Woody Allen
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Just as Woody Allen's latest movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, is set to his theaters, we have an update on the director's next movie.

The neurotic writer has penned a role for Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David.

According to JSOnline reports, the collaboration will be called Whatever Works. It's described as a “blackish comedy,” where David plays the love interest of 20-year-old Evan Rachel, who Allen commended for a “great” performance, despite being a young actress working with such well-known stars.

Whatever Works is set to be released in early 2009. Speaking on the film's star, Allen said:

“He's got a great, sarcastic, sour, wonderful, no nonsense sense of humor. I think I'm more illusory than him. He's a stronger personality. I'm more of a schlemiel, a dope. I would be the guy they would plant the microfilm on and I would never know it, and I would be out there wondering why people are shooting at me. Larry has a different quality. It was fun to write this for him."

As for the movie itself, the director said:

“There is sex in the movie. It's a comedy, a romantic comedy.”

Woody Allen's latest movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, opens this weekend.

The A.V. Club recently sat down with the veteran, beloved director to discuss the film:

AVC: There's a really critical scene in the film where Javier Bardem propositions Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson and convinces them to travel with him. Could anyone but Bardem have pulled that off?
Woody Allen: That's what I was thinking before. There probably are not a lot that could. There are some that could, but you really do have to have that kind of brooding, complicated, charismatic personality to not come off like a boob, and for women to be provoked by his proposal and to think actually that it might be interesting. If I didn't have Javier to play that part, and I was making the film in Spain, I don't know if I could've found someone.

I don't really know, because I'm not familiar with the Spanish cinema, so I don't know if there's another who knows enough English, and also has that kind of complexity to him.

AVC: It's a romantic film, but would it be fair to characterize it as being ultimately pessimistic about love? One woman desires stability and the other desires passion, but both seem to be heading for different kinds of trouble.
Woody Allen: I would say the film is quite a sad film. The basic cosmetics of the film, as you watch it, are not sad, and so as you watch it, you're seeing a beautiful city and hearing wonderful music, and seeing these beautiful women and this charming guy.

So hopefully you would enjoy yourself, and there are some laughs and some moments you're interested in. [Mild spoilers follow and continue through the end of this exchange. —ed.] But when it's all over, and you tally up, you find that Javier and Penélope can't live with each other and they can't live without each other, so they're kind of tortured in their relationship.

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