Woody Allen is still the toast of the town despite his very public family drama. The director brought out an A-list crowd for the New York premiere of “Magic in the Moonlight” Thursday, but he barely made it past the door of his party because it was too crowded.
Allen and wife Soon-Yi Previn entered the elegant Dolce & Gabbana-sponsored bash at Harlow and made it halfway down the rose-decked hallway, a nod to the film’s South of France location, before turning around and abruptly leaving. “It was too crowded,” a witness explained. An insider tells us, “Woody is claustrophobic.”
The film’s stars Emma Stone, Colin Firth and Jacki Weaver fared better, along with guests including former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Oliver Stone, Christina Hendricks, Christine Baranski, Katie Couric, Regis Philbin and “Moneyball” director Bennett Miller.
But at least one wacko brought up Allen’s personal life. Crowds leaving the Paris Theatre screening were greeted by a man wearing a large neon yellow sign inscrutably reading, “Free Emma Stone from Mia Farrow,” and “The lies of the powerful Vanity Fair will be exposed by the powerless David Fuchs” — apparently the man’s name. It also included his e-mail address.
While there was no introduction at the New York screening, Allen offered up a taped welcome message for a screening in San Francisco earlier this week. “I’m sorry that I can’t be there tonight, but thank God, I had a prior engagement,” he said. “We all worked very hard on this film, living for three months in the French Riviera, forced to have meal after meal of French food and French wines.
“It was hell. I hope you have a good time with the movie and that you like what we did, but in the event I screwed up and you hate every frame, don’t panic — I’m already at work on another one, and who knows, it could turn out better.”
Allen’s next movie stars Joaquin Phoenix and Stone, who told us she loved working with Allen, but of the plot, “I can’t say, it’s being kept secret.”