Woody Allen’s Dinner Parties Sometimes Have a Hidden Agenda

US film director Woody Allen (R) stands near US actor Jesse Eisenberg (L) and Canadian actress Ellen Page on the set of 'Bop Decameron', the cult filmmaker's latest production, at Campo de' Fiori square in central Rome, on July 28, 2011. The film's crew has been spotted everywhere from the Spanish Steps to the Colosseum to Rome's main shopping avenue, Via del Corso, and paparazzi have been kept busy chasing stars Alec Baldwin and Penelope Cruz. AFP PHOTO / TIZIANA FABI (Photo credit should read TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)
Woody Allen. Photo: TIZIANA FABI/2011 AFP

Woody Allen has typed out every movie he’s ever made on a typewriter he’s owned since the fifties, but what does the noted technophobe do when he has to change the typewriter ribbon? According to Robert Weide, who helmed a documentary on Allen airing next week, he asked the Midnight in Paris director just that and received an unexpected answer: “He says, ‘I’ll throw a dinner party. And I’ll be sure to invite someone who I know knows how to change it … So right around dessert I’ll kinda sidle up to them and say, Hey, when you were here before, didn’t you change my typewriter ribbon? And they’ll say, Yeah, and I’ll say Hey, do you wanna come up and take a look again?’ And then he cons them into changing the ribbon.” Vulture will brush up on exactly that skill before attending Allen’s next potluck. (We’re bringing pound cake and two-buck Chuck!)

Woody Allen’s Dinner Parties Sometimes Have a Hidden Agenda