Stars Turn Out for Woody Allen's 'You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger'

Sept. 15, 2010 — -- Tuesday night in New York, Hollywood A-listers and socialites gathered in the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art to marvel at a nearly 75-year-old Manhattan original: Woody Allen.

At first slow and sheepish in the museum for the New York premiere of his latest film, "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," Allen squinted at the glare from the paparazzo's cameras and held his wife, Soon- Yi Previn's, hand for support. But once surrounded by admirers like Martha Stewart, Alec Baldwin, and Stanley Tucci, and many adoring members of the movie's cast, including Josh Brolin, Gemma Jones, and Lucy Punch, it didn't take long for Allen to light up the room.

"You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" is a dramedy about two couples (played by Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones and Naomi Watts and Josh Brolin) who struggle with disappointment, fantasy, and anxiety in their marriages. Allen, who wrote and directed the film, won't deny that the two male protagonists in the story are autobiographical.

"Well you know they say...all the characters in everything every author writes are part of the author in some way. I can never see it myself but you know it's been said so many times over centuries that...it's possible that it's true," Allen told Abcnews.com.

In the film, Josh Brolin's character Roy fantasizes about a mysterious guitar player, Dia (Frieda Pinto) who practices in an apartment outside his window. But in real life Allen's quick to confirm that Dia's character is completely fictional. "I've looked out my window many times. I live in Manhattan," Allen said. "I've never seen anything close to an apparition like Freida Pinto..If I see anything at all it's guys working on computers."

For the actors in the film, working with Allen was both a dream come true and a learning experience. Brolin gushed while relating his experience filming the movie, "Woody's fantastic. You know, he's eccentric, he's unique, he understands who he is, which is a breath of fresh air...and I'd work with him again and again."