Woody Allen will star in his new film The Bop Decameron

For fans, the prospect of a film in which Woody Allen and his Husbands and Wives and Deconstructing Harry co-star Judy Davis play the parents of Jesse Eisenberg seems almost too good to be true. Yet that would appear to be how the casting for The Bop Decameron is shaking down, following the news that Allen will take a role - in addition to directing - after five films solely behind the camera. Set in contemporary Rome but loosely inspired by The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio's collection of novelle, the film is divided into four separate vignettes. One of them, featuring Allen, focuses on an American couple travelling to Italy to meet the family of their daughter's fiance. Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Eisenberg, Greta Gerwig, Ellen Page and Alison Pill are confirmed co-stars. Shooting is expected to start in mid-July. The $24.8m film is being produced by the director's longtime partners Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum for Gravier Productions, alongside Italian co-financiers Medusa Film.