Woody Allen takes centre stage

Allen stars with Helen Hunt in his latest film

US film director and native New Yorker Woody Allen will take part in his first onstage interview in the UK on Thursday night.

Allen, 65, will be interviewed in front of a select audience at London's National Film Theatre by the NFT's Geoff Andrew.

He will be quizzed about his career, including his latest movie The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.

But he is also expected to make the suicide attacks on New York top of his agenda.

'Senseless'

Allen was in New York when the attacks of 11 September destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

Allen has spoken out against the attacks

He has since spoken about his reaction to the atrocities, supporting the action of US President Bush and condemning the "senseless" murder of thousands of people.

Allen was born Allen Konigsberg in 1935 in Brooklyn, New York.

He has made New York life a recurring theme of his movies, such as Annie Hall, Manhattan and, more recently, Small Time Crooks.

Top 10

He is also known to play characters in his own films that are considered to be rooted in his own character.

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion is a 40s crime movie set in Manhattan and starring Allen, Helen Hunt and Charlize Theron.

Allen plays an insurance investigator who comes to blows with an office-efficiency expert, played by Hunt.

The director has also chosen his top 10 films of all time, to be shown at the NFT in October.

They include Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, three Ingmar Bergman films from Sweden, two by French director Jean Renoir and two apiece by Italians Vittorio De Sica and Federico Fellini.

The Woody Allen interview is part of long-running Guardian Interview series at the NFT, which has included high-profile film personalities such as directors Robert Altman and Quentin Tarantino.