Woody Allen eyes Carla Bruni for film role

PARIS (Reuters) - Woody Allen would like to use France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy for a film role, the U.S. director told RTL radio on Thursday.

"I'm sure she would be wonderful," he said through a translator. "She's got charisma, she's already acted so she's not unknown to an audience. There are a lot of ways I could use her though I don't have a story for her at the moment," he said.

"But I'll certainly talk to her about it and I'll ask her if she's interested."

Bruni-Sarkozy, one of the world's top models before starting a career as a singer and marrying President Nicolas Sarkozy last year, has appeared briefly on the big screen, playing herself in Robert Altman's 1994 fashion satire "Pret-a-Porter."

Allen, whose latest film "Whatever Works" comes out on French screens next month, plans to shoot a film in Paris next year, RTL said.

Something of a specialist in creating roles for women, he made Diane Keaton a star with "Annie Hall" in 1977 and has since worked with actresses ranging from his former girlfriend Mia Farrow to Mira Sorvino and Scarlett Johansson.

(Writing by James Mackenzie, editing by Paul Casciato)