Stardust Memories
Short description
Sandy Bates is a successful filmmaker known for his comedies, but he no longer finds much to laugh about. His latest work has disappointed the people financing it, and he is weary of being funny and of the admirers who surround him everywhere. He travels to a hotel in New Jersey for a weekend retrospective of his films, where public discussions of his career force him to look back over his life and question whether it has been worth living.
Over the same weekend, three women shape his thoughts. Dorrie is the great love he has never gotten over; Isobel is a married Frenchwoman ready to leave her husband for him; Daisy is a young violist who represents something new. Woody Allen directs from his own screenplay and plays Sandy, with Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper and Marie-Christine Barrault as the three women, and Tony Roberts and Daniel Stern among a large credited cast and crew.
The film was released in September 1980, running 89 minutes. It is the ninth of the forty-eight features Allen has directed, arriving after Manhattan and before Zelig. Robert Greenhut produced for United Artists and Jack Rollins & Charles H. Joffe Productions, on a budget of 10 million US dollars; it took in roughly the same amount worldwide. On IMDb it holds a 6.6 out of 10 from 32 critics' reviews, while on TMDB it has a 6.9 out of 10 from 474 votes, a modest difference between critical and audience opinion.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film pays homage to Federico Fellini's "8½" (1963). This is reflected in the black-and-white cinematography, the opening scene with Woody Allen on a train, the coastal filming locations, the focus on a director pursued by critics and fans, and relationships with several women. Furthermore, although in a completely different context, both films feature a spaceship.
- Woody Allen has always vehemently denied that the film is autobiographical.
- The character of Dori was created based on Woody Allen’s ex-wife, Louise Lasser, who played an episodic role in the film.
- The wallpaper in Sandy's apartment changes, emphasizing the theme of the scene in which they appear. For example, in the scene where Sandy and Dorrie argue about his flirting with her 13-year-old cousin, a newspaper headline 'Incest Between... Father and...' is visible on the wallpaper.
- Woody Allen has often stated that, along with "The Purple Rose of Cairo" (1985), this film is his favorite of all those he has directed.
- When Woody Allen was editing his films, he would listen to old musical recordings in the editing suite. This helped him catch the rhythm of the scene being edited. This was the first film in which Allen used these recordings as a soundtrack.
- This film is, to some extent, Woody Allen’s response to a hostile article written about him by writer Joan Didion, and the Academy’s indifference to his serious work – the film 'Interiors' (1978). This explains the film’s dissatisfaction with a critical society, particularly those who attend cinemas.
- The Hotel Stardust Memories is actually the Ocean Grove Great Auditorium building in New Jersey.
- This is Woody Allen's last film for United Artists. UA executives who had worked with Allen for 10 years left the company to found Orion Pictures, with whom Allen worked for another 10 years.
- The book that Sandy signs for the boy during lunch with the new studio executives is 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'.
- The working title of the film was "Woody Allen #4". Allen said in an interview: "I'm not even half of Fellini's "8½" (1963)."
- In 1978, Lorraine Newman was quoted in Rolling Stone as saying that Woody Allen had told her she was the only person from the 'Saturday Night Live' (1975) cast who looked like a real actress. Newman was given the role of the only female executive in 'Stardust Memories' (1980).
- It is known that this film is an homage to '8½' (1963). If 'What's Up, Tiger Lily?' (1966) is considered half a film (because Woody Allen simply re-voiced an already finished film), then it turns out that Allen had made eight and a half films before this one.
- The scene where Shelly sneaks into Sandy's bed without his knowledge is a homage to John Huston's film 'Wise Blood' (1979). In it, actress Amy Wright does the same to the protagonist, played by Brad Dourif.
- In the scene where the executives criticize Sandy's film, two of the executives are Andy Albeck (who worked with Woody Allen at United Artists in real life) and Jack Rollins (one of Allen's longtime managers).
- The film is based on film festivals organized by film critic Judith Crist, who also appeared in a cameo role in the film.
- Tony Roberts’ character mentions that he dated a Playboy girl. In his last scenes in the film, Roberts speaks with Candy Loving, who was actually Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for their 25th anniversary.
- The film marked the debut of actors Brent Spiner and Sharon Stone.
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