Spain's hottest stars back together for Woody Allen's Europe venture

Two of Spain's hottest film stars, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, are to co-star in Woody Allen's next movie, to be shot this summer in Barcelona in English and Spanish.

It will be the first screen pairing for the twin darlings of Spanish cinema since their joint debut in Bigas Luna's Jamon Jamon back in 1992. The film became an international hit and launched the careers of the beautiful unknowns: Cruz was 18, and Bardem 23.

The two have since become international screen stars, the only Spanish actors to be nominated for Oscars. Each had a role in Pedro Almodovar's Live Flesh in 1997, but this will be the first time in 15 years that they will be sharing scenes on camera.

For the veteran director, the venture marks his first foray into continental Europe. Before making Match Point in London two years ago, Woody Allen had never filmed outside his native New York.

Allen was awarded Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias arts prize in Oviedo in 2002, and fell in love with the Asturian capital. He said then he would like to make a film in Spain. The city took to Allen too, and erected a bronze, life-size statue of him (its spectacles are regularly stolen by souvenir-hunters).

Javier Bardem has stacked up a formidable track record, including an Oscar nomination in 2000 for his portrayal of the gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls.

Hollywood honoured the Spaniard with an Oscar nomination for best actor for his role, which required him to learn to speak English with a Cuban accent.

He then starred as the tetraplegic former seaman who orchestrates his suicide in Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside), directed by Alejandro Amenabar in 2004. Bardem spent most of that film lying in bed, immobile from the neck down. The role launched him to international stardom, and he has since acted in films by Steven Soderbergh, Michael Mann, the Coen brothers, Milos Forman and Mike Newell.

Allen struck his deal in 2005 with Mediapro, the Spanish producers responsible for the Bardem vehicle Mondays in the Sun. The deal contained a clause stipulating "top rank Spanish actors, in a scenario that remains to be defined".

Three weeks ago Allen signed Cruz, who is at the peak of her career and in line for an Oscar for her role in Almodovar's Volver, but rumours of Bardem's participation remained unconfirmed until yesterday's press reports.