Woody Allen decided Larry David should play his latest neurotic intellectual character in Whatever Works. Boris Yellnikoff is a Nobel Prize nominee who knows so much, he can only complain about life. Sound familiar?

"Let's see, the character on Curb [Your Enthusiasm] is normal I think compared to this guy," David said. "The character on Curb actually wants relationships and sex and things like that. I don't know, he seems very normal compared to this guy. This guy is way out [there]. This guy wears shorts. Never would the character on Curb were shorts or would the person talking to you right now wear shorts. So I think that's a very disturbing thing right there."

When pressed, however, it turns out Allen did not insist on the shorts either. "It was actually my idea."

Memorizing lines was a problem for David. Even though he finished the film on script, he did not improve any memory skills. "I tried to use some of the tools that I had learned. I tried to memorize that Gettysburg Address the other day, because it's beautiful, but I had a rough time with that."

Still, David hasn't written off an acting career. "Well, I'd definitely do it with Woody Allen again, would I do it with somebody else again? Yeah, if I liked it."



Catch Larry David's Hollywood debut when Whatever Works opens Friday.

Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

(Starpulse in Hollywood): Every week, Hollywood's biggest stars are meeting in the hot spots and Starpulse is there.