“Midnight in Paris” producer Letty Aronson discusses the making of the Oscar-nominated film, what it’s like working with her brother Woody Allen and her initial doubts about the film.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
Producer Letty Aronson admits she was skeptical when her brother, Woody Allen, approached her about doing a nostalgic ode to Paris’ 1920s bohemian scene.
“When I saw the script, I couldn’t imagine people being interested in Gertrude Stein or Man Ray,” Aronson said in a telephone interview from Manhattan last week. “I mean, it interested me, but I thought it had a niche appeal.”
But Aronson set aside her concerns and began raising European financing for the venture, which ultimately became “Midnight in Paris.” The film has since managed that rarest of feats: financial success and critical acclaim. Produced on a $17-million budget and released last summer, “Midnight” has not only become one of Allen’s best-reviewed movies in years, it is the highest-grossing movie of his career, with a worldwide box office of nearly $150,000,000.
The critically acclaimed comedy was screened by the Malibu Film Society Jan. 28. Four days earlier, the film picked up four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
In “Midnight,” Owen Wilson plays Gil Pender, a successful Hollywood screenwriter who, while on a trip to Paris, becomes disillusioned with his materialistic lifestyle and fantasizing about Paris’ 1920s bohemian sceneŠ only to find himself magically transported to the era of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Degas and Picasso.
Aronson has since come to realize why moviegoers have connected with the film.
“It’s a combination of things,” she said. “It’s very beautiful, and it takes place in Paris. It’s very romantic and whimsical, but also the point it makes that people think that there’s always something better out there, a better time, a better place, a better life.”
Aronson, 69, has been producing the 76-year-old Allen’s movies since 1994’s “Bullets Over Broadway,” after Allen parted ways with producer Jean Doumanian. As a result, she’s familiar with how he works.
Aronson originally read the “Midnight” script when it was just an early draft. Then again, she noted, “His work is always drafts because he’s always rewriting, polishing. Even while we’re shooting, he makes changes.”
Originally, Allen did not have star Wilson in mind.
“Not at the very beginning,” Aronson said, “because, initially, the Gil character was an East Coast person. But Owen’s name came up and [Allen] had seen him in a couple of things. He rewrote it for him before he even showed Owen the script.”
Aronson had a limited role in casting suggestions for the film, which also stars Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen.
“I become involved to the extent at the beginning when Woody is just writing, we talk about how it might be good to cast so and so,” she said. “So it starts there and then it goes to [Allen’s longtime casting director] Juliet Taylor.”
Once filming began in Paris, Aronson flew to France to be on the set.
“I’m not the line producer, I go out and get the money,” she said. “But my responsibility is to the people who invested in the movie. I’m just there for whatever [Allen] needs me for. Anything to get the film made within the budget.”
On this shoot, the biggest challenge is hinted at by “Midnight”’s title.
“What was difficult was that 50 percent of the film is shot at night and Woody is unaccustomed to shooting at night,” Aronson said. “So he has to change his routine. We only have seven weeks to shoot. For Woody, it was a very big challenge. Otherwise, the people were very cooperative. The crew was great. We always hired local people and it was not a problem finding the locations there. The locations haven’t really changed over the years.”
Allen shoots one or two films a year, and, due to the overseas source of financing, recent movies were shot not in his beloved Manhattan but in places such as London, Rome and Barcelona. Aronson enjoys the travel aspect of making an Allen picture.
“Being in Paris was wonderful,” Aronson said. “Living there for three months was terrific. We got to spend some time with Adrian Brody, Kathy Bates, the regular cast. So for me … it was a very nice experience, even though we were working at night. In Europe, it doesn’t get dark until very late.”
So does the worldwide success of “Midnight in Paris” make it easier for her to secure funding for the upcoming Woody Allen productions?
“It would be nice to think that but somehow it doesn’t,” Aronson said. “We get financing through independent sources. With a Woody Allen film, nobody reads a script, nobody comes to the set, nobody gets final cut. When you invest your money, you’re investing it in a Woody Allen film. Based on his past films, you know that he’ll get good stars, he’ll deliver it on time and on budget.”
Allen, who has won multiple Oscars over the years, including for his masterpiece, 1977’s “Annie Hall,” famously eschews attending the Academy Awards ceremonies. However, on Feb. 26, count on the 76-year-old icon’s sister to be there at the Kodak Theatre.
Of Allen’s films, Aronson’s personal favorite is “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” And even though Allen is best known as a creator of brilliant comedy, Aronson’s taste skews toward her brother’s more serious fare.
“Of what I worked on,” she said, “well, I loved ‘Match Point,’ and I loved ‘Vicki Cristina Barcelona.’ I love those two a lot. I also was a big fan of ‘Cassandra’s Dream.’ ‘Vicki Cristina’ was always viewed more as a comedy, I never read it that way.”