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"   photo: Getty Images  Set in the winding lanes of Monmartre and Marais, Woody Allen&amp;#039;s latest film Midnight In Paris is part romance and part time-traveling mystery. The film stars Owen Wilson as a charming American screenwriter obsessed with Paris&amp;#039; golden age, the 1920&amp;#039;s. The film follows Wilson as he wanders the streets in search of inspiration and an escape from his demanding fianc\u00E9e Inez (played with brittle hilarity by Rachel McAdams) only to stumble upon the Paris of his dreams complete with flappers, Model-Ts, and a young Cole Porter. Allen&amp;#039;s most lyrical work in years, Midnight in Paris effortlessly blends past and present eras, conjuring up a romantic version of Paris that exists primarily in our dreams\u2014or when we&amp;#039;re lucky onscreen. We caught up with Allen fresh from Cannes, where we learned a bit about the benefits of shooting abroad and how to direct without directing. For Allen, the somewhat complicated story was inspired by a simple but mysterious phrase. &amp;quot;I thought of the title, Midnight in Paris, and I thought that was a very romantic title...For a long time, six weeks or so, I didn&amp;#039;t know what happened in Midnight in Paris. What goes on\u2014do two people meet? Are they having an affair?&amp;quot; Then it occurred to me one day that the protagonist would be walking along the street and a car would pull up. There would be some exciting people and they say `Get in&amp;#039; and take him on an adventure. That&amp;#039;s the way it happened. It was very unpredictable and capricious.&amp;quot;  In spite of his distinctive cinematic style, Allen is famous for being a director who directs very little when it comes to his actors\u2014even if when they&amp;#039;re time travelers. &amp;quot;As soon as they&amp;#039;re hired, I tell them they&amp;#039;re free. If there are any speeches they don&amp;#039;t want to do\u2014if there&amp;#039;s anything they want to change go right ahead and do it. I watch them very closely and if there&amp;#039;s some egregious mistake I tell them... As long as they make it real or exciting or amusing, I&amp;#039;m very, very happy. [I&amp;#039;m very happy] to take credit for it later.&amp;quot; While originally a quintessential New York director, Allen has spent the last decade shooting mainly overseas, turning his lens on the cityscapes of Barcelona, London and Paris. Although the New York tourism board is still reeling from this shift, Allen has no apprehensions about leaving behind his hometown to film on foreign soil. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not like you&amp;#039;re stranded in the desert and nobody knows what to do with the lights. It isn&amp;#039;t like that. You go to a new city and it&amp;#039;s great and you have new restaurants and new places to go to. It&amp;#039;s very exciting.&amp;quot; But at heart if not onscreen, Allen remains New Yorker. &amp;quot;New York is a fabulous city to work in. There are a million things to do here, there are a million stories to tell and a million places to shoot. I&amp;#039;ve made many, many movies here and I don&amp;#039;t think I&amp;#039;ve even scratched the surface of New York City.&amp;quot; While Allen doesn&amp;#039;t mind shooting abroad, he does lament leaving behind a few amenities. With a shoot this summer in Rome, Allen was regretful about a few things . &amp;quot;I will have three months of a hotel shower. I have a great shower, it comes down hard and hot. You go to a hotel especially in a foreign country...It&amp;#039;s nice to work at home in my own bed, in my own house with my surrounding pharmaceuticals.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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