No other director like Woody -- Helen Hunt
( 2001-09-03 13:35 ) (7 )

Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt said on Saturday there was no other director quite like Woody Allen.

South African movie star Charlize Theron agreed: "He is such a great writer and he writes such great characters."

Both said they jumped at the chance to work with the quirky New Yorker on "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion," which had its European premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Theron said she had few clues from the diminutive director on how to work on her femme fatale character in the film, which tells the story of an insurance investigator who under hypnosis turns into a jewel thief.

"He is not really known to sit down and have huge conversations. Sometimes he will really surprise you and you find yourself going `You are talking to me.' But I think that is part of who he is and that's why we love all him," Theron said.

"I really got a kick playing this poor little rich girl who got everything on a silver platter her entire life and was desperately in search of some kind of excitement," she added.

American actress Hunt, who won an Oscar playing opposite Jack Nicholson in "As Good as it Gets," said she adored the quickfire dialogue she had with Allen in the film when they traded acidic insults.

"I didn't have a problem with the fast part. I have a problem with slow," she said.

Asked if her role had specially been written for her, Hunt said: "I heard it was written for me but until I hear him say that directly I am not going to believe it."

"I got a call saying he would like me to be in this movie. A very nice woman came to my hotel, handed me a script and waited in the lobby while I read it and then took it away. I said Yes Please."

"I don't think there is anybody like him," Hunt said of the Oscar-winning director whose private life has won more headlines at times than his films have.

For Allen found himself the center of international attention after his bitter breakup with longtime partner Mia Farrow.

Allen and Farrow ended their decade-long relationship in 1992 after she found nude photographs of Soon-Yi Previn, her Korean-born adopted daughter. Soon-Yi and Allen later married in Venice.

Hunt hailed Allen as a truly individualistic talent. "I wait impatiently for the next one of his films to come along. I am just interested to see what he is interested in," she said.

"Will they? Won't They?" is the great romantic question throughout the "Curse of the Jade Scorpion" and Hunt said of her on-screen chemistry with Allen: "When I watched the film, I found myself rooting for these two people. There was a kind of sweetness. I wanted them to be together."