By Woody Allen’s latest film, Nero Fiddled, previously named The Bop Decameron, is to receive yet another name change, To Rome With Love. In a statement, Sony Picture Classic issued a reason for the name change: “Nero Fiddled, while an appropriate and humorous phrase in the U.S., is not a familiar expression overseas and many international territories preferred a more globally understood name.” What’s sad about this is I wasn’t familiar with the expression either, so that’s just one more sad, uncultured American’s inclusion into that group of sad, uncultured people.
Back when the movie’s title was changed to Nero Fiddled, Woody Allen mentioned that it was the first time he was forced to change the title of his movie since Annie Hall, previously named Anhedonia. When given two seconds of time to compute this, it’s not hard to see why. Now he must be feeling double anxiety about the whole thing. I will say, though, that while Nero Fiddled might be a somewhat obscure reference, To Rome With Love just sound trite and overly sentimental. It’s also an obvious grab for that mojo that made Midnight in Paris such a success last year.
There’s also some snazzy new images from the film below the jump, which I imagine are part set photos and part screenshots. What’s hilarious about these images is that, in the one I believe Woody Allen is in character with Judy Davis, he’s wearing pretty much the same clothes he wears off camera. I guess that’s what happens when your real life persona becomes your on-screen persona after 40 years of casting yourself in your own movies. The story of To Rome With Love is “about a number of people in Italy — some American, some Italian, some residents, some visitors — and the romances and adventures and predicaments they get into.”
To Rome With Love comes out in theaters June 22. Hopefully before another name change.
[Via Collider, /Film]