Woody Allen praises ‘very professional’ Carla Bruni

The veteran film director Woody Allen has used an Italian newspaper interview to praise France's First Lady, Carla Bruni, for her "very professional" performance in Midnight in Paris, the new romantic comedy he's been shooting with Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard.

"She was very professional, she interpreted the role... so well that each and every frame shot will appear in the movie, nothing will be cut," Allen said of Bruni's small part as a guide at the Rodin Museum.

But Allen's comments, made to the Corriere della Sera, hardly chime with an account of the filming published by the Daily Mail last month.

This report claimed that Bruni was so bad in a simple scene with Owen Wilson, shot on the streets of Paris, that it took a "staggering" 35 takes to get it right.

According to the Mail, all Bruni had to do was walk into a store and come out again with a French loaf in her hand. But even though she had no lines,  she kept flunking the scene by staring into the camera.

In the end, said the Mail, it was only completed after a number of "animated exchanges" between the First Lady and the director.

So, who's telling the truth? The Mail report is questionable because no Parisian paper carried the story of 35 takes and, anyway, Allen never goes for a take more than is absolutely necessary.

Also, the Mail seems to have it in for Bruni. The same report claimed she had a "tendency to monopolise the camera", illustrated during the Sarkozys' visit to London in June when she turned her full "feline charm" on the paparazzi. "She glanced at the lenses at every opportunity," said the Mail,  "tossing her hair and licking her lips seductively".

Allen's report, on the other hand, smacks of diplomacy. We may have to wait for the likes of Owen Wilson to do their pre-release publicity in a year or so's time to learn what really happened.

In the meantime, don't be surprised to see Allen being offered a Legion d'Honneur. Clint Eastwood, David Lynch and Steven Spielberg all have one - surely it's 'le moment' for Woody to get one too? ·