US director Woody Allen is rewarded with an honorary doctorate from
Barcelona's Pompeu Fabra University in June 2007. [AFP]

Security guards held back curious sunbathers as veteran US director Woody Allen began shooting his latest star-studded film on a Barcelona beach on Monday.

US actresses Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall and Spaniards Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are some of the stars acting in the as yet untitled film.

The shoot is due to last seven weeks and take place in Barcelona, the northern Spanish region of Asturias, and Allen's home of New York City.

The 71-year-old Academy Award-winning director has been scouting locations in Barcelona for the past month, during which he received an honorary doctorate from the city's Pompeu Fabra University.

The amateur clarinet player, who is widely admired in Spain, also gave a couple of concerts with two members of his jazz band in a Barcelona hotel.

The new film will be a "love letter to Barcelona", Allen told a news conference here last week. "The film is a dream come true."