New York, June 03: Woody Allen performed live before one of the most important audiences of his long show business career on Monday -- 10 New York jurors who could award him a multi-million dollar judgement in a bitter law suit.
Allen, 66, is suing his long-time friend Jean Doumanian and her companion, Jacqui Safra, saying they cheated him out of at least $12 million in profits on movies Doumanian produced. "I primarily make movies. I`m in show business," Allen told the jury after being sworn in by Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Ira Gammerman. "I`ve written and directed 33 movies and have appeared in a few others."
Allen was explaining why he has often skipped the morning court session because he is filming a movie when the judge abruptly cut him off. "You mean I have to stop talking?" a perplexed Allen asked. "I`m the director here," Gammerman told him as the courtroom broke out in laughter.
Allen, outlining his career and the film-making process, said he made his first movie in 1968.
"I assume that was `Take the Money and Run`," the judge chipped in. Peter Parcher, the lawyer representing Doumanian and Safra, has said Allen got everything he had coming to him -- $19.5 million -- and in fact owes them money. "This is a bogus case orchestrated by Woody Allen`s handlers," Parcher told jurors last week. "Woody Allen does not negotiate. He makes movies. His advisers negotiate. He followed the suggestions of his people."
Bureau Report