Woody Allen talks about his time in Kádár’s Hungary

Woody Allen talks about his time in Hungary during Kádár’s regime while filming his movie Love and Death in Budapest, his experience with a Russian soldier, as well as other things.

In the interview Allen gave to magyarnarancs.hu, he touched upon topics such as his lawsuit, the afterlife, and how he liked the Hungarian capital during his stay in the 1970s.

“Budapest was beautiful, it proved to be a great location, but the presence of the occupant Russian soldiers could be sensed,” says Allen.

He remembers that the soldiers had nothing to do, so he and his fellow filmmakers could put them in the movie, which is a funny war movie. The soldiers were excited, because they were bored of occupying Hungary, according to the famous director.

They did everything as they were meant to. “It was an ideal situation, soldiers playing soldiers, which they did authentically.” They were paid mostly in cigarettes, boxes of cigarettes, but Woody says this was still much cheaper than what he would have had to pay in the States if he wanted to have, say, 500 soldiers in one of his movies.

The shooting fell behind of schedule, because it got dark early, and the shooting days were very short. Allen says he did not mind though, as he liked a lot of things about Budapest, such as the wonderful streets and the Opera House.

Allen was also asked about his famous line: “I do not believe in an afterlife, although I am bringing a change of underwear,” and whether his feelings have changed. To which the answer is no. He still believes we only have this one chance, and once it is over, that is it.

His new movie A Rainy Day in New York, is now playing in Hungarian theatres.

Source: magyarnarancs.hu