Woody Allen memoirs unlikely prospect, according to publicist

NEW YORK -- Will Woody Allen write his memoirs? Contradicting a published report, his publicist said Friday he was not close to a deal. In fact, it wasn't even his idea to do the book.

"This was completely his agents' idea," Leslee Dart said Friday.

"Many times over the past two to three years, they've asked him to write his memoirs and he said he wasn't interested. They then told him they could get a phenomenal amount of money for it, and he said that for a phenomenal amount of money he could see if he could get interested."

Allen, the comedian and Academy Award-winning filmmaker whose many works include "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan," is represented by Amanda Urban and John Burnham at International Creative Management. Burnham declined comment. Urban did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

According to The New York Times, Allen was near agreement with Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin, for a deal worth around $3 million, well below what he had reportedly been seeking.

But Dart said Allen had turned down Riverhead and that no other offers were being considered, although he had not given up. "He has no real passion for this," she said.

Penguin spokeswoman Marilyn Ducksworth said she hadn't heard about Allen's decision. "We hope it's not true, but if it is, we wish him well," she said.

In his book proposal, a copy of which was obtained earlier this week by the New York Post, Allen promises a tale "full of fascinating and juicy real life dramas and conflicts," including his long-term relationship with Mia Farrow and his affair with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, to whom he is now married.

Allen's recent movies, among them "Anything Else" and "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," have done poorly at the box office, but Dart denied he was in financial trouble.

She said he was at work on a new film, currently untitled, with a cast that includes Will Ferrell and Chloe Sevigny.