The Purple Rose of Cairo - wikipedia The Purple Rose of Cairo The Purple Rose of Cairo Theatrical release poster Directed by Woody Allen Produced by Robert Greenhut Written by Woody Allen Starring Mia Farrow Jeff Daniels Danny Aiello Music by Dick Hyman Cinematography Gordon Willis Edited by Susan E. Morse Distributed by Orion Pictures Release date March 1, 1985 ( 1985 - 03 - 01 ) Running time 82 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $15 million Box office $10,631,333 The Purple Rose of Cairo is a 1985 American romantic fantasy comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, and Danny Aiello. Inspired by Sherlock Jr., Hellzapoppin ', and Pirandello 's Six Characters in Search of an Author, it is the tale of a film character named Tom Baxter who leaves a fictional film of the same name and enters the real world. The film was released on March 1, 1985 to critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Film, while Allen received several screenwriting nominations, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Writers Guild of America Award. Allen has ranked it among his best films, along with Stardust Memories and Match Point. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Box office 4.2 Critical response 4.3 Accolades 5 References 6 External links Plot Set in New Jersey during the Great Depression in 1935, the film tells the story of Cecilia ( Mia Farrow ), a clumsy waitress who goes to the movies to escape her bleak life and loveless, abusive marriage to Monk ( Danny Aiello ), whom she has attempted to leave on numerous occasions. The latest film Cecilia sees is a fictitious RKO Radio Pictures film, The Purple Rose of Cairo. It is the story of a rich Manhattan playwright named Henry ( Edward Herrmann ) who goes on an exotic vacation to Egypt with companions Jason ( John Wood ) and Rita ( Deborah Rush ). While in Egypt, the three meet archaeologist Tom Baxter ( Jeff Daniels ). Tom is brought back for a `` madcap Manhattan weekend '' where he falls head - over-heels for Kitty Haynes ( Karen Akers ), a chanteuse at the Copacabana. After Cecilia sits through the film several times, Tom, noticing her, breaks the fourth wall, and emerges from the black - and - white screen into the colorful real world on the other side of the cinema 's screen. He tells Cecilia that he is attracted to her after noticing her watching him so many times, and she takes him around her New Jersey town. Later, he takes her into the film and they have a great evening on the town within the film. The two fall in love. But the character 's defection from the film has caused some problems. In other copies of the film, others have tried to exit the screen. The producer of the film learns that Tom has left the film, and he flies cross-country to New Jersey with actor Gil Shepherd ( Jeff Daniels ) ( the `` real life '' actor playing the part of Tom in the movie ). This sets up an unusual love triangle involving Tom, Gil, and Cecilia. Cecilia must choose between them and she decides to choose the real person of Gil rather than the fantasy figure of Tom. She gives up the chance to return with Tom to his world, choosing to stay with Gil and have a ' real ' life. Then she finally leaves her husband. But Gil 's professions of love for Cecilia were false -- he wooed her only to get Tom to return to the movie and thereby save his own Hollywood career. Gil abandons Cecilia and is seen quietly racked with guilt on his flight back to Hollywood. Having been left without a lover, job, or home, Cecilia ends up immersing herself in the frothy escapism of Hollywood once again. The final scene shows Cecilla sitting by herself in a theater watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to `` Cheek - to - Cheek '' in the film Top Hat, forgetting her dire situation and losing herself in the film. Cast Mia Farrow as Cecilia Jeff Daniels as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd