Filming of Woody Allen’s next production, starring Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johanson, is due to start this Summer. The film is set in Barcelona and Allen has offered a role to Joan Pera, the Spanish actor who has dubbed Allen’s voice in all his films shown in Spain for the past 20 years.

The role offered to Joan Pera is apparantly a silent one, and also very brief, and is Woody Allen’s way of expressing his gratitude to Pera who has put his voice to Allen’s roles in all Spanish and Catalan versions for over two decades (according to information published on the Spanish dubbers site El Doblaje, he also dubbs Rowan Atkinson’s voice). According to an article published by El Periódico today, Pera passed an audition for the part last week.

Joan Pera is a comedy actor and is well-known especially in his native Catalonia. He claims that last time Woody Allen was in Barcelona, the New York director thanked him for all his effort and said that thank’s to Pera he had become much more of a hero than he really is (Woody Allen’s films have always been extremely popular in Spain).

Joan Pera does an excellent imitation of Allen’s style and entonation.