Woody Allen looks for his New York in Barcelona

Published: 2007 - October, Culture

Retreating from London’s ever rainy weather and from the cooling U.S. public, where his box office records have been less than encouraging lately, Woody Allen has warmed up to the vitality and colors of Barcelona, where is upcoming film is set. The film stars once again Scarlett Johansson. It is rumored to be a tale of romantic intrigue between a painter, two American tourists and his former girlfriend, unfolding against the background of the Catalan capital.
The New York director traditionally develops his films under complete secrecy, and also in this case only very few are in on the actual story and genre. Even the film’s title, “Midnight in Barcelona,” is still just a working title (officially, it is known as “Woody Allen’s Summer Project 2007”), though the Spanish producer, Antoni Llorens, has confirmed this will be the film’s definite title.
The choice of Barcelona as location is particularly significant, given that the city of Las Ramblas is as much “in” today as the metropolis along the Thames. For young people from all around Europe, Barcelona in fact has become a favorite destination for a sort of pilgrimage towards modernity, in search of fun and vitality, unique design and new architecture, and cultural new and provocative events. Until just a few years ago, London had been the only city in the Old Continent which could be compared to New York in that sense. Today, however, the Catalan capital is up to the ambitious challenge of such a comparison, thanks to its traditional dynamism, regained after hosting the 1982 Olympics, its spontaneous, multicultural spirit, symbolized by the Ravel quarter, and its innovative drive. These characteristics are indeed becoming common to all three cities, constantly on the move, at the world’s cutting edge.
And so, Barcelona is now going through a historic phase of high prestige, made evident also by the arrival of Woody Allen. The emblematic New Yorker is shooting his third film with Scarlett Johansson (who also starred in his “Scoop” and “Match Point,” both set in England). A symbolic transition marked at the commencement of filming along the Barceloneta Beach in July.
As Allen himself has admitted, shooting in Spain proved to be a “great challenge,” as the crew and most of the cast spoke only Spanish. Indeed, besides the sensual actress that appears to be his current ‘muse,’ the film’s stars include the “divine” Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem; other featured actors are Lloll Bertran, Abel Folk, Lluís Homar, Joel Joan and Sílvia Sabaté.
Of course there were also political contestations to deal with, from all wings of the caliente Iberian political spectrum. Many tax payers, for example, were outraged that 10% of the film budget was provided by public money: a million-odd euro from the Madrid government and 500,000 from the Generalitat, the Catalan regional administration.
Controversy apart, the director has revealed in a press conference that filming had been “a great dream turned into reality,” adding that he hoped his new movie would be like a ‘love letter’ to Barcelona, presenting the city to the rest of the world “as I see it through my own eyes, as I’ve done with Manhattan in the past.”