Blake Lively Joins The Woody Allen Ingenue Club

Few details are known about Woody Allen’s next film to follow Irrational Man. But, while there's been no mention of the title or plot (even if the latter may be easy enough to guess, since Allen has a bit of a pattern going), the director and writer has already tapped a new ingenue. Fresh off The Age of Adaline and the upcoming psychological thriller All I See Is You, Blake Lively will reportedly join Jesse Eisenberg, Bruce Willis, and Kristen Stewart in the movie. It has an impressive cast list — Allen has a knack for galvanizing great talent and letting each actor shine, even in a minor part — and the director's history of quirky hits indicates that, at least for entertainment value, it will be an enjoyable couple hours spent in front of a screen. Lively joins a club whose founding members include Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, and Mia Farrow, and whose more recent additions include Scarlett Johansson and Emma Stone. For a certain variety of Hollywood up-and-comer, appearing in an Allen film has become an unspoken rite of passage: It means that she has truly arrived.  But, particularly in light of the last few years, joining the club has become increasingly fraught with criticism. An actress no longer just decides to sign on for a Woody Allen movie. It's an expression of belonging to one camp or the other in the Dylan Farrow molestation allegations. Or, at the very least, a statement that says you can separate the art from the man.