Gathered to talk about Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Pénelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, Chris Messina and Scarlett Johansson all had similar praise for their director and writer -- even if they took different paths to get to the film. Cruz's agent actually reached out to Allen when Vicky Cristina Barcelona was in development, on the off chance Allen might have a role for her: "My agent said ... 'We found out you're doing a movie in Spain, do you want to meet Pénelope?' We met in New York, a very short meeting, which took less than one minute, and he told me 'I saw Volver, and I'm writing this story, it's not finished yet, but if it keeps going in this direction, the script, I think you could be right for this part. ...' He didn't tell me anything more about the story, or the characters, but I felt like we connected; we were laughing, and when I left, the people who work with him told me 'You've been there for such a long time.' ..."

Even after being asked, though, Cruz found the prospect of working with one of film's best-known directors daunting: "You can trust the director -- you're working with Woody Allen, you're working with a genius -- but that doesn't mean you're not going to be doubting yourself. ..."

I felt, after seeing Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the way I do after I've been to an excellent tapas restaurant; I'd been presented with a series of small moments of flavor and texture and presentation, some more pleasant than others, and while the overall experience didn't add up to a full meal, it was still a sincere pleasure. Allen's been globetrotting lately -- although you can suggest that's been motivated less by some muse of artistic inspiration than by the equally beguiling, if less dignified, seductress of international financing. After several films set in London, Allen's now in Barcelona, Spain, as recently-graduated friends Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are taking some time to see the world before going back to America and futures as bright and unfixed as a sunlit fogbank.

Staying with family friends Mark and Judy Nash (Kevin Dunn and Patricia Clarkson), Vicky and Cristina take in the sights and experiences of Barcelona. Cristina's able to lose herself in the moment; for Vicky, each summer day's tempered by the certainty that summer will soon end. But one night after an art gallery showing, at an appropriately bohemian venue, Vicky and Cristina are approached by the painter whose work they've just seen, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), who proposes they join him as he flies to a small town so they might spend the weekend making love. Vicky's appalled; Cristina's intrigued; Juan Antonio is a laid-back seducer with a ready counter-argument to every objection: "Life is long; life is dull; life is full of pain." Why not have a little fun? It's not enough to talk the girls into agreeing to go to bed with him, but it is enough to get them on-board the plane. ...

Colin Firth and Ben Barnes alone do not an Oscar Wilde adaptation make -- and with filming on Dorian Gray having already started (more on that in a moment), it's a good thing they filled out the rest of the cast! Variety reports that just about every British actor not working on Harry Potter or The Tudors has signed on.

Rebecca Hall is probably the most notable addition -- IMDB claims she's playing Emily Wooten, a character which doesn't seem to exist in the original book. But she's no stranger to gloomy Victorian stories, as she's probably best known to American audiences as Christian Bale's tormented wife in The Prestige. The key female role appears to have gone to Rachel Hurd-Wood, who will be playing Sibyl Vane, the actress Gray falls in love with. Emilia Fox is playing Lady Victoria Wooten, wife of Firth's character.

Completing the cast are: Ben Chaplin, Fiona Shaw, Maryam D'Abo, Pip Torrens, Douglas Henshall, Caroline Goodall, Michael Culkin, Johnny Harris and newcomer Max Irons, son of Jeremy Irons. This is going to be a real film of young up and comers, isn't it? Barnes, Hall, Hurd-Wood, Irons ... it should be quite interesting to see who might take off from this.

And I wasn't wrong when I said a photo of Firth and Barnes in cravats would be forthcoming. Variety has one accompanying their article -- and it's a nice official still, not a grainy one from the British paparazzi as I was expecting. You can already sense the debauchery, can't you?

A couple days ago we were fortunate enough to premiere the one-sheet for Woody Allen's new offering Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Now Yahoo! has the second trailer for the movie, and the first one with any dialogue.

I reserve judgment on the film (since, uh, I haven't seen it yet), but I already know that Rebecca Hall deserves an Oscar just for her delivery of "Look, señor, maybe in a different life..." And it's good to see Javier Bardem playing a normal, non-homicidal, fully ambulatory human being.

The most interesting thing for me is that Vicky Cristina Barcelona doesn't fit the mold of anything Woody Allen has churned out in the 21st century: it looks to be neither a goofy screwball comedy nor a slow-burn, class-conscious thriller. Instead, it seems like a perfectly earnest, if idiosyncratic, love triangle. And that's an interesting move at this point in his career.

The plot: A hotshot artist (Javier Bardem) invites two young women (Hall and Scarlett Johansson) on vacation in Barcelona to spend the weekend with him, but his ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) becomes determined to ruin the fun. It must have been a fun shoot for Bardem and Allen, I'll tell you that much.

Cinematical is very happy to bring you this exclusive poster for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (click to enlarge), written and directed by one of my favorite New Yorkers, Woody Allen. Starring the crazy sexy cool trio of Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, VCB follows two American tourists (Johansson, Hall) on holiday in Spain who find themselves drawn into a series of unconventional romantic entanglements with Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a charismatic painter who "pursues passions and ardently seeks the meaning of love," according to Kim's very positive review of the film from Cannes. Things become a bit complicated, however, when Juan Antonio's nutty ex-wife (Cruz) enters the picture.

