Woody Allen: Blending Real Life With Fiction

This interview was originally broadcast on June 15, 2009.

For someone who has spent the majority of his career making comedies, Woody Allen sees the world — and his lifelong profession — through a surprisingly dark lens.

“Life is a terrible trial, and very harsh and very full of suffering … [Film] is a different kind of pain. Making a movie is a great distraction from the real agonies of the world,” Allen tells Terry Gross.