Miley Cyrus to star in Woody Allen's show: Director reveals reason behind picking singer to appear in comedy series

Woody Allen surely seems impressed with Miley Cyrus' portrayal of teenage singer Hannah Montana. The 80-year-old director, who is preparing for his debut on TV with a short series in association with Amazon Studios, has revealed what was most impressive about Cyrus and the reason why he picked her to appear on the show.

In a interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor-comedian talked about his short comedy show which would feature only six half-hour episodes. "It's not the kind of thing that could go on in perpetuity. It's one story. It's a comedy that stars me, Elaine May and Miley Cyrus primarily; a domestic comedy that takes place in the late 1960s," Allen revealed

Talking about casting the Wrecking Ball hitmaker, Allen praised Cyrus and called her "talented". "I noticed years ago that my kids would be watching Hannah Montana. And I would say: 'Who is that girl? She's got such a good delivery'," the Annie Hall director confessed adding, "And then she emerged as a singer, and someone showed me a little clip of hers from Saturday Night Live, and I said, 'It confirms what I always thought about her: She is very good, she is really a talented girl'."

Cyrus is surely lucky to have hit the creative-jackpot by getting noticed by Allen, whose successful career spans over nearly six decades. The director began his career as a comedy writer for television in the 1950s and revealed why he thought modern television was not a cakewalk.

"But over the years, television has made enormous strides, and wonderful things are being done on television," the director said. Talking about the difficulties of creating modern TV shows, he said: "And I found as soon as I started to get into the project, I couldn't bring myself to slough it off because this is not television of 50 years ago, where every silly thing was acceptable."

Meanwhile, the Amazon series is almost through its editing stage. While Allen prepares for the show to air, he has another major film, Café Society starring Kristen Stewart opening at the Cannes Film Festival on 11 May.