Barcelona in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

There’s absolutely zero mystery about the location of Woody Allen’s latest film. Clue: It’s in the title and it’s not Vicky or Cristina. Rather these two characters are two 20-something Americans off to spend a summer together before they embark upon the next stage in their lives. For the conventional Vicky (Frost/Nixon’s Rebecca Hall) this means marriage and settling down, while for the recently single Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) it’s a less determined path but one that for the time being leads them both to the Catalan capital of Barcelona.

Such sunny climes are an unusual choice for Allen, a fact far from lost on the Oscar-winner as he joked in a spoof production diary published in The New York Times: “Received offer to write and direct film in Barcelona. Must be cautious. Spain is sunny, and I freckle.” Joking aside, the diminutive filmmaker’s work is most synonymous with his beloved hometown of New York City, yet in recent years he has strayed into Europe with his trilogy of Brit films Match Point, Scoop (both starring Johansson) and Cassandra’s Dream and has now journeyed to the continental mainland for VCB.

“When I began writing the script, I wasn’t thinking of anything other than creating a story that had Barcelona as a character,” reveals Allen. “I wanted to honour Barcelona, because I love the city very much, and I love Spain in general,” he says. “It’s a city full of visual beauty and the sensibility of the city is quite romantic. A story like this could only happen in a place like Paris or Barcelona. London or Berlin wouldn’t have worked because they’re drier, a little more intellectual. Spain’s got an exotic, Mediterranean feel.”