Lucy Punch: 'Allen role a dream come true'

Lucy Punch has suggested that starring in director Woody Allen's film You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger was a dream come true.

The actress, who plays a scheming call girl in the comedy, told the Sunday Express that she was not deterred after being initially passed over in favour of Nicole Kidman by the Oscar-winning helmer.

She was later hired by Allen after Kidman was forced to leave the project due to scheduling conflicts.

"I think fantastic dreams do come true but they don't unless you really believe in them, like me getting that part," she said.

The actress continued: "Truthfully I should never have got it. It was supposed to be for a movie star. Woody could have had anyone he wanted but every time I went in to audition I just had a feeling in my stomach, 'This is my part'. He had no idea who I was but I believed in myself and believed in the dream."

Punch further explained that Allen had so much confidence in her inclinations about her role that he allowed her to change his meticulously-crafted dialogue.

She remarked: "It feels presumptuous to change one of Woody Allen's lines but he's a 70-something New Yorker and [my character] Charmaine is a chavvy Londoner. She would have a certain way of speaking, certain turns of phrase, and I got to really say what I wanted. I had the luxury of tailoring the part to myself."

Allen revealed last week that he's written himself a role for his next movie, which is to be filmed in Rome.

You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is playing in theatres now in the UK and is now available on DVD in the US.

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