News > Woody Allen Won't Return to Spain Soon

Written by David Morgan

Woody Allen's mutual love for Spain seems to have soured. He had been welcomed in Spain at first when he came to film Vicky Cristina Barcelona in July, but the Spanish press and local filmmakers complained that he had been given special treatment over Spanish filmmakers who have a difficult enough time finding funding for their own films.

According to The Guardian, "The controversy began when it was revealed that 10% of the budget for the film, starring Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, would come from Barcelona city hall and Catalan regional taxpayers." Though some, like Jaume Roures (I don't know who this is either), deny that this kind of treatment is anything out of the ordinary, Spanish filmmakers feel affronted.

As a result,

The president of Mediapro, the Catalan production company behind Allen's new film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, has announced that two future projects will be made "neither in Catalonia nor in Spain", as had been previously planned.

So where will Woody go next? It's anybody's guess.