Peter Sarsgaard On 'Blue Jasmine,' Working With Woody Allen

Peter Sarsgaard stars in Woody Allen’s latest film Blue Jasmine as Dwight, a love interest to Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine, a New York socialite who flies to San Francisco to reconnect with her sister after her marriage falls apart. Sarsgaard discussed what it was like working on the project under the direction of the iconic filmmaker exclusively with Uinterview.

“When you go to act for [Allen] you know that it’s going to be very few takes and very little coverage, and he’s going to go very quickly,” Sarsgaard revealed about shooting his scenes for the film. “It’s basically ‘thumbs up, thumbs down,’ you know? He works in a very binary way.”

Sarsgaard, who’s appeared in Jarhead and Garden State and will next be seen in biopic Lovelace, didn’t get much face time with Allen prior to filming his scenes. “At first it was daunting,” Sarsgaard told Uinterview. “I had had very little interaction with him and he said, ‘Alright, have fun! Do whatever you want!’ [laughs] And he walked away, and you know, I was really nervous and it’s very difficult to loosen up that quickly and start doing it. And after we did that take, he was like ‘Well alright, that wasn’t very good, so do it again.’ ”

During Allen’s 50-year career in the movie industry, he’s served as an actor, screenwriter and director. He’s also been a playwright, a musician and an author. Among his 40 plus films are best known classics Annie Hall and Manhattan and the more recent Midnight in Paris. “I think it can be difficult to get over the fact that he’s Woody Allen,” admitted Sarsgaard. “And go, ‘Alright, I can do whatever I want to do, he’s looking for me to shine.’”

Blue Jasmine is currently in limited release. Alec Baldwin, Sally Hawkins and Andrew Dice Clay also star.

– Chelsea Regan

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