Movies of the 80s: Federico Fellini and Woody Allen in 1980

In researching Federico Fellini's 1980 film, City of Women, a lesser known piece of Fellini's canon, I stumbled upon a quote that I cannot find anywhere else that illustrates, apparently, that Federico Fellini hated Woody Allen, well before hating Woody Allen became a universal feeling. I have searched high and low for other sources regarding Fellini's feelings about Woody Allen but nothing on Google or other search engines returns any results regarding Fellini having negative feelings towards Allen before it became common cause.

The quote that has me preoccupied is from a December 12th, 1980 article in L.A Weekly titled "Dream and Delirium On Set with Federico Fellini." The article is a wild ride with reporters Siliva Bizio and Sergio Di Cori taking us to the mythical streets of Cincecitta, the long gone former Italian Hollywood, the so-called "City of Cinema." Cinecitta was once home to Rossellini, Visconti, and De Sica as they invented the language of Italian cinema. And, Cinecitta is where a young Federico Fellini found his voice and highly unique eye.

By 1980, Cinecitta was barren, empty, no longer the glamorous home of some of the most famous moments in Italian cinema. By 1980, only Fellini gave life to Cinecitta, returning there to explore his latest fantasy about a city filled with women who torment a man named Snaporaz, played by Fellini's favorite stand-in for himself, Marcello Mastroianni. City of Women explores mens fear of feminism, women in power, and the greater fear that many men struggle with, a lack of power.

As I mentioned, City of Women is lesser Fellini. It doesn't rank with La Dolce Vita, 8 1/2 or Amarcord among Fellini's greatest works. But it is notable for having been booed at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival and for having received such harsh reception that it was barely released in America, receiving only a brief Academy Awards submission run in late 1980 and a limited release in April of the following year. I like City of Women but the main reason I am obsessed with it is this quote from the early press tour for the film. From the December 12th, 1980 edition of L.A Weekly:

Quoting Fellini himself "I like train stations, almond ice cream, empty stores, and women with big asses riding bicycles... I don't like Woody Allen, gorgonzola, oysters, and these interviews."

I am telling you, truthfully, I have spent hours reading interviews with Fellini and Woody Allen trying to find some sort of beef between the two and I have found nothing. I have searched every which way that I can and I have found nothing but Woody talking about how much he loves Fellini's films and respects him as a filmmaker Simultaneously, Fellini rarely spoke of Allen in interviews and if he did, he was kind, even praising Allen's work stating that Allen's films were among the few he found intellectually engaging and thoughtful.

So why drag Allen in this article? You might assume that the article would address this quote in some way. You would expect the reporters to follow up and provide context for the quote, perhaps explaining why Fellini would so publicly blast a filmmaker he'd never professed a disdain for before. The Woody Allen of 1980 was beloved and respected. He was still in the glow of Annie Hall and had a hit in Stardust Memories. It was still years before the public found out about Allen's personal life and set about disregarding him publicly.

Sadly, the L.A Weekly article available via Newspapers.com has only digitized one page of the two page article. And, sadly, the quote where Fellini drags Woody Allen is on the second page of that article. Thus, I don't know if the reporters gave any context to Fellini's quote or if they followed up with Fellini regarding his feelings about Woody Allen at the time, in 1980. I have sent a message to L.A Weekly to see if they have the complete article but, as of this writing, I've not received a response.

Thus, why I am obsessed with this quote. It's a piece of history that exists nowhere else beyond this one random 44 year old news article. Today, if a major filmmaker dragged another major filmmaker publicly, it would be front page news on the Entertainment beat. Film Twitter would be divided into camps for and against each director. Publicists would be firing memos to journalists trying to calm the storm. In 1980 however, this ran completely under the radar. Fellini's supposed disdain for one of America's most well respected directors, at the time, was not preserved for the record outside of this one article. That's strangely fascinating to me.

Get more on Movies of the 80s from our YouTube channel, Movies of the 80s, all about the movies released in the greatest decade ever, The 1980s. Like, subscribe and share our videos. This exploration of the movies of the 1980s has been quite a trip thus far with tiny rabbit holes like this Fellini quote or that lost media scene from Smokey and the Bandit 2 or the weird story of John Huston's 1980 release, Phobia. It's a strange and exciting and if you love this stuff, you will love Movies of the 80s on YouTube.