Woody Allen 'pleasantly surprised by Owen Wilson'

Woody Allen has admitted that Owen Wilson wasn't his first choice to take the leading role in Midnight in Paris.

In the film, Wilson plays a disillusioned screenwriter who hopes that a trip to Paris will revive both his creative spirit and his troubled relationship with fiancée Inez (Rachel McAdams).

Allen revealed that he initially envisioned Numb3rs star David Krumholtz for the part and baulked when Wilson was first recommended to him.

"I had written this for an East coast thoughtful person, someone who you would associate with New York or an Ivy League school; a part I might have played if I was younger. I thought of David Krumholtz playing him at one point," WENN quotes the filmmaker as saying.

"I couldn't get the right person for it and then Owen's name came up and I thought, 'Owen, you must be kidding, he's a beachcomber. This guy's at home with a surfboard'. Then I investigated him and found out he's a cowboy; he was born in Dallas and lives in Hawaii - so this is the opposite of who I want."

Allen further explained that once he finally agreed to cast Wilson in Midnight in Paris, he was taken aback by how much the actor identified with the struggling writer he portrays in the movie.

The director said: "He is very talented and funny and he does have a kind of melancholy streak to him… I met Owen and found he's quite bright. He's very well read and very well spoken and not at all a cowboy. I never knew it and I didn't suspect it from his physical image."

Alec Baldwin, Maricel Álvarez, Ellen Page, Penelope Cruz have all signed for Allen's next project, the Rome-set film Bop Decameron.

Midnight in Paris is currently playing in US cinemas.

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Watch the trailer for Midnight in Paris below: