Hiring a Brit to play a Brooklyn prostitute never entered his mind, until he met Poots.
"I was given a list of up-and-coming girls but within five minutes of meeting Imogen I knew she was the one," he recalls. "She was quirky, but not trying to be quirky. She was just being herself. She's very, very, very good, and she's very original. She's beautiful, but not in a classic way and she's so interesting to watch."
Poots steals the movie from Owen Wilson, who plays Arnold, a successful theatre director who is a kind of Robin Hood for hookers. He anonymously promises them $30,000 if they give away that oldest of professions and many go on to flourish in other careers.
When Poots' Isabella, or Izzy, one of the ex-prostitutes he has helped, turns up to audition for his latest Broadway play alongside his actress wife (Kathryn Hahn), all hell breaks loose.
"The idea was very much in the vein of an old school farce, something like Noises Off [which Bogdanovich also directed as a film], where everything is constantly chopping and changing and everyone's crossing paths," Poots explains enthusiastically.
"Arnold and Izzy had already enjoyed a great night of passion when he encouraged her to fulfil her dreams. But he never expected her to audition for the show that he is directing."
Poots worked hard on the Brooklyn accent and it helped that she now lives in New York. "Not many movies set in New York are filmed in New York so to be in a movie that took place there and to be on the streets was a thrill," she says. She enjoyed working with Wilson. "He's hilarious, though surprisingly shy."
For Poots, who loves 70s American cinema, working with Bogdanovich was the big draw. "He's a filmmaker I've always adored and been intrigued by."
She views acting as "an extraordinary opportunity to explore human nature and the choices people make".
Raised in West London and educated at private schools, Poots abandoned early aspirations to become a vet after fainting during an operation as part of work experience. She started attending acting auditions from an early age. Her break came at age 17 with 2007's zombie movie 28 Weeks Later, after which producer Michael Douglas chose her as his co-star in 2009's Solitary Man.
From 2012 she had a rush of films including A Late Quartet, where she played the daughter of the "hugely inspirational" Catherine Keener and Philip Seymour Hoffman, Greetings from Tim Buckley, The Look of Love and the Hendrix biopic, Jimi: All Is by My Side, That Awkward Moment alongside Zac Efron, Filth (based on Irvine Welsh's novel), and A Long Way Down.
On the latter film she began a close friendship with Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul, who suggested her for Need for Speed, even though she couldn't drive. It was a bit of a stinker.
"I'm not cut out for the action world," Poots concedes. "You do jobs like Need for Speed because you think it will be fun and to be with Aaron and you know you've got your hand held the whole time. I would do more action movies if I thought it was going to be like True Romance or Bonnie and Clyde."
She felt on safer ground returning to work with another 70s legend, Terrence Malick, on Knight of Cups, alongside one of her favourite actors, Christian Bale.
"What I found astonishing was how Peter's and Terrence's styles and process were the antithesis of each other. Peter knows exactly what he wants to achieve in a day whereas Terrence is like, 'Oh the trees are great. Let's make this about the trees.' You just don't know what to expect. But I love them both."
Who: Imogen Poots
What: She's Funny That Way
When and where: At Cinemas now
