entrapped! with Catherine Zeta-Jones - the movie as told by Catherine

Background

With a big name like Sean Connery, and the stunning beauty and talent of Catherine Zeta-Jones, it's surprising that there isn't more buzz about Entrapment. In fact, all we've gotten so far from Fox Movies is an official studio press release describing the plot as such:

"When a priceless painting is stolen in a daring robbery, the evidence points to Robert MacDougal, a legendary gentleman thief who has never been caught. Insurance investigator Virginia Baker convinces her boss that only she can set the trap to catch MacDougal. As the action moves from New York to London to Malaysia, the stakes rise, and, in a breathtaking twist, both hunter and prey may have to pay a high price for freedom.

And there's even less on their website!

Fortunately, Catherine's recent success in the US and overseas has meant a deluge of interviews, and she has been happy to talk about the movie.

When asked by TNT Rough Cut, before filming started last year, why Connery asked her to audition for the part of Virginia Baker, she said

"I think from word of mouth. I met Sean in Rome. Sean actually only saw Zorro, like, three weeks ago. We talked about the project and then we screen tested in New York. Sean's producing it and he really wanted me. I think it was more of a name thing, like, I'm not a name. I think they wanted Sean Connery and a whoever. But Sean really wanted me for it, and then I got it.".

Of course, the moment the pairing was announced, the age difference immediately gained attention. But as Catherine initially told TNT Rough Cut

"But what's really interesting in the script, is it's discussed, that's part of the story. I keep telling him he's old enough to be my grandfather. You know, and we're business partners and our personalities are the same, we're on the same line. And it's much more of that kind of relationship as opposed to, you know, doe-eyed coquettish love affair. They're business partners, and all of a sudden, it gets a bit... "Whoa... this is getting out of hand... we shouldn't be doing this. This is not the way we should be working together." .

That was before it was decided that the story should concentrate more on the Romance, rather than the Action - a shift that was symbolised by the switch from Antoine Fuqua, of Replacement Killers fame, to British director Jon Amiel. This may be why, when asked again about the age difference by Movieline magazine in February 1999, she said

"[T]he relationship between me and Sean really works, because h)is character is a complete bastard and my character is really perfectly matched with his. I'm an international art thief who knows everything. When I first meet him, I use my bodily charms to woo him and he knocks me down with 'What a complete and utter waste of time.' Against great action stuff, there's this wonderful romance that they keep denying. And you see them, slowly, softening.".

Her role in Entrapment is still a bit of a mystery - is she an insurance investigator, or is she really "an international art thief who knows everything"? As she said to Total Film magazine

"Entrapment is basically a romantic thriller where Sean and I play international art thieves, him of the 'old school' and me as the more hi-tech type.".

Perhaps this ambiguity is all part of the twists and turns of this thriller. But what is certain is that

"I'll be scaling buildings, doing a lot of underwater swimming and rolling through tunnels,".

she tells the BBC.

Naturally, she has also been asked about working with Connery. Was she star-struck, asked Total Film magazine?

"Well, yeah. Love scenes with Sean Connery! It's the classic older man with younger woman thing, but there's always been great cinematic chemistry between older men and younger women." .

She also added in February's Movieline magazine, that

"Sean is the sexiest man I've ever met. His body is so great it's unbelievable . . . He's intensely charismatic. I find all that sexy.".

Filming has taken the couple all over the world, from London and the Pinewood Studios, all the way to the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia. As she told Total Film

"We've been shooting in Scotland and Kuala Lumpur, so, I don't know. Maybe I'll end up with some kind of Scots/Kuala Lumpur drawl!".