HOLLYWOOD - Filmmaker Woody Allen has quit shooting his new movie in Barcelona over continued disagreements with locals upset that the film would be partially funded by public money.
Spaniards were outraged when it was announced that 10 percent of the budget for Vicky Cristina Barcelona would be paid by Catalan taxpayers--a sum that the country's officials expected to make back from the film's profits.
Jaume Roures, president of Mediapro, the Catalan production company in charge of the film, announced that the film would be "neither in Catalonia nor in Spain" due to the "small-minded attitude" of local filmmakers and press who complained the €1 million ($1.4 million) the director received would never be given to Spanish productions.
The film, which stars Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz, is one of two the Oscar winner planned to film in the European country.
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