Actor Guillermo Francella, who is in Spain to present his film "Playa de Lobos," was a guest on the popular TV show "El Hormiguero." During the "Truth or Dare?" segment, he had to share an anecdote for the show's team to guess if it was a real event or completely made up. Francella chose to tell a supposed experience he had in New York with his brother Ricardo. With his phrase well-rehearsed, he recounted the moment Allen got up to leave the restaurant. "I stood up because it was my chance," he said. However, at the end of the game, the actor clarified the truth: everything that happened in the restaurant was real except for that Hollywood-style ending, which was the invented part to fulfill the show's premise. Francella also joked about his stage fright, admitting that even his children's help couldn't overcome it. The anecdote also included his brother's role, who was completely oblivious to the situation and more concerned with enjoying the meal than with Woody Allen's presence. "Ricardo was telling me, 'Eat your pasta.'" Between laughs, he explained that he could barely manage to greet Allen and that another diner ended up helping him introduce himself and mention that he had won an Oscar for "The Secret in Their Eyes." The story took a turn when Francella stated that Woody Allen had even invited him to join his table, where they had a brief conversation. He said he rehearsed his lines several times, but something always got in the way: "The water doesn't get to the tank." He remembered being paralyzed because Allen was just a few meters away. Desperate to find the courage to make a move, he called his daughter to have her write him a simple phrase in English in "phonetics" so he could memorize it while continuing his dinner. According to his account, they were both dining at a restaurant on Fifth Avenue when he began to recognize several celebrities, including none other than Woody Allen. "I died right there," he said amusingly. The director's presence completely threw him off and filled him with enthusiasm, although he admitted his difficulty with English worked against him: "If I spoke the language, I swear I would have gone over and greeted him," he confessed with a laugh.
