Woody Allen TV show 'a catastrophic mistake'

The 79-year-old was commissioned to write and direct the six-part untitled show earlier this year.

 

"I'm doing my best with it, but I should never have gotten into it," he said at the Cannes film festival.

"I thought six half-hours would be a cinch, but it's not. It's very hard. I'm not good at it, I'm floundering."

He added: "It could be a cosmic embarrassment. I just hope I don't disappoint Amazon."

When it was announced in January Allen was making the series, the Annie Hall director made similar self-deprecating comments about the project.

"I don't know how I got into this - I have no ideas and I'm not sure where to begin," he said.

The TV series - the first Allen has ever created - is due to be available to Amazon Prime subscribers in the US, UK and Germany next year.

The director is promoting his 46th film - Irrational Man - at the Cannes film festival.

Starring Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, it tells of a philosophy professor who is deeply depressed until he perks up at the thought of committing a murder.

Discussing the film's plot surrounding life's choices, Allen was typically bleak at its press conference, saying: "Life has its own agenda, and it runs right over you. 

"We're all going to end up in a very bad position sooner or later. The same position, but a bad one - and the only way out of it, the only thing you can do as an artist, is to explain to people how life is worth living and has a meaning."