Woody Allen’s 50th film is set to film in Paris later this year. Much of the film has been kept under wraps, but a new rumour today suggests a lead actress has been cast – Cesar Award winner Valerie Lemercier. This was first reported by Showbiz411.

Reports are that Allen is currently in Paris prepping for the film (and contrary to recent rumours that he might be retiring). The new rumour suggests that finalising the cast is the first order of business.

Lemercier is the most recent winner of the Cesar Award for Best Actress. She was nominated in several other categories, including Best Director, for her film Aline, which is a loose biopic about Celine Dion. She has directed other films and has worked with Louis Malle, Sydney Pollack and others. She speaks English although she is hugely successful in France.

At 58, and if true, she joins Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Gena Rowlands and others in leading a Woody Allen ilm as an older woman. If it’s not true, it gives us some indication of the cast to expect.

Allen has been talking about this film a lot in the past year. Production was set to start in 2020 but delayed due to COVID. From the start he said it would be a Match Point-esque thriller set in Paris. If production starts as planned, we expect this to be Allen’s 2023 film. It will also be his fifth time working in France, after Love And Death, Everyone Says I Love You, Midnight In Paris and Magic In The Moonlight.

This is very exciting news and it suggests we’ll hear a lot more about the casting of this new Woody Allen film very soon.