I'm too lazy, stupid and shallow to make great films, admits Woody Allen 

  • Acclaimed director said he lacked the 'greatness' and 'natural gift' 
  • Claimed he was too 'middle-class' which in turn is 'bad for productivity'
  • Yet Allen has won four Oscars and picked up a lifetime achievement award

By Flora Drury For Mailonline

Published: 03:34 EST, 1 August 2015 | Updated: 08:29 EST, 1 August 2015

Four-time Oscar winner Woody Allen has said he is too lazy, stupid and middle class to make truly brilliant films.

The acclaimed director, 79, revealed he does not believe he the 'greatness' or 'natural gift' to ever reach the heights of the likes of Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese film-maker considered one of the most important and influential people in cinema.

Despite this, Allen, who has produced about a film a year since 1965, is lauded by his peers, picking up a lifetime achievement award at Cannes, the world's top film festival, in 2002.

Lazy: Woody Allen said he would rather go home at six for dinner than stay and focus on the details of his films

Lazy: Woody Allen said he would rather go home at six for dinner than stay and focus on the details of his films

Middle class: Allen - pictured with Diane Keaton in Annie Hall - said his attachment to routine was not conducive for truly brilliant work, and he often said things were simply 'good enough'

Middle class: Allen - pictured with Diane Keaton in Annie Hall - said his attachment to routine was not conducive for truly brilliant work, and he often said things were simply 'good enough'

Allen revealed to Sam Frogoso of NPR that he would rather go home for dinner at six than stay and focus on every single detail of the film, adding: 'Filmmaking is not (the) end-all be-all of my existence. 

'Another shortcoming is that I don't have the intellect or the depth or the natural gift. 

'The greatness is not in me.'

He claimed truly great directors need to have an element of madness, which his middle class lifestyle and comfortable routine were not conducive to.

'If I was crazy I might be better,' he told Frogoso.

'If I shrieked on the set and demanded, it may be better, but I don't. I say, 'Good enough!' It's a middle-class quality, which does make for productivity.'

Stupid: Allen, with Mariel Hemmingway in Manhattan, also claimed he did not have the 'intellect' for brilliance

Stupid: Allen, with Mariel Hemmingway in Manhattan, also claimed he did not have the 'intellect' for brilliance

Talent: But the director, now 79, has picked up four Oscars. Pictured in 1997's Deconstructing Harry

Talent: But the director, now 79, has picked up four Oscars. Pictured in 1997's Deconstructing Harry

Allen has been behind some of the greatest films of the last 50 years - including Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters.

He has also dipped his toe into animation, providing the voice for Z in DreamWorks' 1998 film Antz. 

  

 

  

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