BARCELONA, Spain — Hollywood Today (AFP) 6/10/07 — Security guards held back curious sunbathers as veteran director Woody Allen began shooting his latest star-studded film on a Barcelona beach on Monday.

Stars Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall and Javier Bardem are some of the talent acting in the as yet untitled film, though its working title is “Midnight in Barcelona.” Dialog will be in both English and Spanish.

The shoot is due to last seven weeks and take place in Barcelona, the northern Spanish region of Catalonoia, and Allen’s home of New York City.

The 71-year-old Academy Award-winning director has been scouting locations in Barcelona for the past month, during which he received an honorary doctorate from the city’s Pompeu Fabra University.

The amateur clarinet player, who is widely admired in Spain, also gave a couple of concerts with two members of his jazz band in a Barcelona hotel.

The new film will be a “love letter to Barcelona”, Allen told a news conference here last week. “The film is a dream come true.”