American filmmaker Woody Allen, left, gives direction to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and actor Owen Wilson in Paris on Tuesday. American filmmaker Woody Allen, left, gives direction to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and actor Owen Wilson in Paris on Tuesday. (Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)Carla Bruni-Sarzoky filmed scenes for Woody Allen's forthcoming movie Midnight in Paris this week, with France's president just one of the many onlookers who gathered to watch her.

President Nicolas Sarkozy took time out from his busy schedule to stop by the fifth arrondissement set to catch a glimpse of his supermodel-turned-singer wife as she began her new creative endeavour on Tuesday.

Though the road was cordoned off and bodyguards moved discreetly around the area, a crowd was permitted to watch the filming from a distance as the veteran American director gave direction to Bruni-Sarkozy and actor Owen Wilson, one of the stars of the film.

Bruni-Sarkozy, who is said to have a small role in Midnight in Paris, spent several hours and many takes on one scene with Wilson outside a small grocer's shop on the Left Bank.

She later filmed another scene walking along a cobblestone street and, on Wednesday, rejoined Wilson once again to film at a cordoned-off park near Notre Dame cathedral.

Midnight in Paris, which also stars Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Marion Cotillard, is a romantic comedy following a family travelling in Paris.

Casting call

In June 2009, before a visit to the Elysée presidential palace, Allen told a French radio station that he was interested in casting the president's wife in an upcoming film. In November, Bruni-Sarkozy acknowledged that she had accepted the job offer despite being unsure of her skills as an actress.

"Maybe I'll be absolutely terrible," she told France's Canal Plus TV station at the time, then added that she couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"I'd like to — you know — when I'm a grandmother, to have done a Woody Allen film," said Bruni-Sarkozy, who has a son from a relationship before Sarkozy.

It is unknown whether she is receiving any remuneration for the film role. For her last album, 2008's Comme si de rien n'était, she passed on her royalties to the philanthropy group Fondation de France.

Bruni-Sarkozy has previously made cameo appearances (portraying herself) in two films: Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter and Alain Berberian's Paparazzi.

With files from The Associated Press