Q 13

PLAYBOY: Yet you've traveled extensively. What do your trips tell you about where you live?

Karen Allen: Every time I leave this country, I'm reminded of our enormous affluence. People who haven't traveled have no idea of the number of choices we have. It's unbelievable the way people live in Tunisia, where we shot Raiders. It was fascinating, because I'd never been in a Moslem culture before, where you see women walk ten steps behind men. And they never touch in public. I had a chance to talk with a woman who spoke English who, at the age of 18, had decided not to wear the veil. She was ostracized from her community and eventually left for Paris. In Tunisia, if you're an American, you're the scum of the earth. And picture me, running around in my little white dress, shooting this film, surrounded by thousands of Moslem men. They looked at me like the worst kind of evil.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: Any problem with sexual advances?

Karen Allen: No, but they probably thought I was a whore or something. I never had a chance to talk with one and really find out. And I don't know if they even would have told me. They were really aghast at a woman on the crew, working in 125-degree heat, dressing in shorts. It was like they were among sin. They had a saying: "Men are for love and women are for babies." That's their philosophy of life.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: Sounds like you had a good time. What's your philosophy of life?

Karen Allen: It's just believing there's a purpose to life and that we all have a task. That doesn't necessarily mean doing one job your entire life. It's just an attitude. The task is living life, accepting it. I remember something my father told me when I was a kid. One of the happiest people he knew was this guy whose job at the FBI was to change the rolls of toilet paper. He would go around this huge building and put new rolls of paper in each day. That's all he did. And my father envied this man because he was always singing and whistling and always had a kind word for everybody. My philosophy is giving as much of yourself as you have to give; it's appreciating anything you do well. And the same must be the secret of relationships.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: What sort of man need not apply to Karen Allen?

Karen Allen: I don't like role playing in a relationship. There are still men who expect women to perform certain tasks. I find that very irritating. It drives me crazy to think the man can be messy or chaotic and the woman is supposed to run around after him, cleaning up and straightening out his life.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: In Raiders, your character, Marion Ravenwood, is introduced in a drinking scene and comes across as a woman with a cast-iron constitution. Is that you?

Karen Allen: I don't drink much. Maybe wine and stuff, and then mostly with dinner. I like cognac, too, and that's about it.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: Where do you hang out in New York?

Karen Allen: : I like to go hear music, so I go to those kinds of clubs. I like the Ritz a lot. They've developed a wonderful atmosphere there. And they have interesting bands. I'm fascinated by the punk and New Wave music. I think they're doing some really wonderful things.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: Now that we have a beautiful, intelligent, independent woman captive, would you please tell us what is so attractive about Woody Allen?

Karen Allen: Well, the obvious things are his incredible wit and his ability to laugh at himself. And there's also his verbal sensibility. He's a sensitive man, yet that doesn't shut down his ability to express the irony of life. You know, he sees all around. At the same time, it's obvious he doesn't think of himself as attractive. There are a lot of contradictions in who he is as a person that are fascinating.

Q 20

PLAYBOY: When did someone last ask what your sign was?

Karen Allen: God! Just the other day. Does it still matter?