WOODY ALLEN & DIANE KEATON

So far, the movie actor/director collaborators I've featured have been two males: Hanks/Howard, Depp/Burton, Crowe/Scott, De Niro/Scorsese. I'd best change that pattern before it becomes a habit! How about Woody Allen and Diane Keaton ?

I enjoy Woody Allen's humour - always have. He's multi-talented: film director, screenwriter, actor, comedian, writer, musician and playwright, quite a resume! My first memory of him goes right back to the 1960s. I bought an LP of his as a gift for a friend. At that time he wasn't well known, the recording was a kind of stand-up routine by Woody. We got lots of laughs from it, puzzled over a few Americanisms it contained - one which sticks in my mind: "hickey" - in those days, back in the UK, we didn't know what that meant.

In spite of Allen's engaging humour though, there's something a wee bit puzzling, disturbing even, as he comes across to the public in his writing and in some of his movies. According to Wikipedia his childhood was not happy. Perhaps that has provided the foundation for his unique blend of humour, melancholy and pessimism.

Allen's movie collaborations with Diane Keaton include:

"Annie Hall"
"Sleeper"
"Love and Death"
"Interiors"
"Manhattan"
"Hannah and Her Sisters"
a film version of "Play It Again", Sam, directed by Herbert Ross.

Allen credits Keaton as his muse during his early film career. They shared a romatic relarionship for a year or so - but that was before their professional collaboration began. It has been said that "Annie Hall" was practically a documentation of their own romantic relationship.

I'm looking for a connection between their natal charts which might account for the attraction to one another, and their ability to collaborate professionally.

Woody Allen was born in Brooklyn, New York on 1 December 1935 at 10.55pm (Astrodatabank)




Diane Keeton born 5 January 1946 in Los Angeles, California at 2.49 am(Astrodatabank)




Diane Keaton has now added directing to her own repertoire. She's also a keen photographer, with a published volume of pics of hotel interiors to her name.

The most obvious link between Keaton and Allen is their shared Moon in Aquarius, Keaton at 7*, Allen at 24*. There's a clear bonding factor right there - a certain ability to feel cool and detached from anything over-emotional - this is in spite of Ms Keaton's passionate Scorpio rising, with which her Aquarian Moon probably fights from time to time.

Both have Mercury in Sagittarius 24* Keaton, 4* Allen. Allen's Mercury is part of a stellium in Saggitarius (a tight cluster of 3 planets): Sun/Jupiter/Mercury. Sagittarius Mercury links to a gift for humour in both actor and director's nature, Jupiter is in its own domain of Sagittarius in Allen's chart, magnifying and underlining this facet of his nature. Keaton's Sun and Venus in Capricorn mean she's a shrewd businesswoman as well as a talented actor. Allen has Mars in Capricorn - another zodiacal link which surely adds to their understanding of each other's attitudes.

Both have disciplinarian Saturn in a Water sign, a softer version of Saturn, perhaps - Cancer for Keaton, Pisces in Allen's case. Allen's Saturn is squaring the Sagittarius cluster though, bringing in an altogether harder feel to his Saturn.

Allen's Virgo ascendant indicates a propensity for nitpicking, attention to detail, a very critical guy. Keaton's Scorpio ascendant reflects her intensity and, as it's a fixed sign, a definite stubborn streak - possibly this is why the two of them didn't last more than a year in a romantic relationship. The positive and compatible factors in their charts weren't quite strong enough, long-term, to compensate for the detramental ones.

Woody Allen's chart has many more challenging aspects than Keaton's - it's full of them. This is where his disturbing melancholy and pessimism probably come from. I'd guess that happy-go-lucky Sagittarius stellium of his is truly his saving grace, a buoyant lifebelt in a stormy sea.

Allen is the absolute master of one-liners - a few of his on which to end. His Sagittarian flair for philosphy shines through; usually with tongue is firmly in cheek:

I am two with nature.

I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.

I don't believe in the after life, although I am bringing a change of underwear.

I'm astounded by people who want to 'know' the universe when it's hard enough to find your way around Chinatown.

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative.

Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.

To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.

Tradition is the illusion of permanance.

What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet.