- HFPA
HFPA VISITS WOODY ALLEN’S LONDON SET
August 27, 2009
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HFPA
A rare sunny day in London turned suddenly wet for HFPA members who were visiting the set of the as-yet-untitled movie Woody Allen is filming in Notting Hill.
Woody, who is making his fourth film in London, finds the city’s overcast skies and occasional rain showers ideally suited for his methods of filmmaking.
“I usually love the weather, because if I was shooting in New York in the summer it would be hot and sunny and muggy whereas in London it should be cool and grey, which is very good for photography,” he said. “This summer there’s been much more sun than I wanted and it’s caused some delays and problems.”
On the day the HFPA visited the set he was facing a major problem: he wanted rain beating against the windows of a restaurant where his stars, Josh Brolin and Freida Pinto, were meeting.
The rain is an important part of the story because, Allen explained: “If you go back through my films you find that it’s a tip-off that whenever the boy meets the girl and it’s a rain scene they always mean business. I’m a big rain fan. I think it’s beautiful in life and on the screen.”
Unfortunately for him the weather wasn’t kind: the sun shone brightly and there was not a rain cloud in sight.
So the resourceful Allen called for a rain-making machine and very soon rain was hammering against the restaurant windows and beating down on the pavement outside the restaurant, drenching both extras with umbrellas and puzzled passers-by alike.
“Ah, rain,” said a pleased Woody Allen. “I love it.”