Woody Allen has revealed that he was surprised to learn that Rachel McAdams and Michael Sheen became an item after co-starring in his new movie Midnight In Paris. The couple, who have been romantically linked since last August, have finally confirmed that they are dating. The news comes after they went public with their relationship recently at Cannes Film Festival, as they promoted Allen’s new flick. But the legendary film director says he was completely unaware of any chemistry between the pair during filming – unlike the sparks that flew between Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz on the set of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Allen told People.com: "I didn’t see it coming. I could notice it a little with Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. They were kind of chummy. But I didn’t see it coming here… and they did not ask my permission."

Actor Alec Baldwin has signed on to star in Woody Allen’s new film based in Rome. The 30 Rock star, who recently joined the cast of musical Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise, will feature in the project, which is currently untitled, Deadline.com reports. It is the first time the 53-year-old and Allen have worked together since Alice in 1990. The Social Network star Jesse Eisenberg, 27, is also thought to be lined up for a leading role in the flick.

Woody Allen’s new movie Midnight in Paris is set to open the Cannes Film Festival later this year. The romantic comedy will be shown for the first time in the Lumiere theatre on May 11 in front of the jury, which Robert De Niro is presiding over. According to Deadline, the festival’s director Thierry Fremaux said: “Midnight in Paris is a wonderful love letter to Paris. “It’s a film in which Woody Allen takes a deeper look at the issues raised in his last films: our relationship with history, pleasure and life. His 41st feature reveals once again his inspiration.” The film was shot in Paris last year and the cast includes Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Marion Cotillard.

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Comedian-director Woody Allen said he sees nothing funny about the ageing process. Allen, 74, who is best known for his movies such as Annie Hall and Manhattan, said he tries to distract himself away from the fact that he is getting older. According to UK newspaper Daily Express, he said: “I see no advantages in ageing at all. You become shrivelled, you become decrepit, you lose your faculties, your peer group passes away, you sit in a room gumming and drooling. “I don’t see any positives in total annihilation, no hope of resurrection so it’s a bad situation. I find the best thing you can do is distract yourself. “You go to the movies, you get involved in a meaningless love affair and the outcome has no meaning in the grand scheme of the universe. “You watch Roger Federer, you do all these things to distract yourself from thinking about that tall stranger who’s coming to get you despite all your efforts to eat health foods.”

Working with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on his latest film Midnight In Paris was a delight, Woody Allen says. The legendary filmmaker has slammed reports that the former supermodel, who has a small part in the movie as a museum guide, was a handful during the shoot in the French capital. “She was no problem at all,” Allen said speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I was delighted with her.” Rumours that Bruni-Sarkozy’s scenes required dozens of takes were unfounded, Allen said. He also dismissed claims that he had replaced her with another actress. “This is a hundred percent untrue,” he told the Associated Press. “She’s in the picture. Everything she shot is in the picture. I love her. She’s great. It’s not a big part, but it’s a respectable part. I did hire another actress late in the picture for another part, for a totally different role. They’re both in the picture.” The film is due to arrive in theatres next year.

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Woody Allen has cast the wife of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a small role in his upcoming project, Midnight In Paris.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, 42, has been shooting scenes with actor Owen Wilson around the Pantheon in Paris’s 5th arrondissement.

A source told People, “Carla and Woody got along incredibly well on the set. They talked constantly and laughed quite a lot between takes.”

Last year, the former supermodel and singer opened up about accepting the acting role, admitting, “I go into everything blindly, or I’d never do anything at all.”

She told French television, “I’m not an actress at all. Maybe I’ll be completely hopeless, but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one in my life.

“When I’m a grandmother, I’d like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen.”

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Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson are set to hit the City of Lights this summer to begin shooting Woody Allen’s new project, Midnight in Paris.

Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard and Michael Sheen have all signed on to join the cast of the ensemble romantic comedy.

Midnight in Paris celebrates a young man’s great love for the city, and “simultaneously explores the illusion people have that a life different from their own is better”, Entertainment Tonight reports.

The famed director has recently shot films outside of his beloved Manhattan including in London and Barcelona.

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Brody, 37, has now signed a deal to star in the new movie and it will start shooting in the summer in Paris.

Other stars already signed up for the flick include Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Michael Sheen as well as France’s First Lady Carla Bruni.

The movie follows a family moving to Paris for business. Part of that family is a young engaged couple who are forced to realise that a new life might not be any better than what they have.

The film will be produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures.

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Mad Men star Christina Hendricks has revealed that it is her dream to work with Woody Allen and that she was crushed when she didn’t get a part in his movie last year – despite auditioning for the role.

In an interview with the UK edition of Marie Claire, Hendricks, 34, who plays curvy Joan Holloway in the hit US drama, admitted that one of her biggest disappointments was missing out on a role in one of Allen’s flicks.

