The actor that millions of Spanish speakers know as the voice of Woody Allen is to feature in the director’s upcoming film, set in Barcelona.

But for the first time in more than 20 Woody Allen films, Joan Pera’s appearance will be completely silent — he doesn’t speak a word of English.

“It’s something I have always dreamt of,” said Mr Pera, who has been Allen’s Spanish and Catalan voice for nearly two decades. “I thought it could happen, but I really didn’t expect it to.”

The director’s loyal following in Spain is at least partly due to the talents of Mr Pera. For anyone used to seeing his films in English, his rendition of Allen sounds completely wrong.

But Mr Pera has been able to translate Allen’s neurotic New York persona into something that resonates with Spanish audiences, and turned the director into a much-loved figure in the process.

“For me, he is the absolute personification of Woody Allen,” says Juan Carlos Rodríguez, a 38-year old journalist from Madrid. “I have heard his voice all my life, so it would be strange to hear another.”

Allen’s last two films — Match Point and Scoop — were set in London after the director apparently tired of filming in New York. However, many Londoners grumbled about their portrayal in the films, which they felt was unrealistic and often bizarre. Scoop did not even go on general release in Britain.

Barcelona, by contrast, is delighted to be hosting Mr Allen’s latest film. The director has been declared “a Friend of Barcelona” and local politicians are queueing up to be photographed with him.

The film as yet has no title, but is known to feature the Spanish actors Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Mr Bardem played the main role in the Oscar-winning film, Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside). Ms Cruz was nominated for an Oscar this year for her part in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver. Filming is set to begin this summer.

Virtually everything is dubbed in Spain, a tradition that began in 1941 when the dictator Francisco Franco made it compulsory in 1941 as a way to censor unwanted content. Today, even television ads using Spanish actors are routinely dubbed, as if it would be odd to have lips moving in time with voices.

Some cinemas have recently sprung up in big cities that show the original, subtitled versions of foreign films. But outside of Madrid and Barcelona, most viewers will have to watch Helen Mirren’s cut-glass vowels in The Queen transformed into a lisping Castillian accent.

Mr Allen has come to love his voice in Spanish, and has met Mr Pera a number of times. The last time, in 2003, Allen joked that Mr Pera made him sound more heroic than he really was. In return, Mr Pera congratulated Allen on playing himself “almost as well as I do”.

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