Behind the scenes of Woody Allen’s ‘Wonder Wheel’

Lincoln Center’s 55th NY Film Festival closer is Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel”.

Woody: “The eight-week shoot was set in Coney Island. I grew up nearby and always wanted to do a dramatic story against an amusement park’s backdrop. 1950 was great with all those rides.

“Factored into post production time’s budget was re-creating the Cyclone and Parachute Jump. I couldn’t do that before for any reasonable money, but with special effects it’s now not a prohibitive cost.

“Live portions were difficult because under boardwalk sections — which are now removed — is where people used to make love, so I had to intercut other places to stick into the movie”.

How’s it happen that every year he’s out with another film and how is it that as this one’s debuting he’s already downtown filming another one for 2018?

“I once wrote for Sid Caesar’s live show. Every Monday, I’d sit in the room, make up stories and have to come up with an idea. I grew up dreaming stories.

“My actors in this are Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi and young, attractive Juno Temple. They like good parts that aren’t just car crashes. I sent the script. They were enthusiastic. Belushi I saw 40 years ago in a romantic part and I filed him away in my mind.

“The truth is, I’m no festival person. Except for Cannes, I don’t usually do them. My wife likes Cannes. But ‘Wonder Wheel’ is for Amazon, and their people got me to do this one”.

No can see, S.I.

Vanity Fair owner S.I. Newhouse just left us. In ’06, I recall writing he wanted to see Vanity Fair’s advance copies of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and their daughter, Suri. What I reported was, he was not allowed to preview them.

‘The cure is coming’: Cole

Kenneth Cole. Shoe designer, husband of Gov’s sister Maria Cuomo, father of three daughters, public-service advocate, he has long fronted amfAR’s fund-raising and awareness campaign for the fight against HIV and AIDS.

He says: “Our specialists and researchers now know that by 2020 the vaccine will be perfected. However, they cannot get all that’s needed together, and it, therefore, cannot be put into public use for another 10 years. The vaccine will begin saving lives in 2030”.

An art empire

Terrence Howard, after earning $10 mil on “Empire”: “Season 4 now and so far I’m not getting killed off. It’s my gravy train. I’m happy to be making money. I moved back to hometown Chicago to do it”.

At Isabelle Bscher’s Galerie Gmurzynska art show at EXPO Chicago, hunting a gallery to show his glass, light and geometric sculptures: “I began doing these four years ago. These are my babies so they won’t be on TV, because everything there ends up owned by them”.

Animal kingdom

Jane Fonda and Robert Redford’s newie movie “Our Souls at Night” got good notices from critics, but Fonda wasn’t worried. She’s used to real wild animals. Mountain lions, elk, deer, antelope, bison, bears, turkeys, eagles, 180 bird species, all lived inside 2 million New Mexico acres on her ex-husband Ted Turner’s 25,000-square-foot estate, Casa Grande.

She decorated it, and the seven bedrooms are now available for guest rentals.

This new film’s a long haul from when she and Redford did “Barefoot in the Park”, but for sure Jane Fonda knows from sharp claws.

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