Danny Aiello as Monk Edward Herrmann as Henry John Wood as Jason Deborah Rush as Rita Zoe Caldwell as The Countess Van Johnson as Larry Wilde Karen Akers as Kitty Haynes Milo O'Shea as Father Donnelly Dianne Wiest as Emma Michael Tucker as Gil 's agent Glenne Headly as hooker in bordello George Martin as member of movie audience Loretta Tupper as music shop owner Michael Keaton was originally cast as Tom Baxter / Gil Shepherd, as Allen was a fan of his work. Allen later felt that Keaton, who took a pay cut to work with the director, was too contemporary and hard to accept in the period role. The two amicably parted ways after ten days of filming and Daniels replaced Keaton in the role. Production Several scenes featuring Tom and Cecilia are set at the Bertrand Island Amusement Park, which closed just prior to the film 's production. Many of the outside scenes were filmed in Piermont, NY, a tiny village on the Hudson River about 15 miles north of the George Washington Bridge. Store fronts had false facades reflecting the depression - era setting. It was also filmed at the Raritan Diner in South Amboy, New Jersey. Woody Allen shut down the Kent Theater on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, the neighborhood he grew up in, to film there. In a rare public appearance at the National Film Theatre in 2001, Woody Allen listed The Purple Rose of Cairo as one of only a few of his films that ended up being `` fairly close to what I wanted to do '' when he set out to write it. Allen provided more detail about the film 's origins in a comment he made a year earlier, during a press junket for Small Time Crooks : Purple Rose was a film that I just locked myself in a room ( to write )... I wrote it and halfway through it did n't go anywhere and I put it aside. I did n't know what to do. I toyed around with other ideas. Only when the idea hit me, a long time later, that the real actor comes to town and she has to choose between the ( screen ) actor and the real actor and she chooses the real actor and he dumps her, that was the time it became a real movie. Before that it was n't. But the whole thing was manufactured. Reception Box office The Purple Rose of Cairo opened in North America on March 1, 1985 in 3 theaters, where it grossed an exceptional $114,095 ( $38,031 per screen ) in its opening weekend. Box office settled down upon further expansions, and its total US gross of $10,631,333 was in line with most Allen films of the period. Critical response The Purple Rose of Cairo received critical acclaim, and currently holds a 91 % approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 33 reviews, with an average score of 7.8 / 10, with the site 's critical consensus reading, `` Lighthearted and sweet, The Purple Rose of Cairo stands as one of Woody Allen 's more inventive -- and enchantingly whimsical -- pictures. '' The film also holds a score of 75 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on seven critics, indicating `` generally favorable reviews. '' Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun - Times gave the film four out of four stars, writing `` The Purple Rose of Cairo is audacious and witty and has a lot of good laughs in it, but the best thing about the movie is the way Woody Allen uses it to toy with the very essence of reality and fantasy ''. Time Out also gave the film favorable appraisal, saying `` the star - struck couple, Farrow and Daniels work wonders with fantastic emotions, while Allen 's direction invests enough care, wit and warmth to make it genuinely moving ''. Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote some of the most glowing contemporary praise, saying, `` My admiration for Mr. Allen extends to everyone connected with The Purple Rose of Cairo - all of the actors, including Mr. Daniels, Mr. Aiello, Dianne Wiest and the players within the film within ; Stuart Wurtzel, the production designer, and particularly Gordon Willis, the director of photography, who has great fun imitating the look of the movie Cecilia falls in love with, as well as in creating a style fitting to the depressed times that frame the interior film. '' Canby concluded, stating `` I 'll go out on a limb : I ca n't believe the year will bring forth anything to equal The Purple Rose of Cairo. At 84 minutes, it 's short but nearly every one of those minutes is blissful ''. Accolades Award Subject Result Academy Award Best Original Screenplay Woody Allen Nominated BAFTA Awards Best Film Robert Greenhut Won Woody Allen Won Best Original Screenplay Won Best Actress Mia Farrow Nominated Best Special Visual Effects R / Greenberg Associates Nominated Bodil Award Best Non-European Film Woody Allen Won BSFC Award Best Screenplay Won Cannes Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize Won Casting Society of America Artios Award for Best Casting for Feature Film, Comedy Juliet Taylor Nominated César Award Best Foreign Film Woody Allen Won Fotogramas de Plata Best Foreign Film Won French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Critics Award for Best Foreign Film Won Golden Globe Awards Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy Robert Greenhut Nominated Best Screenplay Woody Allen Won Best Actor -- Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Jeff Daniels Nominated Best Actress -- Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Mia Farrow Nominated Hochi Film Award Best Foreign Language Film Woody Allen Won ALFS Award Film of the Year Won Mainichi Film Award Best Foreign Film Woody Allen Won NSFC Award Best Film Robert Greenhut 2nd place Best Screenplay Woody Allen 2nd place Writers Guild of America Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Nominated The film was recognized as one of the `` ALL - TIME 100 best films '' by Time magazine. American Film Institute Lists AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Laughs -- Nominated AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Passions -- Nominated AFI 's 10 Top 10 -- Nominated Fantasy Film References Jump up ^ `` THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO ( PG ) ''. British Board of Film Classification. 1985 - 05 - 08. Retrieved 2013 - 05 - 14. ^ Jump up to : The Purple Rose of Cairo statistics from BoxOfficeMojo.com Jump up ^ Lax, Eric ( November 18, 2007 ). Conversations With Woody Allen. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0 - 375 - 41533 - 5. Retrieved February 21, 2016. Jump up ^ Jeff Milne ( 20 July 2009 ). Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon : The Complete Guide to the Movie Trivia Game. Jeff Milne. pp. 224 --. ISBN 978 - 0 - 615 - 28521 - 4. Jump up ^ `` Turner Classic Movies Film Article : The Purple Rose of Cairo '' from tcm.com Jump up ^ Woody Allen ( II ) interview from The Guardian Unlimited Jump up ^ `` Woody Allen : If It 's Funny, I do it '' Archived 2005 - 12 - 01 at the Wayback Machine. interview on CrankyCritic.com Jump up ^ `` The Purple Rose of Cairo ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved April 7, 2014. Jump up ^ `` The Purple Rose of Cairo ''. Metacritic. Flixster. Retrieved March 18, 2016. Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger ( March 1, 1985 ). `` The Purple Rose of Cairo ''. Chicago Sun - Times. Retrieved April 7, 2014. Jump up ^ `` The Purple Rose of Cairo ''. Time Out. 1985. Retrieved April 7, 2014. Jump up ^ Canby, Vincent ( March 1, 1985 ). `` Woody Allen 's New Comedy, ' Purple Rose of Cairo ' ''. The New York Times. Retrieved April 7, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Festival de Cannes : The Purple Rose of Cairo ''. festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009 - 07 - 08. Jump up ^ The Purple Rose of Cairo from Time magazine `` All - Time 100 Movies '' Jump up ^ AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Laughs Nominees Jump up ^ AFI 's 100 Years... 