Written off at 23, what could Catherine Zeta-Jones do? Up sticks to LA and become a huge film star, of course!
It's rare to get two cracks of the whip when it comes to fame, but two thing that have been big, small, then big again are the humble yo-yo...and Catherine Zeta-Jones. The yo-yo first made children's eyes sparkle in ancient Greece, where spinning discs of terracotta brought joy to sandal-wearing urchins six centuries before the birth of Christ. The simple toy's high spot occured in 1985, when NASA insisted that one be taken up on a space shuttle to test its behaviour in zero-g. But the fickle mistress that is fame turned her back on the cheerful based novelty soon after: unloved and ridiculed, yo-yos ended up littering boot-sales trestle tables the world over.
But against all the odds, in 1998 the yo-yo was reborn! Playgrounds again echoed to teh sound of hummming twine, and only the irritating Furby deprived it of the Best Selling Toy of the Year title.
Likewise, in 1991 Catherine Zeta-Jones was the nation's number one pin-up. Men were glued to the TV on Sunday evenings to see this ravenhaired temptress as MAriette in gentle "comedy" The Darling Buds of May.
But after a string of broken high-profile relationships and a less than impressive post-Darling film career-Blue Juice, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery and Splitting Heirs-the newspapers turned on the Welsh beauty, photographers going as far as to camp outside her doorstep. "There were times I locked my door and stayed in my house for two weeks-and they just stood outside," she remembers.
Fed up, Catherine sold her house in Fulham and moved to Los Angeles. It was then that her whole life turned around, thanks to a phone call from Steven Spielberg, who wondered if she fancied being in one of his movies. Her role as fiery senorita Elena in The Mask of Zorro made her the name on everyone's lips; she was voted one of 1998's Most Beautiful People by People magazine, and most importantly, the quality movie offers started flooding in.
Now the latest chapter in Catherine's story is unfolding at the Cannes Film Festival. Here every year journalists from around the world, wearing status-revealing, brightly coloured passes (white is the one to have) jostle for ten minutes with Mel Gibson, while wannabe Tarrantinos tout their wares to movie fat-cats. Catherine is here to promote her new movie, Entrapment-a crime caper in which she enjoys a will they/ won't they relationship with grizzled co-star Sean Connery, and which has already been a number one movie in America.
FHM is to have lunch with Catherine in the restuarant of teh exclusive Hotel Du Cap, where rooms cost $600 a night (excluding breakfast). Dressed in white, her dark hair to her shoulders, Catherine winds her way to our table. She narrowly misses bumping into Hugh Hefner in a ludicrous "Captain" cap and Hawaiian shirt, being escorted by three Playmate "special friends". But it's Catherine who gets the smiles and waves from fellow diners.
Two nights previously, Catherine had been at Entrapments Cannes premiere, where all her eyes had been on the enormous diamond ring around her engagement finger. Once again, the tabloids whipped themselves into a feeding frenzy as they tried to discover the mystery man's identity. "But I'm not engaged," she says in between ordering shellfish in fluent French. "My film company gave it to me to wear on my promotional tour. It's gorgeous, but it doesn't fit any other finger. Do you think I'm not going to wear it just because it only fits on my engagement finger? Anyway, it fends off a whole bunch of unwanted men!"
Waving to the photographers at the premiere was another milestone on teh road to redemption for 29-year-old Catherine. "I had great pleasure walking up that red carpet, "she says in her throaty Welsh accent, which now, oddly, has an LA twang to it. "After having had such a hard time about my work and my personal life, it gives me a sense of self satisfaction that I've turned it around. I still find it unfortunate that I had to leave my country and travel 6,000 miles to do it, but at least I can say to all those people who said I was a has-been at 23, "Screw you, Mary Lou!"
Despite her new LA lifestyle, Swansea-born Catherine comes across as being the sort of girl wgo'd be just as at home sipping Black Sheep bitter down the local as a flute of champagne at a posh film do. She's not surrounded by a gagle of assistants and body guards. In fact, she's in Cannes with her parents and two brothers-at one point her dad even wanders to see if Catherine is going to watch Manchester United title decided later that day.
In Entrapment, you play an art theif who's incredibly athletic-at one point you even do the splits. How much of that was you?
Ninety-nine per cent of that is me. I don't want to put any stunt people out of a job, but it's nice to be able to do as much as I can myself. Although there was one point where my life was in the hands of a stunt guy with a wire and I was thinking, "Am I getting paid enough for this?"
So how flexible are you?
I'm very flexible, ha ha! I can put my leg behind my head and sit there like that. You should see me swing a golf club-my arm and the club come right around to the other side of my body. I'm sickeningly double-jointed.