I'm a pretty big fan of this poster as it kinda clues you into the plot of the film without hitting you over the head with it. Obviously the three key players are featured, and Cruz has her arms wrapped around Bardem as if he's her property -- while he and Johansson keep their eyes down as if they're hiding something. I dig it when the poster paints a story ... and I can't be the only one who's interested in seeing this one explored more.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona arrives in theaters on August 15.

Yesterday, I wrote up the press conference for Woody Allen's latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The pic above is a shot of the crazy crowd outside the red carpet for the film; it gives you an idea of how insane the crowds get here for every red carpet -- they're all a little crazy, but this one as even more packed than usual. People pack in like sardines, hoping to get a glimpse of their favorite star, and there are always people in black tie wandering around hopefully with signs reading something like, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona, S.V.P.," hoping against hope that some person might have on hand one of the coveted silver invitations to the red carpet premiere that they don't intend to use. I don't know what the likelihood of that is, but I'd have to imagine it's pretty darn slim.

Below is a gallery of pictures from the press conference. I had to take them of the video screen in the press suite, as I was unable to get into the actual conference for this one. So you're looking at pictures of pictures, essentially, but given the circumstances under which I was working, I think they came out reasonably well.

Upcoming: Reviews of Tokyo Sonata, Hunger and Three Monkeys, plus James's adventures at the Indiana Jones roundtable.

The press conference for Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona was a packed affair. Buzz on the film has been mostly positive, and most of those trying to get in were, unfortunately, shut out. The line of press trying to get shots of Allen and the cast walking in was an utter madhouse; picture something akin to a prison riot, with a mob of press stomping on feet, shoving with elbows, and generally doing their damnedest to jostle into position in the hopes of scoring one or two decent shots in the 15 or so seconds you have to point and click.

I had my foot crushed by a large Belgian woman who muscled her way to the front of the pack on my right, and got smacked quite hard in the head by a Chinese photojournalist's video camera. Working a film fest isn't always quite the glamorous event one might imagine.

I've said before that a new film from Woody Allen is something like getting a Christmas gift from your eccentric aunt; you never know if you'll get a crocheted toilet paper cozy, or a piece of priceless heirloom jewelry. Fortunately, Allen's newest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, turns out to be more like the latter. The story opens with Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), two best friends heading to Barcelona for eight weeks of fun.

Vicky's distant relations Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and Mark (Kevin Dunn) live in Barcelona, and have invited the girls to spend the summer there, where Vicky will do research for her Masters and Cristina will soak up the local culture. Vicky is engaged to be married to Doug (Chris Messina), a stalwart, likable, but rather boring young man, and Cristina is recovering from her latest breakup and looking for an artistic outlet for her pent-up creativity.

Word about Nicole Holofcener's still-untitled new film hit back in December, when Catherine Keener, regular Holofcener star, was circling the project. Now The Hollywood Reporter posts that the film has been picked up by Sony Picture Classics, and three players have been added to the roster -- Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, and Rebecca Hall.

Written by Holofcener, the film focuses on a New York couple (Keener and Platt) who own the next-door apartment, which is occupied by a "cantankerous, elderly woman." The pair want to reclaim the apartment, so they're anxiously waiting for the woman to die so they can grab it back. It's not the most charming plan, but certainly understandable in a morbid way. But then their impatience is complicated by the presence of the woman's two granddaughters, who the couple befriend (Peet and Hall) -- it's not so easy to itch for death when the whole scenario becomes more real.

The film is scheduled to begin production in mid-May, with plans to wrap before that looming, potential SAG strike. In the meantime, a number of roles still need to be cast -- namely the grandmother who won't die, and the couple's daughter.

Back in October, Woody Allen changed the title of his next shrouded-in-secrecy film from Midnight in Barcelona to Vicky Cristina Barcelona. While it's not the choice I would have made, considering the 473 titles that the new Rambo flick went through, there's a chance it will get changed again. However, beyond bits of news like that, word on the production has been pretty meager. We know it's about a painter who gets interested in some American tourists, and that his jealous ex isn't too happy about this. Now the painter, one Mr. Javier Bardem, has spoken with MTV about the title of the film and his artsy role in Woody's first bilingual production.

As he confirms, the title comes from the names of the two tourists, Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson's characters. As Bardem describes it: "[They're] the two girls that go to our salon; but I don't know if that is going to be the final title or not." I imagine the "our" is Bardem's character and his ex, played by Penélope Cruz. Early reports have suggested that Cruz is his ex-girlfriend, but Javier says she's his ex-wife in the triangle, but also notes that "it is much more than that."

He paints in the film (Anyone want to make bets that he'll partake in some risque American tourist nudes?), and says he got inspiration for his role from the man who painted the works in the film, as well as from director and artist Julian Schnabel, who worked with him on Before Night Falls. But if you're one of the people allergic to subtitles, he also discusses just how bilingual the film is. While most of his lines are in Spanish, he explains: "It has both, Spanish and English, but most of the time English." We'll get to see what Woody makes of his love for Barcelona some time next year.