Woody Allen Offered Money To Shoot In Rio de Janeiro

Looks like this is the year of Woody Allen. The director is just coming off of a successful opening with his newest film Blue Jasmine, and now it seems like his next project might be funded already.

It’s being reported that Rio de Janeiro has offered to fully fund the next Woody Allen film. Sérgio Sá Leitão, president of the Brazilian based production company, RioFilme has said that negotiations are currently underway for the Annie Hall director. It looks like it’s a mutual love affair, as the director expressed his excitement of shooting in Rio de Janei previously, saying that Argentina and Brazil “had a million stories to tell.”

Now the mayor of Rio de Janerio has even gotten involved, if that’s any indication of how serious they are about getting Woody Allen out there to film. The mayor, Eduardo Paes, told O Globe in an interview that he’s going to fully fund the film if Woody shoots, saying: “I’ll pay 100% of the production. I’ll pay whatever it takes to get him to come film here.”

He continued, revealing that he has already done a lot to get Woody Allen to come:

“I so want him to come. I’ve already done all kinds of things. I talked to his sister, I sent him a message through [Spanish architect Santiago] Calatrava, who is his neighbour in New York.”

Looks like Woody Allen is about to get another stamp on his passport. The last time he shot out of the country before Blue Jasmine was in Rome for To Rome with Love. Before that he filmed in Paris for Midnight In Paris.

In addition Allen also noted that he may just film in Stockholm to shoot another project. As of right now he has returned to Paris to shoot a film with Colin Firth and Emma Stone.

[Image credit: Aleš Studený / Shutterstock.com]