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Over the past two decades, Woody Allen has delivered a string of cinematic love letters to Europe — from Barcelona to Rome to Paris — some of them carrying the glossy allure of tourist postcards. His late-career focus
on Europe intensified after his already divisive profile in Hollywood took a hit when longstanding sexual abuse allegations resurfaced during the #MeToo era.
His next film is taking his European sojourn one step further: Scheduled to shoot from Oct. 5 in Madrid, the still-untitled project is being backed by millions in public funding tied explicitly to showcasing the Spanish capital on screen.
The cast and plot have yet to be announced, though the Spanish press has already begun speculating about whether Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem, who are based in Madrid (and also star together in Florian Zeller’s Venice-bound psychological thriller “Bunker”), could appear in or star in the movie. Both are longtime Allen collaborators and previously starred in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” which won Cruz the Oscar for supporting actress.
What is known, unusually early for an Allen film, is a considerable amount about its Madrid connection, financing and exhibition requirements.
Some €3 million ($3.5 million) — $2.9 million after VAT deductions — is coming through grants from the Madrid Regional Government, announced last October, and Madrid City Council, made public in December.
Building on that base, Allen’s next film can aim to raise a further €4 million in Spain through a mix of tax credits ($2.3 million), a grant from Spanish film agency ICAA ($1.1 million) and a first-window TV prebuy ($1.1 million). That would still leave some $5.8 million to $7 million to be raised from international sales, a considerable challenge. Without the Madrid grants, however, Allen’s new film would probably not be made at all.
That public money comes with strings attached. What is striking is how explicitly those conditions have been laid out for a filmmaker who has long prized total creative freedom and has said there can be no humor without freedom of expression.
Allen, for instance, habitually settles on the title of his movies only after he has finished editing. Under the terms of the agreement with the Madrid Regional Government, his next film will instead have to include the word “Madrid.”
Full financing is also contingent on the film premiering at an international festival. Venice could be an option — the festival, led by Alberto Barbera, is not shy when it comes to courting controversy. The fest premiered Allen’s latest film “Coup de Chance” in 2023, the same year it played Roman Polanski’s “The Palace.”
Madrid City Council also said in December that “at least 15% of the film’s scenes will be shot in exteriors, making the city easily recognizable, showing its cultural, architectural and historical facets.”
Provisionally titled “WASP 2026″ — short for “Woody Allen Spring Project 2026” — the film is produced by veteran Spanish production-distribution outfit Wanda Vision, Allen’s New York-based Gravier Productions and Puerto Rico-headquartered 3SIX9 Studios.
Pre-production and production will take place in Madrid, while post-production will be split between Madrid and New York, Madrid City Council said when confirming its backing in December.
Welcome to the new era of screen tourism: Madrid City Council estimates that 79% of the film’s total $11.4 million investment will be spent in the city, generating 1,196 direct jobs and 2,293 indirect jobs.
Beyond the immediate economic impact, screen tourism is estimated to drive some 100 million visits worldwide, with the sector projected to be worth more than $142 billion by 2032.
Madrid’s bet on Allen is also growing in scale. The public backing for his next film is twice the €1.5 million contributed by Catalonia’s regional government and Barcelona City Council to 2008’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”
Allen has long built films around European cities. In Italy, he made “To Rome With Love” with Medusa, which fully financed the 2012 film. The movie, which had a reported budget of roughly $17 million and was shot entirely in Rome, also tapped local Lazio incentives. But its financing was not tied to the title.
As reported at the time by Variety, Allen initially intended to call the film either “Bop Decameron” or “Nero Fiddled.” He and Sony Pictures Classics eventually decided both titles were too obscure and settled on “To Rome With Love” as a homage to the city. The film, starring Allen, Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig and Elliot Page, went on to gross more than $73 million worldwide, including roughly $10 million in Italy, where it opened on 600 screens.
More recently, Allen’s French-language “Coup de Chance,” which had a $17.5 million budget, tapped into France’s international tax credit, which now offers a 30% rebate on eligible spending in the country. The film spent about €7.5 million in France over 33 shooting days in the Paris region.
Allen was, in fact, among the high-profile filmmakers who pushed France to make itself more attractive to international productions. In 2008, he met then-Culture Minister Christine Albanel in Paris as the government was preparing to introduce a new tax incentive for foreign shoots. He told Le Monde that he had considered making a movie in France several years earlier but abandoned the idea for financial reasons.
“I’ve always been in love with Paris. In the past, I had a script all ready, but the financial conditions didn’t allow me to make it happen,” Allen told Le Monde at the time.
France subsequently introduced its first dedicated tax credit for international productions, initially covering 20% of eligible spending in the country.
While news of the Madrid movie’s production start date has leaked in the press, the plot and cast still remain under tight wraps, and key distributors who worked on “Coup de Chance” have not yet been approached.
“We may hear about it closer to the AFM, but in any case Woody Allen always likes to keep the script and other details confidential until the last minute,” says one industry insider.
