Woody Allen is heading back behind the camera-and his latest comeback is already carrying a provocative price tag.
The 90-year-old filmmaker is expected to begin shooting an untitled movie in Spain this October, marking his first feature since 2023's French-language romantic thriller Coup de Chance. The largely English-language production reportedly has a budget of approximately $14 million, with a high-profile cast now being assembled.
But the detail likely to raise eyebrows is the movie's public financing. According to Deadline, the regional government of Madrid has committed €1.5 million-approximately $1.7 million-to the project. The funding will be released in stages tied to production milestones, including the official announcement and start of filming.
There is also an unusual catch: Madrid must appear in the movie's title.
The arrangement gives Allen another chance to continue making films overseas after his career became increasingly difficult to finance and distribute in the United States amid renewed attention to Dylan Farrow's longstanding sexual-abuse allegation against him. Allen has repeatedly denied the accusation and was never criminally charged.
The still-secret project will be produced by Madrid-based Wanda Vision, Allen's Gravier Productions and 3SIX9. No plot details have been released, and the identities of the supposedly high-profile cast members remain under wraps.
The film will become Allen's third production shot in Spain, following the Oscar-winning Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008 and Rifkin's Festival in 2020.
Allen previously admitted that raising money for movies had become "a pain in the neck," but also acknowledged that he would struggle to turn down another opportunity if someone offered to finance one of his many ideas. Madrid has now apparently made him an offer he could not refuse.
Whether international audiences are ready for another Woody Allen movie remains uncertain. What is clear is that, at 90, the deeply polarizing director has not quietly retired-and Spain is helping put him back on a film set.