You play in the film. Ever stolen anything?
Not even a sweet. My dad worked at a confectionery factory, so I didn't have to. I guees the only thing I've stolen is men's hearts, ha ha!
You get to snog Sean Connery, even though there's a near 40-year age gap between you. Don't you think that was a bit ridiculous?
I went to Rome to meet him and I was honest with myself-I thought, "Is this feasible? Would I be sexually attracted to this man?" Within 30 minutes I thought, "Yeah." As soon as I met him I realised that, even though we're generations apart, we have a similar background and sense of humor.
Sean Connery is nearly 70 years old-which means that he's as good as dead. What was it like kissing such an old bloke?
He's good. I give him 11 out of ten.
Have you ever fancied an older man?
Yes. I worked with an Italian actor called Vittorio Gassman when I was 19 and he was in his sixties. He was the most attractive man I'd ever seen. His body wasn't amazing, be he was so strong-and very charismatic...
You've be spotted out with George Lucas. Has he asked you to be in the next Star Wars?
No, ha ha! Who do you think I'll play? The older version of Natalie Portman? But I'd love to work with George-he's a very good friend of mine. I met him when I did an episode of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles; and when I was filming Entrapment he was in London doing dubbing for the Phantom Menace, so we went out for dinner.
George is an older man...
Yeah, that's right. I can't deny that fact-but there's not relationship.
You're also been seen with notorious sexaholic Michael Douglas. Are you going out with him?
No, were not going out. Never have-not yet anyways. But we're friends. We share the same birthday, and every year in September we have big a party with Christopher Reeve.
There were also rumours that you were getting back with ex-Blue Peter presenter John Leslie...
No! We haven't been goign out for six or eight years. I still speak to him on the phone and speak to him occasionally-I'm not that ruthless.
At Christmas, Blue Peter always showed you how to make glittery novelty advent candle. Was John a bit useful with the tinsel at home?
No-he never made me Christmas decorations, thank God! But he did a lot of handy things, ha ha! I'm not very good doing stuff around the house-it's easier to get a man to do it. I once tried to put up some blinds. I had to drill and the "thing", but it took my 24 hours.
In the Mask of Zorro, Antonio Banderas gradually cuts away your dress with his sword. How did he manage to do that and not show your nips?
The film crew Velcro-ed my long hair to my bits. Then they shot it in stages with my garments in various states of disarray
How do you feel about getting your kit off for films?
I'm really uninhibited about nudity. It's a beautiful when it's done properly, but I swear to God it's a fine line before it slips into soft porn. I've been offered a bucketful of cash to do that sort of stuff.
Hugh Hefner is sitting just behind you. If he came over and offered you to do Playboy shoot, would you accept?
No. I'm and actor. I wouldn't have done it when I was 19, so I'm certainly not going to do it now.
In the UK, you're still most famous for the Darling Buds of May. When was the last time someone shouted "Perfick" at you?
Not as long as you'd think It was when I was filming Entrpament in London. I'd just left my apartment, which was full of messages saying "Zorro has taken $26 million in its first weekend", and I was in teh back of a taxi when the driver goes, "Alright Catherine-given it all up, 'ave you, luv?" Haven't you seen the papers? Loved that Darling Buds-why don't you make another one of those?" What do I say to that? Then, when I gave him my money, he went, "Perfick!"
FHM put you on the cover in August of 1996, with the coverline:"Catherine Zeta-Jones Is Back On Top!" We were a bit early on that one, weren't we? Zorro didn't come out for two more years...
Yes! That was my first photoshoot when I went to the US. I'd gone form being a big celebrity fish in a small sea to joining lines of beautiful girls. I'd go to auditions and they'd ask for work of mine and I'd say, "No, I don't want you to see it." It's not that I was embarrassed-it was more that was then and this is now. I bought a house in LA exactly a year ago. It's got a Welsh flag outside.
What's the weirdest thing that has happened to you since living in Los Angeles?
A prince wanted to fly me to a foreign country. I'm like, "Who is he? What does he want? Dinner? Why do I have to get into a jet? Why doesn't he come to LA?" I work hard, then I like my rest. Last nigh tI wen to bed early while my mum and dad went to the Austin Powers party-they danced all night.
You've just made a horror film, The Haunting, in which you play a bisexual. Do you snog a woman?
I flirt with a woman, but I don't exactly kiss her-she refuses my charms.
Finally, we're doing a feature of celibacy. What's the longest time you've been "without"?
A long time, actually-much longer that it ought to have been. That's all I'm saying! ~FHM