Woody Allen’s Many Muses

“Casting is so awkward,” Woody Allen told W’s editor-at-large Lynn Hirschberg back in June 2011 before Midnight in Paris—which starred Rachel McAdams—made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But, it’s undeniable that Allen has a certain knack for choosing muses. “My concept of Manhattan is one that I gleaned from Hollywood movies,” he continued, “And it’s the same with the women in my films: I see them all through rose-colored glasses.” It’s a strategy that led the famous New Yorker to cast Cate Blanchett in new drama Blue Jasmine—in theaters on July 26, 2013—as a sharp Park Avenue socialite-turned unstable and penniless divorcée.

In honor of his new muse, take a trip through the W archive to see more of Allen’s recent leading ladies including Naomi Watts, Penelope Cruz, and Téa Leoni, photographed by Sebastian Kim (“Woody’s Women”), and Scarlett Johansson, photographed by Tim Walker (“Woody’s Other Woman”), as well as their predecessors—Mia Farrow, Diane Keaton, and Charlotte Rampling (“Backstory: Woody’s Women”).