You could probably count the number of films that Woody Allen has appeared in where he wasn’t the director. In fact the last time he did so was back in 1991 with Scenes From A Mall with Bette Midler. (Or 1998, if you want to count his vocal work in the animated Antz.) If we take Allen’s signing on to a project where he won’t be in charge as a positive sign, then we should perhaps start looking forward to actor/director John Turturro’s Fading Gigolo as it is being reported that Allen will be joining the cast of the indie comedy.
According to Variety, Allen and Turturro will be playing best friends who turn to gigoloing as a way to supplement their meager income. Arousing the suspicion of the Hasidic community where they live, the two adopt fake names. Complications arise in which characters to be played by Sharon Stone and Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara will figure.
This is not the first time that the two have worked together. Allen cast Turturro in a small role in his 1986 classic Hannah And Her Sisters. Allen has also contributed one of three one-act plays that will make up Relatively Speaking, Turturro’s Broadway directorial debut set to open next October.
Production is expected to get underway next month.