She said: “It’s always been a dream of mine to work with Woody Allen. I had an audition last year, but didn’t get the role, and it kind of hurt my heart.”

She added: “He [Allen] said I was too sweet. I guess if you’re not going to get something, that’s a good reason, right?”

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Actresses Marion Cotillard and Rachel McAdams are set to become Woody Allen’s latest leading ladies, according to reports.

The pair are reportedly in negotiations to co-star in the director’s latest movie, which begins shooting in Paris in July.

Allen has already cast Owen Wilson for the as-yet-untitled comedy and he is reportedly also in talks with France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who is expected to make a cameo.

Now French actress Cotillard and Sherlock Holmes star McAdams are set to join the cast, according to Daily Variety.

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Owen Wilson and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy have been chosen by Woody Allen for a movie that will shoot next summer.

Wilson, the slapstick star of Wedding Crashers with Vince Vaughn, will act in the untitled flick with the French first lady, says the Hollywood Reporter. Her musical talents have already been on display. She previously worked with Allen when she was cast in his You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which is in post-production,

Wilson, 41, famously dated Kate Hudson. He suffered a nervous breakdown and slowly returned to health and work as an actor again.

Wilson narrated for the George Clooney film Fantastic Mr Fox and appeared in apocalyptic movie Armageddon, indie dark comedy The Royal Tenenbaums, Cars and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with Ben Stiller.

Bruni joins a stellar cast in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, including Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Gemma Jones.

Lucy Punch’s burgeoning career got another boost with the announcement she will star opposite Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher.

Punch, 32, is an up-and-coming actress who is shooting Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger in place of Australian superstar Nicole Kidman.

Punch has now been cast with Diaz in the black comedy to be directed by Jake Kasdan that is scheduled to start shooting next month in Los Angeles.

Punch and Diaz in Bad Teacher square off as two teachers who exemplify rebel and model. Diaz plays the rebel who goes after a colleague on the rebound from a sugar daddy.

Punch next appears in the Jay Roach’s Dinner for Schmucks in July. You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger is set for a September release.

The 74-year-old star rents a home in Knightsbridge, London, and the property was almost burgled during the festive period when he was not at home.

A group of people squatting in a nearby building saw the man trying to get into the house through the front door and called police.

Mark Guard, who is making a film about squatters in the upmarket area, said: “He [the burglar] broke off some shoots from a bamboo plant, then he waited until the coast was clear and spent three or four minutes poking the bamboo through the letterbox.

“By this stage we’d already rung the police. They sealed off the square and searched with dogs for half an hour before they arrested a man.”

A 31-year-old man has since been charged with burglary and will appear at Isleworth Crown Court later this month.

Director Woody Allen has said that there’s “not much pleasure in directing” and it can often get “tedious”.

Woody, 73, is best-known for his movies such as Annie Hall and Crimes and Misdemeanours.

He is currently in London making his new film, which is as-yet-untitled, and he was unhappy with the lack of rain.

He said: “I hate sunshine. It should be raining. But those are the breaks. We’ll have to shoot it differently or maybe use a garden hose on the windows.”

The new movie is a star-studded affair and features Josh Brolin, Antonio Banderas, Freida Patel, Naomi Watts and Anthony Hopkins.

Talking about why the film doesn’t have a title, he said to British newspaper The Daily Telegraph: “I never title a movie until it’s finished because if I look at the film and it’s no good I don’t like to give it an aggressive title.

“I give it what I call one of my hiding titles – the kind of title that is low-key and promises nothing, so people are less disappointed by it. But if I feel the film is good, I give it an aggressive, confident title and then hope for the best.”

Woody has worked on many films over his career and has receiving 14 Oscar nominations and won two however he admitted directing isn’t pleasurable.

He said: “There’s not much pleasure in directing. I get up very early and come to the set and stand around all day while the cinematographer spends three hours lighting the set, then I get 30 seconds to do the set and then we move on and he lights for another three hours and I get another 30 seconds. It’s tedious.”

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Woody Allen says he is happy with his $5m out-of-court settlement with a trendy fashion firm.

The actor-director accepted the deal after suing American Apparel for $10m, after the fashion chain used an image of Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew in a string of billboard adverts last year without his permission.

The CEO of American Apparel, Dov Charney, says he settled the lawsuit on Monday because of the demands of the company’s insurer.

“It’s of course possible by going through the trial a jury might have awarded me more money, but this is not how I make my living,” said Allen, 73, after settling the case.

“Five million dollars is enough to discourage American Apparel or anyone else from ever trying such a thing again.”

The settlement is the highest ever in a right to privacy case, beating the $2.1m awarded to singer Tom Waits after his voice was used in a radio advert in California.

Before agreeing to settle out of court, Charney had threatened to call Allen’s ex-wife Mia Farrow as a character witness, to argue that Allen’s reputation was already tarnished and had not been damaged by the adverts.

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