Woody Allen begins his 51st film in Madrid, backed by Spanish public money

Woody Allen stood beside Madrid's regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, at the Teatros del Canal theater complex on Thursday to mark the start of production on his 51st feature film, an untitled romantic comedy that begins shooting Monday under a financing arrangement that commits Spanish public money to a director who has not released a movie through a major American studio in nearly a decade.

The 90-year-old filmmaker, appearing at a presentation reported by the regional government's own newsroom, received a handmade Spanish guitar from Ayuso as cast members were confirmed for the project, which carries the working title "Wasp 2026." Filming is set to run through the Madrid capital and the nearby town of Aranjuez, with scenes also planned at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

The numbers

The film carries an estimated budget of roughly €12 million (about $13 million), according to production-industry tracking site ProductionList. Of that, the Community of Madrid's regional government and the Madrid City Council are together supplying €3 million in public subsidy, split evenly between the two bodies, a figure confirmed in an earlier notice from the regional government announcing the deal in December. The regional portion alone is being paid out in three installments — €150,000 this year, €600,000 in 2026 and €750,000 in 2027 — tied to production and release milestones, according to Catalan outlet Ara.

The subsidy comes with conditions. The finished film's title must include the word "Madrid," at least 15% of its scenes must be shot outdoors in locations that are visibly recognizable, and the production must premiere at an internationally recognized festival, according to Spanish press accounts of the funding contract. The arrangement mirrors public deals the director has reached before: Barcelona and the Catalan government together put up roughly €2 million toward 2008's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," and the Basque city of San Sebastián backed 2020's "Rifkin's Festival."

A director Hollywood won't finance

Allen has not had a U.S. studio distributor since February 2019, when Amazon Studios ended its four-picture deal with him and shelved "A Rainy Day in New York" following renewed attention to a decades-old molestation allegation from his daughter, Dylan Farrow. Allen, who has denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, sued Amazon for $68 million over the breach; the suit was settled on undisclosed terms later that year. "A Rainy Day in New York" eventually reached American theaters in 2020 through the independent distributor MPI Media Group, more than a year after it had already opened across Europe.

Every film Allen has made since has been financed and distributed almost entirely outside the United States, typically through European production partners and, increasingly, through municipal and regional tourism budgets eager to use his city-centric style of filmmaking — on display in "Manhattan," "Midnight in Paris" and "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" — to market themselves to travelers. Madrid's government made that calculation explicit in its own materials, noting that the region's audiovisual sector accounted for 2.2% of regional GDP last year and that location shoots, including film and television productions, generated more than €7.5 billion in economic activity, with roughly 2,100 productions filmed in the region, a 10% increase over the prior year.

Who's in it

The cast, confirmed Thursday and first reported by trade outlet Deadline, includes:

• Jemima Kirke, known for HBO's "Girls" and Netflix's "Sex Education"
• Marton Csokas, a veteran of "The Lord of the Rings" films and "The Equalizer"
• Jakob Oftebro, the Norwegian actor known for "Kon-Tiki"
• Alexi Wasser, an actress and filmmaker, in a lead role alongside Kirke
• Peter Vives, a Barcelona-born actor from Spanish television, in the production's sole lead role for a Spanish performer

Wanda Visión, the Madrid-based company that will distribute the finished film in Spanish theaters, is producing alongside Allen's longtime New York shingle, Gravier Productions, and the Puerto Rico-based 3Six9 Studios, with additional backing from Screen Capital and Never Summer Range, according to the regional government's announcement. International sales are being handled jointly by WestEnd Films and Daresay — but no American distributor has yet been named, leaving open whether the film will reach U.S. theaters at all before eventually arriving on a streaming service or in limited release, the pattern that has governed Allen's last several pictures domestically.

What officials are saying

Ayuso, a conservative regional leader who has made courting film and television productions a signature economic policy, framed the subsidy as a tourism and jobs investment rather than a cultural endorsement of its recipient.

"We are a region that loves art, film, music and life, with cultural ambitions and made up of people from every corner of Spain," Ayuso said at Thursday's presentation, according to a transcript published by her office.

Ayuso added that the film industry "allows our young people, and those from elsewhere in the world, and new projects of any age, to come together here," casting the production as part of a broader push to put the region "in international circuits" of culture. Neither Allen's representatives nor the production companies issued separate statements beyond the joint appearance.

What happens next

Principal photography begins Monday and is expected to continue for several weeks across Madrid and Aranjuez before post-production splits between Spain and New York. No U.S. release date, distributor or title beyond the Madrid-mandated working designation has been announced. The film will be Allen's first since 2023's French-language mystery "Coup de Chance," which, like its predecessors, bypassed a traditional American theatrical rollout. For a director who has spent more than seven years shut out of the industry that made him famous, Thursday's ceremony in a Madrid theater — guitar gift included — stood as the closest thing to a studio send-off he is likely to get.