HOLLYWOOD - Director
Woody Allen has angered the Spanish public by gaining large filming grants for shooting his new film in Barcelona.
Officials in the city have allocated $1.36 million to help fund the film, as well as provide police escorts for one of the stars,
Scarlett Johansson--meaning around 10 percent of The Barcelona Project is being paid for by local taxpayers.
Local paper El Periodico says, "He must think we're pretty stupid," while politician Alberto Fernandez slammed the lack of funding for local moviemakers.
He says, "They spend money on this film but seem to find it difficult to give money to Spanish or Catalan films."
However, the film's Spanish producers insist the project has received the same public grants as Spanish movies--despite the unique investment from the city hall, which will see the local government recoup costs in line with the film's profits.
http://www.hollywood.com/news/Allen_Angers_the_Spanish/4499014
