Thanks...a quick read witha couple of nice anecdotes regarding her child. Here's a snippet from a Cannes interview it reminded me of.
Ms. Allen, a couple of years ago (in an interview), you told me that you were utterly convinced that Marion and Indy had had a child together.
KA: No, I didn't tell you that. (Laughs)
You did tell me that.
KA: Years ago, I told you that?
Two years ago.
KA: I don't remember this conversation. What did it have ... In reference to what?
A phone interview for the New York Post.
KA: Oh, was I just making things up?
Yeah, you were making things up. (Laughs)
KA: There was a funny moment a couple of years ago when they did a couple of special screenings at the Paris Theatre in New York, and I hadn't seen the film in several years, and I was watching the film on the big screen for the first time in a really long time, and I remember the scene when we're on the submarine, and I wake up, and you're gone, and I remember noticing in this particular screening, my character reaches up and grabs her nightgown, and I thought, "gosh, I don't remember that!" I was thinking, I didn't remember that they had had a moment, like a romantic moment. In my mind, I was thinking of the missed kiss ? you fall asleep, and there's that missed kiss ? but then I forgot about the moment of her grabbing the... So I may have been making a joke about that moment or something...
Harrison, it seems like your attitude to the press process has changed; you used to seem as if doing interviews is worse than a root canal. Now, you seem...
HF: I've had a lot of root canals. (Laughs) I've got a mouthful of 'em. Of course, it's something you become somewhat more ... inured to. I recognize the value of the process, and hopefully, I'm not as ... impatient with it as I might have been. That's one of the virtues of the age, is becoming a little bit more graceful.
Does it help when it's talking about a film, or a series of films, that has become a part of popular culture? I mean, the impact of Indy goes beyond the individual installments of it. It just seems that it's a reference point now certainly in American popular culture, and also in world culture.
HF: Well, of course it's easier to talk about a film that you have the expectations and it's been admired rather than picked apart at the seams. But, of course, I have great confidence in this film on account of the people who are involved, which is not to say that any other people that I've worked with, I had less confidence in during the process. But this is a film that's made for the audience to enjoy, the pure pleasure of the moviegoing experience, and it's a huge, huge engine. We've seen the movie, and I think we have a degree of confidence that it'll be... an experience that people will enjoy.
And do you allow yourself to take pleasure in the idea that this has become a part of the popular culture?
HF: You know, it doesn't occur to me to think that way. It's my job, it's what I do for a living, and I'm really pleased when it's successful, when it brings pleasure to the audience, and it advantages me in the pursuit of my profession.
Obviously, you both used to work with each other. How did you both find working with Shia, and do you have any memorable moments in the filming with him?
KA: Shia's just a delight, as far as I'm concerned. He's very, very funny and ? I don't know how much I can describe particular scenes in the film ? but there's some moments where Shia has some quite challenging tasks he had to perform in the film, and there's just some very, very, very funny, wonderful moments with Shia where he was just above and beyond the call of duty. He's an incredibly talented young actor, I find him very eloquent as an actor. With his face, he says a lot... he's remarkable. I'm really very impressed with him, and I had an awfully good time with him.
HF: Me too. He's very professional, he works really hard. He had some very sort of arcane skills to acquire, and he worked really hard. He was an enormous pleasure to be around, and I really enjoy him a lot.
Did you teach him anything on set?
HF: I taught him how to act. (Laughs) Because nobody understands that except me... I didn't teach him anything; he taught me. He's been an actor for ten years or something, and he has an enormous talent. He's gonna be around for a long, long time.
You were talking it when it becomes age-appropriate to show the DVDs to our children. My six-year-old son watches the first three movies, which probably makes me a bad parent, but when did you let your kids see the movies, and the second part is, the violence in the movies isn't very graphic, it's somewhat old-fashioned, and do you think that's a good alternative, because, increasingly, we see really violent movies for kids out there.
KA: I think a little bit depends on the kid. My son, who's seventeen now, was very, very sensitive to violence in films. I mean, he would get extremely upset over things that wouldn't dawn on me as to find too violent, but he's just a kid who got very absorbed in whatever was on the screen in front of him, and he could get frightened very easily. So I waited, I don't think he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark until he was maybe 8 or 9, but I certainly know other kids who saw it at a much younger age, and the melting heads and things just didn't seem to bother them at all.
HF: Yeah, I agree absolutely. We have a seven-year-old at home, and I think he self-censors in a way. He's very much like Karen described her boy; it's not what he's looking for, and when he has an experience with a movie, he's really not ready for physical contest because it's not something that's part of his experience. So, in his case, in Liam's case, I think it would be another year or so before I let him see this film. This film, with the possible exception of ripping out hearts ...in The Temple of Doom, which, as you know, established the PG-13 rating, I think we're gonna have a film that the entire family can enjoy together.