MANHATTAN (1980)
- Nominated for Best Director - Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards for INTERIORS (1979)
- Nominated for Best Director at Academy Awards for INTERIORS (1979)
- Nominated for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards for INTERIORS (1979)
- Nominated for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at Academy Awards for INTERIORS (1979)
- Nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role at Academy Awards for ANNIE HALL (1978)
- Nominated for Best Director - Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards for ANNIE HALL (1978)
- Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actor - Musical/Comedy at Golden Globe Awards for ANNIE HALL (1978)
- Nominated for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture at Golden Globe Awards for ANNIE HALL (1978)
Quotes- After receiving Donostia prize at San Sebastian film festival: "I'm not a scientist or a doctor who has discovered some great cure and then I thought about my films and I thought that actually they were a cure for insomnia and I thought that I could accept the award in all conscience."
- "All the women's names that I use in my films are very short and easy to type."
- "By most people in the United States I am very reluctantly acknowledged as someone who has been around for a long time and they frankly can't understand what the fuss is about - when there's a fuss."
- "Human Beings are divided into mind and body. The mind embraces all the nobler aspirations, like poetry and philosophy, but the body has all the fun."
- "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it by not dying."
- "I'm not afraid of dying...I just don't want to be there when it happens."
- In 1977: "This year I'm a star, but what will I be next year? A black hole?"
- "On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily as lying down."
- "I´d rather live on in my apartment" [When asked if he liked the idea of living on on the silver screen...] "
- "I can't imagine that the business should be run any other way than that the director has complete control of his films. My situation may be unique, but that doesn't speak well for the business -- it shouldn't be unique, because the director is the one who has the vision and he's the one who should put that vision onto film."
- "Basically I am a low-culture person. I prefer watching baseball with a beer and some meatballs."
- "There are worse things in life than death. Have you ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman?"
- "Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons."
- "I do the movies just for myself like an institutionalized person who basket-weaves. Busy fingers are happy fingers. I don't care about the films. I don't care if they're flushed down the toilet after I die."
- "Most of the time I don't have much fun. The rest of the time I don't have any fun at all."
- "And I said, 'You know, God, you can do much better than me. You know, you might want to get Martin Scorsese, or, or Mike Nichols, or Spike Lee, or Sidney Lumet...' I kept naming names, you know, and um, I said, 'Look, I've given you 15 names of guys who are more talented than I am, and, and smarter and classier...' And they said, 'Yes, but they were not available.'"[At the Academy Awards in 2002, explaining why he was the one introducing a montage of New York movies]"
- "If my film makes one more person miserable, I'll feel I've done my job."
- "For some reason I'm more appreciated in France than I am back home. The subtitles must be incredibly good."
Awards- San Sebastian film festival: Donostia Prize (2004)
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award (1998)
- London Critics Circle Film Awards: Special Achievement Award (1998)
- BAFTA Awards: Academy Fellowship (1997)
- Directors Guild of America: Lifetime Achievement Award (1996)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Original Screenplay, HUSBANDS AND WIVES (1993)
- Writers Guild of America: Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1990)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Direction, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Original Screenplay, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- American Comedy Awards: Funniest Actor in a Motion Picture (Leading Role), HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- American Comedy Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy (1987)
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Screenplay, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- Writers Guild of America: Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1987)
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Screenplay, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Original Screenplay, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Film, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- César Awards: Best Foreign Film, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Screenplay, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
- National Board of Review: Best Director, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
- Golden Globe Awards: Best Screenplay - Motion Picture, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1986)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Director, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986)
- Writers Guild of America: Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1985)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Original Screenplay, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE (1985)
- Cannes Film Festival: FIPRESCI Prize, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Screenplay, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Screenplay, MANHATTAN (1980)
- César Awards: Best Foreign Film, MANHATTAN (1980)
- National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Director, MANHATTAN (1980)
- Academy Awards: Best Director, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- Academy Awards: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Direction, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- BAFTA Awards: Best Screenplay, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- Directors Guild of America: Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Director, MANHATTAN (1979)
- Writers Guild of America: Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen, ANNIE HALL (1978)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Director, ANNIE HALL (1977)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Best Screenplay, ANNIE HALL (1977)
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Screenplay, ANNIE HALL (1977)
- National Society of Film Critics Awards: Best Screenplay for ANNIE HALL (1977)
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: Nebula Award - Best Dramatic Presentation, SLEEPER (1975)
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