If there is just one inspiration for Woody Allen's new film "Cassandra's Dream," the 71-year-old icon says it is Greek tragedy.

"This is a film about two very nice boys, really. They're nice people," Allen said during a press conference at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Allen describes the film's two working-class brothers who haven't had much in their lives. Yet thanks to a kind uncle (TomWilkinson), they've been treated to trips and other special perks along the way to make their bleak lives seem more bearable."

"He's always been there to help them out," Allen says. Then one fateful day, when the brothers are now grown men, the rich uncle asks a surprising favour of them.

"He asks them do something immoral," says Allen, who was intrigued to discover what would happen with these characters once this request was made.

Desperate to make a better future for themselves, the brothers (Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor) make their pact with the devil. Once they agree the good-hearted, debt-ridden men are pulled into a series of events that marks them for ruin.

"These are working-class boys who have their feet firmly planted on the ground. Then something literally grabs them by the scruff of the neck and yanks them off their feet," says Farrell, who plays Terry, an out-of-control gambler with a taste for drugs and booze.

As in any good tragedy, Allen lets love enter into the picture and with dire consequences. Smitten by a young actress out for fame and fortune (Hayley Atwell), brother Ian (McGregor) sets out to secure her love at any cost. But as the ambitious charmer and his booze addled brother soon discover, their ill-fated pact brings them nothing but misery.

"I'm lazy." says Allen. Contrary to what fans may believe, Allen is not "a dedicated filmmaker."

"Filmmaking isn't the be all of my life. I'm lazy. I want to shoot, go home and get on with my life."

Calling himself impatient and anything but a perfectionist, the witty Allen says, "I got into films in the first place to meet women and not have an ordinary life of drudgery."

Entering into the business for "base motives," Allen says, "I don't want to do a shot over and over again and miss the basketball game." For McGregor and Farrell, Allen's fast shooting style was a welcome experience.

"It took less takes to shoot this movie than it did to shoot one scene in "Miami Vice," Farrell quips. A smiling McGregor agrees. "Working for Woody has spoiled us for other directors."

Movies worth making

For Farrell and McGregor, who have both been involved with big-budget studio films and smaller independent projects, shooting with Allen was one opportunity they could not refuse.

"It took me a long time to get over my Catholic guilt about not taking work," says Farrell, who has completed three films this year alone. The journey, not the money was what drew the star to Allen's dark new drama.

A master at casting, Allen's philosophy about actors is simple. "If you hire them and don't mess them up they'll make you look good."

Allen also is candid about why he has become a "foreign" filmmaker of late.

Having shot films recently in London and Barcelona, Allen says, "When I was younger I'd look at movies by Ingmar Bergman, Bu�uel and De Sica and think one day I'll be a foreign filmmaker. Now that's what I've become.

In fact, the changing American studio system made working in Europe look more attractive to this director.

"I've been lucky and a bit of a con man,"Allen jokes about his career. "I had script approval, I never really had to answer to anyone. I had all the freedom I wanted. I'd been spoiled for decades."

Then one day the studio executives made a call to Allen, asking him to take a look at his script and see who he was hiring. As Allen says, if the door was opened for a little bit of information to seep through than more requests would naturally come.

"Then London came calling. No questions asked," Allen smiles.

Speaking almost disdainfully, the acclaimed director points to today's teen flicks with the "toilet bowl humour" that studios pay big money to make.

"I've always worked to a small budget. But I'm not a big gain. That's what studios want today," Allen says.

Yet for this legend who never reviews his old work, brooding isn't an option. "It's not worth it," says Allen. "There are many more painful things in life than film."

Looking over his career, Allen says, "I'm most proud that I always gave it my best shot - that I never exploited the audience. I always took the audience to be at least as smart as me or smarter."

As Allen smiles, "When I struck out it wasn't for lack of trying."

- Constance Droganes, entertainment writer, CTV.ca