Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the US rights to Woody Allen’s “You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.” The film, which stars Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Naomi Watts, Lucy Punch, Gemma Jones and Bollywood star Anupam Kher is Allen’s latest London based film and, as per usual, not much is known about the film. In an interview with Telegraph last year, Allen revealed a little bit concerning the plot, “Josh is playing a very frustrated writer who’s having problems with his family and gets into an extramarital relationship and hopefully it’s interesting to people as well as being amusing and also serious. It’s a delicate line that I try and hit and sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can’t.” “Amusing” and “serious” is always a familiar mix with Allen (“Hannah & Her Sisters” and “Crimes And Misdemeanors” are among the best) but we’ll have to wait and see which way it leans most. The film will hit cinemas in the fall and there are some rumors that the film may premiere out of competition at Cannes.
As we reported yesterday, the always busy Allen is starting to shape the cast for his next, currently untitled film set in Paris. Marion Cotillard joins Owen Wilson and Carla Bruni in the film which the details are being kept under wraps. The picture will shoot this summer in Paris.
As we noted, Allen is pretty much unable to get financing or afford to shoot in New York City anymore (though last year’s “Whatever Works,” also released by Sony Pictures Classics, was an exception to the rule). Allen, whose budgets are quite low, and whose films nearly always make a tidy profit has found willing producers in foreign financiers who are willing to back the films without approving scripts or cast. We may not all agree on his latest batch of films, but as long as keeps cranking ’em out, we’ll be there watching them.