"Pearl Harbour"

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, May 18, 2001--In this summer of 2001, Kate Beckinsale finds herself in a similar predicament to fellow Brit (and fellow Kate) Kate Winslet. After years of building a respectable art-house repertoire, she's got a starring role in what could potentially be the biggest commercial movie of the year. Her name is on World War II-themed posters, her face graces magazine covers and her life is being probed by prying reporters.

And like Winslet, who got married and had a child in the wake of Titanic's success, 27-year-old Beckinsale is also focused on motherhood (her daughter with actor Michael Sheen, Lily, is 2 years old) and a peaceful life. Hollywood.com spent a few minutes with summer's newest breakout star to get the dish on her side of Pearl Harbor.

Tell us about life pre-Pearl Harbor.

Kate Beckinsale: I'd just finished my first job back from having a child, The Golden Bowl, and I got sent a bunch of scripts. I loved this script. I thought it was amazing, it made me cry, and I really wanted to do it. And then before I knew what happened I was in Hawaii and it was the biggest movie you can't even imagine.… It's taken me the last year to really realize what I've gotten myself into.

What have you gotten yourself into? Is the attention overwhelming?

Beckinsale: In a funny way, it isn't. I sort of believe that's not really me, it's [my character] Evelyn. I know that's really wanky to say that, but I don't really see me. My child, whenever she sees an attractive dark-haired woman on television, even if it's a supermodel, she kind of goes 'Mommy!' And I love that…I'm not worrying if anybody's gonna go see it the way I usually am. At the end of the day you still feel like an actor going to work. I guess it might give you a taste for it.

In the attack scene, the nurses also find themselves dodging bombs and gunfire. How real was it?

Beckinsale: They have these scary safety meetings, and they hand you earplugs so you're slightly deaf. You can't rehearse it…they can tell you what's gonna happen and you have to do it. [The scariest thing was] they said, 'Please bear in mind, some people laugh when they get nervous. Please don't do that.' That was what I was the most scared of doing. There's 100 extras and fountains collapsing, and there's me cackling.

We understand the girls were required to wear all that stiff underwear of the period, the torpedo bras and such.

Beckinsale: They were big, flappy knickers, so sometimes we would cheat and leave them off. And we got our comeuppance, actually, 'cause there was an aerial shot with a helicopter that blew our skirts up--and that happened to be the day that we'd all gone commando.

We know it can't be hard, but explain how you manage to fall in love with both Ben Affleck, who plays Rafe, and Josh Hartnett, who plays Danny, in the same movie.

Beckinsale: I think Ben is the love of her life. He's funny and smart and butch and handsome. I think the relationship with Josh's character is grand passion in the same way, more like when you've lost somebody there is that moment afterwards when you need to reaffirm life a little bit, particularly if you both have this person in common. I think it's much more of a comfort thing that wouldn't last forever. It's all about the circumstances. I don't think she would've gotten together with Danny outside the circumstances, much as she thinks he's sweet.

Have you enjoyed coming back to Hawaii to do all this publicity?

Beckinsale: It's nice to come back here and not have anything explode.

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