100 Passions Nominees Jump up ^ AFI 's 10 Top 10 Ballot External links The Purple Rose of Cairo on IMDb The Purple Rose of Cairo at Box Office Mojo Roller coasters, Aristotle, and the films of Woody Allen. a 2001 article from the Literature Film Quarterly Woody Allen 2001 interview at the National Film Theatre Woody Allen Filmography Bibliography Awards and nominations Feature films What 's Up, Tiger Lily ? ( 1966 ) Take the Money and Run ( 1969 ) Bananas ( 1971 ) Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * ( * But Were Afraid to Ask ) ( 1972 ) Sleeper ( 1973 ) Love and Death ( 1975 ) Annie Hall ( 1977 ) Interiors ( 1978 ) Manhattan ( 1979 ) Stardust Memories ( 1980 ) A Midsummer Night 's Sex Comedy ( 1982 ) Zelig ( 1983 ) Broadway Danny Rose ( 1984 ) The Purple Rose of Cairo ( 1985 ) Hannah and Her Sisters ( 1986 ) Radio Days ( 1987 ) September ( 1987 ) Another Woman ( 1988 ) New York Stories ( segment `` Oedipus Wrecks '', 1989 ) Crimes and Misdemeanors ( 1989 ) Alice ( 1990 ) Shadows and Fog ( 1991 ) Husbands and Wives ( 1992 ) Manhattan Murder Mystery ( 1993 ) Bullets over Broadway ( 1994 ) Do n't Drink the Water ( 1994 ) Mighty Aphrodite ( 1995 ) Everyone Says I Love You ( 1996 ) Deconstructing Harry ( 1997 ) Celebrity ( 1998 ) Sweet and Lowdown ( 1999 ) Small Time Crooks ( 2000 ) The Curse of the Jade Scorpion ( 2001 ) Hollywood Ending ( 2002 ) Anything Else ( 2003 ) Melinda and Melinda ( 2004 ) Match Point ( 2005 ) Scoop ( 2006 ) Cassandra 's Dream ( 2007 ) Vicky Cristina Barcelona ( 2008 ) Whatever Works ( 2009 ) You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger ( 2010 ) Midnight in Paris ( 2011 ) To Rome with Love ( 2012 ) Blue Jasmine ( 2013 ) Magic in the Moonlight ( 2014 ) Irrational Man ( 2015 ) Café Society ( 2016 ) Wonder Wheel ( 2017 ) A Rainy Day in New York ( 2018 ) Short films Men of Crisis : The Harvey Wallinger Story ( 1971 ) Sounds from a Town I Love ( 2001 ) Television series Crisis in Six Scenes ( 2016 ) Theatre From A to Z ( 1960 ) Do n't Drink the Water ( 1966 ) Play It Again, Sam ( 1969 ) God ( 1975 ) Death ( 1975 ) The Floating Light Bulb ( 1981 ) Honeymoon Motel ( 2011 ) Bullets Over Broadway ( 2014 ) Short story collections Getting Even ( 1971 ) Without Feathers ( 1975 ) Side Effects ( 1980 ) Mere Anarchy ( 2007 ) Related articles Inside Woody Allen Meetin ' WA Wild Man Blues BAFTA Award for Best Film 1940s The Best Years of Our Lives ( 1947 ) Hamlet ( 1948 ) Bicycle Thieves ( 1949 ) 1950s All About Eve ( 1950 ) La Ronde ( 1951 ) The Sound Barrier ( 1952 ) Forbidden Games ( 1953 ) The Wages of Fear ( 1954 ) Richard III ( 1955 ) Gervaise ( 1956 ) The Bridge on the River Kwai ( 1957 ) Room at the Top ( 1958 ) Ben - Hur ( 1959 ) 1960s The Apartment ( 1960 ) Ballad of a Soldier ( 1961 ) The Hustler ( 1961 ) Lawrence of Arabia ( 1962 ) Tom Jones ( 1963 ) Dr. Strangelove or : How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ( 1964 ) My Fair Lady ( 1965 ) Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? ( 1966 ) A Man for All Seasons ( 1967 ) The Graduate ( 1968 ) Midnight Cowboy ( 1969 ) 1970s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ( 1970 ) Sunday Bloody Sunday ( 1971 ) Cabaret ( 1972 ) Day for Night ( 1973 ) Lacombe, Lucien ( 1974 ) Alice Does n't Live Here Anymore ( 1975 ) One Flew Over the Cuckoo 's Nest ( 1976 ) Annie Hall ( 1977 ) Julia ( 1978 ) Manhattan ( 1979 ) 1980s The Elephant Man ( 1980 ) Chariots of Fire ( 1981 ) Gandhi ( 1982 ) Educating Rita ( 1983 ) The Killing Fields ( 1984 ) The Purple Rose of Cairo ( 1985 ) A Room with a View ( 1986 ) Jean de Florette ( 1987 ) The Last Emperor ( 1988 ) Dead Poets Society ( 1989 ) 1990s Goodfellas ( 1990 ) The Commitments ( 1991 ) Howards End ( 1992 ) Schindler 's List ( 1993 ) Four Weddings and a Funeral ( 1994 ) Sense and Sensibility ( 1995 ) The English Patient ( 1996 ) The Full Monty ( 1997 ) Shakespeare in Love ( 1998 ) American Beauty ( 1999 ) 2000s Gladiator ( 2000 ) The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring ( 2001 ) The Pianist ( 2002 ) The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King ( 2003 ) The Aviator ( 2004 ) Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 ) The Queen ( 2006 ) Atonement ( 2007 ) Slumdog Millionaire ( 2008 ) The Hurt Locker ( 2009 ) 2010s The King 's Speech ( 2010 ) The Artist ( 2011 ) Argo ( 2012 ) 12 Years a Slave ( 2013 ) Boyhood ( 2014 ) The Revenant ( 2015 ) La La Land ( 2016 ) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ( 2017 ) César Award for Best Foreign Film Scent of a Woman ( 1976 ) We All Loved Each Other So Much ( 1977 ) A Special Day ( 1978 ) The Tree of Wooden Clogs ( 1979 ) Manhattan ( 1980 ) Kagemusha ( 1981 ) The Elephant Man ( 1982 ) Victor / Victoria ( 1983 ) Fanny and Alexander ( 1984 ) Amadeus ( 1985 ) The Purple Rose of Cairo ( 1986 ) The Name of the Rose ( 1987 ) The Last Emperor ( 1988 ) Bagdad Café ( 1989 ) Dangerous Liaisons ( 1990 ) Dead Poets Society ( 1991 ) Toto the Hero ( 1992 ) High Heels ( 1993 ) The Piano ( 1994 ) Four Weddings and a Funeral ( 1995 ) Land and Freedom ( 1996 ) Breaking the Waves ( 1997 ) Brassed Off ( 1998 ) Life Is Beautiful ( 1999 ) All About My Mother ( 2000 ) In the Mood for Love ( 2001 ) Mulholland Drive ( 2002 ) Bowling for Columbine ( 2003 ) Mystic River ( 2004 ) Lost in Translation ( 2005 ) Million Dollar Baby ( 2006 ) Little Miss Sunshine ( 2007 ) The Lives of Others ( 2008 ) Waltz with Bashir ( 2009 ) Gran Torino ( 2010 ) The Social Network ( 2011 ) A Separation ( 2012 ) Argo ( 2013 ) The Broken Circle Breakdown ( 2014 ) Mommy ( 2015 ) Birdman ( 2016 ) I, Daniel Blake ( 2017 ) London Film Critics ' Circle Award for Film of the Year Apocalypse Now ( 1980 ) Chariots of Fire ( 1981 ) Missing ( 1982 ) The King of Comedy ( 1983 ) Paris, Texas ( 1984 ) The Purple Rose of Cairo ( 1985 ) A Room with a View ( 1986 ) Hope and Glory ( 1987 ) House of Games ( 1988 ) Distant Voices, Still Lives ( 1989 ) Crimes and Misdemeanors ( 1990 ) Thelma & Louise ( 1991 ) Unforgiven ( 1992 ) The Piano ( 1993 ) Schindler 's List ( 1994 ) Babe ( 1995 ) Fargo ( 1996 ) L.A. Confidential ( 1997 ) Saving Private Ryan ( 1998 ) American Beauty ( 1999 ) Being John Malkovich ( 2000 ) Moulin Rouge ! ( 2001 ) About Schmidt ( 2002 ) Master and Commander : The Far Side of the World ( 2003 ) Sideways ( 2004 ) Brokeback Mountain ( 2005 ) United 93 ( 2006 ) No Country for Old Men ( 2007 ) The Wrestler ( 2008 ) A Prophet ( 2009 ) The Social Network ( 2010 ) The Artist ( 2011 ) Amour ( 2012 ) 12 Years a Slave ( 2013 ) Boyhood ( 2014 ) Mad Max : Fury Road ( 2015 ) La La Land ( 2016 ) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ( 2017 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Purple_Rose_of_Cairo&oldid=818570359 '' Categories : 1985 films English - language films 1980s romantic comedy films American films American fantasy - comedy films American romantic fantasy films Best Film BAFTA Award winners Best Foreign Film César Award winners Films directed by Woody Allen Films produced by Robert Greenhut Films set in 1935 Films set in a movie theatre Films set in New Jersey Films shot in New Jersey Films partially in color Films whose writer won the Best Original Screenplay BAFTA Award Great Depression films Magic realism films Orion Pictures films Romantic fantasy films Screenplays by Woody Allen Self - reflexive films Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Bosanski Català Dansk Deutsch Eesti Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Euskara فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano עברית ქართული Latina Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Română Русский Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Türkçe Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 4 January 2018, at 09 : 07. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: when does the purple rose of cairo take place
Answer: during the Great Depression in 1935