Woody Allen on his Amazon series: 'I have regretted every second since I said OK'

When Amazon announced in January that Woody Allen would create a new show for its streaming platform, the Oscar-winning director joked that Amazon Studios vice president Roy Price would “regret” the decision. “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin,” Allen said in a statement.

But four months later, and it seems Allen is the one feeling remorse. In an interview with Deadline.com, Allen said development on the planned series isn’t going as smoothly as he had anticipated.

“I have regretted every second since I said OK,” Allen told Deadline.com. “It’s been so hard for me. I had the cocky confidence, well, I’ll do it like I do a movie… it’ll be a movie in six parts. Turns out, it’s not. For me, it has been very, very difficult. I’ve been struggling and struggling and struggling. I only hope that when I finally do it — I have until the end of 2016 — they’re not crushed with disappointment because they’re nice people and I don’t want to disappoint them.”

Part of the problem is Allen’s schedule. The director famously makes one movie per year — Irrational Man, his 2015 entry, debuts at this year’s Cannes Film Festival — and doesn’t plan to stop that pace for the Amazon show.

“I am doing my best. I fit it in between films, so it’s not like, no film this year, I’m doing Amazon,” Allen said. “It’s a job within my usual schedule. But I am not as good at it as I fantasized I might be. It’s not a piece of cake; it’s a tough thing and I’m earning every penny that they’re giving me and I just hope that they don’t feel, ‘My God, we gave him a very substantial amount of money and freedom and this is what he gives us?'”

“Woody Allen is a visionary creator who has made some of the greatest films of all-time, and it’s an honor to be working with him on his first television series,” Price said when Amazon Studios announced the series. “From Annie Hall to Blue Jasmine, Woody has been at the creative forefront of American cinema and we couldn’t be more excited to premiere his first TV series exclusively on Prime Instant Video next year.”

For the full interview with Allen, head to Deadline.com.