Bop Decameron or Nero Fiddled: Which Woody Allen Title is More Problematic?
Some of Woody Allen's best films have had simple, straightforward film titles (Annie Hall! Crimes and Misdemeanors! Hannah and Her Sisters! Even Midnight in Paris...). But you know, I thought there was really something catchy to Bop Decameron, the former title of his current Rome-set next flick. Apparently, I may have been the only one who liked it; as Anne Thompson reports, Allen's changed the title to Nero Fiddled. Riiiight.
There was something so romantic, so Fellini-esque about Bop Decameron! Who cares if no one "got" it, as Woody lamented. Reports Thompson on Hollywood: "'I couldn't believe how few people had heard of The Decameron even in Rome,' [Allen] says. 'And the few that did assumed the movie was based on Boccaccio's tales which it's not.'"
Well, fine. But Nero Fiddled? Here's what comes to mind in free association:
- Nero.... neurotic. No thanks.
- Nero fiddled. Fiddled with what?
- Nero plays a fiddle? What kind of movie is this, again?
But you tell me; which is the better title for the pic, set in Rome and starring Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg and more?
• Woody Allen Ditches Decameron Title for Nero Fiddled [Thompson on Hollywood]
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Comments
Loved the original title, hate the new one.
BOP DECAMERON all the bloody way...NERO FIDDLED is cute/funny but BOP DECAMERON is punchier and probably more accurate...I dunno...The cast looks/sounds amazing though!
Agreed all around. Looks great, can't wait to see it, but the new title... sigh. Nero Fiddled has all the charm of a working title.
Is it in the contracts of his foreign-filmed productions that he has to feature the name of (or an inference to) the city he is featuring? Or is it just a tick of his? Why not just write a script about a blind voyeur and his seeing-eye dog, and call it Will the Collie See 'Em?
I liked the original title a lot. "Nero Fiddled" sounds like a really earnest indie political documentary.
Bop Decameron sounds like a sequel to Blade Runner. Nero Fiddled is a little twee, but at least it will tell some people that the movie is set in Rome. In fact, I think it's dumb of Allen, at this point, to not put Rome in the title. His best-known recent works, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris certainly benefited from the fact that their locales were in their titles. Too bad When in Rome was already taken.