By It isn’t often that Woody Allen takes on strictly acting roles, but here we find him starring in John Turturro’s comedic film, Fading Gigolo. Turturro is the writer and the director on this project and will also star alongside Allen. The story finds Turturro and Allen “playing cash-strapped best friends who decide to go into the gigolo business together and subsequently attract the suspicion of the hasidic Jewish community in which they live. Allen pimps out Turturro’s character who falls for a Jewish widow.” Sounds like a winner to me. Also joining the cast in supporting roles are Sofia Vergara of Modern Family fame and Sharon Stone of, well, movie fame.
I’ve seen a few Woody Allen films where he only starred, and it’s a surreal experience, since, for me, I mainly see him act according to his own writing and camera direction. The result is usually something inferior to your typical Woody Allen fare, but ultimately still watchable. It will be doubly surreal since the same usually goes for John Turturro, who has starred in a few Coen brothers films. To see the two act side-by-side with Turturro’s writing and direction will certainly be interesting, though. Funnily enough, Turturro had a cameo role as a writer in one of Woody Allen’s early films, Hannah and Her Sisters. Cool, huh? You suspected right; I didn’t have to look that up.
Production on Fading Gigolo begins in April in New York.
[Via Collider]