Woody Allen’s beautiful tribute to Diane Keaton

“Over time, I began making films for an audience of one: Diane Keaton. I never read a single review of my work, I only cared about what Diane thought about it…”

They formed a legendary cinema couple.

Woody Allen has paid a moving tribute to Diane Keaton, who died at 79. In a long text published by The Free Pressthe controversial filmmaker returned to their story, both romantic and artistic, and to a complicity that marked half a century of cinema.

Diane Keaton appeared in eight of Woody Allen’s fifty films — including some of the most successful ones like Annie Hall, Manhattan Or Radio Days.

Already, in 2017, he presented him with the AFI Life Achievement Award, stating: “The minute I met her, she was a huge inspiration to me. A lot of what I’ve accomplished I owe to her, without a doubt.”

And today, when it comes time to say goodbye, the filmmaker’s throat is tight. He writes:

“Unlike anyone on this planet, and probably anyone we will ever see again, her face and her laugh lit up every place she entered.”

Allen remembers their first meeting, during an audition for his play Play It Again, Sam in 1969, at the Morosco Theater. Keaton, just arrived from Orange County, worked as a locker room while playing in Hate. “If Huckleberry Finn had been a beautiful young woman, he would have been Diane Keaton,” he says.

At the start of rehearsals, however, nothing seemed obvious. “She was shy, I was shy, and when two shy people meet, things can get boring quickly.” says Woody Allen. Everything changes after a simple meal shared during a break: “She was so charming, so beautiful, so magical, that I doubted my sanity. I asked myself: is it possible to fall in love so quickly?”

When the play opens in Washington, they are already a couple. Keaton quickly becomes his most valuable collaborator, his first spectator, his compass.

“Over time, I began making films for an audience of one: Diane Keaton. I never read a single review of my work, I only cared about what Diane thought about it.”

Woody Allen also salutes the multiple talents of Diane Keaton – writer, photographer, decorator, director – and her absolute taste.

“She could even blame Shakespeare for slipping, if she thought he was wrong,” he writes, admiringly.

The director then evokes more tender memories, such as a Thanksgiving spent with the Keaton family in California: “I played penny poker with his folks, and ended up winning about 80 cents.”

“This beautiful country girl became a multi-awarded actress and sophisticated fashion icon. We shared a few wonderful years, then we each went our separate ways. For what ? Only God and Freud could say that.”

Woody Allen concludes his text with a sentence of disarming simplicity:

“Just a few days ago, the world had Diane Keaton. Today, that’s no longer the case. It’s a duller world. But there are still her films. And her big laugh still resonates in my head.”