Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, has agreed to star director Woody Allen’s next movie

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the glamorous singer-model wife of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, is to make her debut as an actress, appearing in a forthcoming film directed by Woody Allen. Bruni, 42, confirmed that she has accepted an offer made publicly by Allen, one of France’s favorite film-makers, on a trip to Paris in June.

Asked whom he would like to cast in his next work, the New York director said: “Without question, Carla Bruni. I am sure she would be wonderful. She has charisma, and she performs, so she’s not a stranger to an audience.”

Bruni, who married Sarkozy last year after a two-month romance, discussed her movie plans on a television show saying, “Woody Allen kindly asked me not to do a film with anyone else before him. If anything concrete ever comes of it, it will be a great experience for me. She went on to say, “I go into everything blindly, or I’d never do anything at all.”

Carla Bruni, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell

Vogue, March 1994

The Italian-born former supermodel made a brief appearance as a model in Prêt-à-Porter, Robert Altman’s 1994 movie about the Paris fashion scene. “I am not an actress at all,” she said. “Perhaps I will be completely hopeless but I can’t miss an opportunity like this one. When I’m a grandmother I’d like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen.”

The New York filmmaker visited the French first couple in June this year during a trip to Paris to promote his last movie “Whatever Works.” Allen, who has raised the financing for three of his last four films in Europe, is aiming to shoot his next comedy in Paris in 2010. The film-maker, who is regarded in France as a cultural treasure, was recently reported by industry sources to have been seeking financial aid from France for the production.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy’s sister, Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, is an acclaimed actress and director in France.