Woody Allen has dismissed reports that there are “steamy” sex scenes in his new movie.

Rumours have been rife that Penelope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson have filmed a lesbian clinch, as well as a threesome with co-star Javier Bardem.

Allen admitted that characters in Vicky Christina Barcelona do get intimate, but insisted that it is “not in the sense [the press] are suggesting”.

He told Empire: “There’s no truth comparable to anything you’ve read. There’s the barest smidgeon of sex in it.

“There are sex scenes between all the characters in the movie: between the men and the women, and the women and the women. That is accurate, but I’d say there’s probably not even 20 seconds of sex in the whole picture.”

The 72-year-old also revealed in the interview that several A-list actors have turned down the chance to work with him.