These days, Woody Allen rarely steps in front of the camera, even less for a film directed by someone else. His last onscreen appearance in one of his own films was in “Scoop” and in someone else’s film, you would have to go back over a decade to Alfonso Arau‘s “Picking Up The Pieces” (though he did have a small cameo the same year in “Company Man“). But Europe has made no secret of their love for the writer/director/actor and he’s returning the favor.
Le Parisien (via Collider) reports that over the weekend, Allen filmed scenes for “Paris Manhattan,” the feature directorial debut by Sophie Lellouche (no relation to Claude Lelouch). The film stars Alice Taglioni as a 30-something pharmacist who is totally obsessed with Allen’s films. Not only does she know them backwards and forwards, she also gives copies of his movies to her customers. But alas, she’s still single and her family hopes that a man (Patrick Bruel) will be able to change that. Allen will play himself in what appears to be a cameo appearance in the romantic comedy.
Shooting on “Paris Manhattan” will continue until June and it’s expected to hit theaters at home sometime near the end of year. As for Allen, his jazz band recently wrapped a string of European dates and he’ll likely be getting some much needed rest before heading back to France next month to open the Cannes Film Festival with “Midnight In Paris.” After that, he’ll take a detour to Italy this summer to shoot his Rome-based film in which he’ll also make an appearance.