By Christina  Radish

In a career spanning over three decades, writer-director Woody Allen had never made the decision to set a film in London , prior to making the Golden   Globe nominated Match Point.  In the Dreamworks film, which recently opened in nationwide release, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) is a one-time tennis pro who, after befriending Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) and marrying his sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer), finds all kinds of open doors to the money and success that he had only dreamed of having.  Once Chris meets Tom’s impossibly beautiful and alluring American fiancée, Nola  (Scarlett Johansson), he becomes torn between the seduction of wealth and the  desire for passion.  Crossing the pond for the first time in his professional life, the 70-year-old Brooklyn, New York native was happy to tap England ’s wealth of talent, on both sides of the camera.   And, the actors that Allen chose for the leading roles were excited for the rare opportunity to work with such an acclaimed director.

Matthew Goode, the 29-year-old Brit, previously best known for his role opposite Mandy Moore in the romantic comedy Chasing Liberty, admits that he was in shock when his agent called him about the possibility of doing an Allen film. 

 “Woody didn’t have a fucking clue who I was, and certainly didn’t go, ‘I want him for the part,’” says Goode, laughing.  “I was happy sitting in my house in London when my agent phone up and said, ‘Get off your ass.  Tomorrow you’re going to go and see Gail Stevens, the casting director for this Woody   Allen film.’  And, I was like, ‘It’s three o’clock in the afternoon now, and I’m just waking up.  Stop pulling my fucking leg, and tell me what’s really going on.’  And, he was like, ‘No, seriously.’  I said, ‘Oh, shit!  Is   there a script?’ And, he said, ‘No, no script.  You’re just going to go in and talk.   There might be some improvisation, and they’ll show you a little scene when you get there.’  So, I had a couple of drinks in an old local pub, then went into the meeting and got 10 minutes with the scene, which was quite harrowing.  Then, I went in and did it, and it seemed to go alright.” 

{quote_top}The meeting went well enough that it put Goode on the short list for the role, much to his complete surprise.  “I didn’t even read for my character,” he reveals.  “I read a scene for Chris. Then, a couple weeks later, my agent phoned up again and said, ‘It’s really weird, but you seem to be at the   top of Woody Allen’s list for the role of Tom.’  And, I was like, ‘That’s fucking odd.’  So, then I went and met him, and it was a really short meeting.  I had been told horrible stories about how he might be hiding under the   table, and that I might not even see the fucker.   I was warned and told not to shake his hand, but being British, the first thing  I did was go in and say, ‘ Morning!,’ and shook his hand.  And, the rest is history.”

A recent Golden Globe nominee for Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in the film, 21-year-old New York native Scarlett Johansson wanted to be a part of the project because she has been a fan of Allen’s work for years.

 {quote_middle}“I don’t know why I responded to the film, but I just did,” she explains.  “It’s hard to say what you like about a script.  I don’t know if I have the vocabulary to explain why I like any project.  I just responded to the dialogue and the character, and I thought, ‘Okay, I can play that.’  I felt I was capable, so it was an easy decision for me.  He wouldn’t have even had to send me the script, and I would have done it.”  After a two-minute meeting  with Allen, 28-year-old Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Meyers was presented with the  script and offered the lead role of Chris.    Eager to get involved, accepting the role made Rhys-Meyers only the second Irish actor to ever be cast in a main role by Allen (the first being Liam Neeson in Husbands and  Wives).

{quote_bottom}“Woody presented me with the script  and, when I read it, I didn’t expect it to be that type of film,” says the  Dublin native, who just won a Golden Globe for portraying Elvis in the 2005  mini-series.  “I knew it was not a comedy. That’s the one thing that was established before I ever met him.  But, I couldn’t find out anything else about it.  I knew it wasn’t going to be a comedy because anybody who would cast me as a comedy actor has got to be fucking nuts. I’m not naturally a comedian.  I don’t think you’ll ever see me do a comedy. If I do, it will probably be so bad that you’ll never see me do a comedy because it will never be released.”

 Moving production to London was a first for Allen, but his actors said that he adapted very easily to the change of his usual New York locales. “ London is a very comparable city to New York , and he spent quite a bit of time there playing music,” says Rhys-Meyers.  “I think he did a very similar thing to the way he uses Manhattan , and he used the city as a character itself.  You felt influenced by the situations that go on in the city.  And, the social class system in New York and London is very similar.  Match Point was originally written for New York .  It could have been about a tennis coach in the  Hamptons , but he got the financing in  London .”

Given that this was the first time Allen had made use of British dialogue, he actually gave the actors flexibility with the words in the script.  Before filming began, the veteran writer-director told his cast that, since he didn’t’ really know how English people talk, they were free to change anything and make it their own.

“I was really afforded that luxury because all my character really does is introduce Chris to the family, and he has the fiancée,” explains Goode.  “He really doesn’t advance the plot in any specific or really interesting way, so I could play with the dialogue, as much as my confidence would allow.”  In a rare move for Allen, who does not normally use the same actors in other films, he has again chosen to work with Johansson, this time also acting opposite her in his upcoming romantic comedy Scoop.  Again set in London , Johansson is playing an American student who begins an affair with an aristocrat. 

 “Woody and I have a very similar sense of humor,” says Johansson, when talking about how it was to work opposite Allen, as an actor.  “He thinks I’m funny and I think he’s funny, which works for the better.  He’s much more approachable than I ever thought he would be which made him better than I ever imagined he could be.  He’s always on set.  He might be riddled with his own personal anxiety, but in actuality, on set, he couldn’t be more comfortable.    It’s not like he retreats into a cubby hole.  He’s always on set, making script changes and lighting the scene.  It’s really nice to have a director that’s there all the time.”