Javier Bardem signs up for new Woody Allen film

Spanish actor Javier Bardem poses during a photo call at the Venice Lido in this file photo from September 4, 2004.

Spain's hottest film star Javier Bardem is to join his compatriot Penelope Cruz in Woody's Allen's new movie, he told Spain's El Pais newspaper on Thursday.

Asked what role he would have in the Allen feature, to be shot this summer in Barcelona, Bardem said "It's something of a secret. It's (Allen's) philosophy and the way he works."

Bardem was nominated for an Oscar in the 2000 feature "Before Night Falls" and had the starring role in Alejandro Amenabar's 2004 Oscar-winning "The Sea Inside"

"I can't talk about almost any of it but Woody Allen works via improvisation in many respects. The script I have read will be open, I imagine, to many changes," he told the newspaper in an interview.

"I like the creation of characters .. and of different ways of seeing life, but Woody Allen forces you to go back to the beginning in a way, to tell a story. At the moment that appeals to me a lot," he added.

Bardem has recently finishing working with Mike Newell in "Love in the Time of Cholera" as well as with the Coen brothers in "No Country for Old Men."

Much of Bardem and Cruz's professional reputations were built starring opposite each other in Bigas Luna's 1992 "Jamon Jamon," a funny, sexy and very Spanish drama.

Allen has shot two of his last features in London -- "Match Point" and "Scoop" -- and announced some time ago that he would film in Barcelona, without giving further details.

His latest film, "Cassandra's Dream," starring Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell, will be released later this year.