Kate Beckinsale "sailed in like a ship" to her first meeting with Cusack

Pearl Harbor may have made her a big name, but when Brit actress Kate Beckinsale initially met Serendipity co-star John Cusack she was dealing with a different kind of aggrandisement from the Hollywood hype machine.

Cusack was casting for High Fidelity. "I was gigantically pregnant at the time and sailed in like a ship. I gained 65lbs when I was pregnant with Lily. People assumed I was having twins. At five months, people were convinced I was due any day."

Cusack didn't cast her then, but convinced the producers of Serendipity that Kate might make an ideal leading lady.

Thus Serendipity, which first came to both actors "very sketchily", turned out to be the film they did. "It has a romantic, old world feel about it that I responded to."

The actress could also relate to the film's central theme of love and fate having been living with British actor Michael Sheen for the last seven years. Their daughter Lily is now almost three.

"Our relationship has serendipity written all over it," comments Beckinsale with a sly grin.

"We met when we were cast together in a production of The Seagull. Michael was this hugely popular and respected British stage actor so I really didn't want to do a play with him. I'd never met him, but my mother talked incessantly about his talent. It really was love at first sight. We discovered we actually lived on the same street in Paris. We became lovers and moved in together very quickly and have been together ever since."

Though initially it wasn't all hearts and roses. "I think we spent the first five years fighting like mad, about petty stuff. Only now are we at a point where we feel remarkably close. It's weird, really."

Not to mention juggling a marriage with the most hectic of careers, she adds. "When I was in Hawaii promoting Pearl Harbor I fell in love with the islands and the people, but I didn't have time to enjoy myself. Michael and I vowed we'd come back and just be tourists, which we did. We brought all the grandparents along so they could enjoy being with Lily."

Beckinsale may be a household name these days, but remains committed "not to play the Hollywood game and follow my heart. There are some great scripts out there." But first and foremost is family. "Being a mother certainly changes your perspective." She has the child, the career, and soon, maybe, the husband. "I'm sure we'll get there one day."

Serendipity is showing at the London Film Festival on:
Thu 15 Nov 13.15 - Odeon West End 2
Wed 14 Nov 20.30 - Odeon West End 2
Thu 15 Nov 13.15 - Odeon West End 2

Check "coming soon" page for UK release.

Read the review Serendipity