KISS WAS WORTH A MINT

SO, ladies, you have to snog Keanu Reeves for 48 hours - what do you take with you? Lip salve, smelling salts or Polo mints? The answer is...Polo mints.

This tip comes from the woman who actually had to do it. For two whole days, Monica Bellucci, who stars with Keanu in The Matrix Reloaded, had to pucker up and kiss the handsome hunk non-stop.

"It's the longest movie kiss I've ever done," she says. "It seemed to go on forever. First they wanted it in close-up, then in long shot, then in-between. My lips were quite sore. But happily I knew Keanu from way back and he's a gentle kisser. Between takes I sucked mints all the time. I thought it was the least I could do."

Monica and Keanu had kissed each other eight years ago in another film, Bram Stoker's Dracula. "After this time I said: 'Goodbye then, see you in eight years'.

"When you say to someone: 'Oh, it was a normal day's work, kissing Keanu Reeves for eight hours,' they think you're kidding."

It can't have been all bad for Keanu either. Recently Monica, 34, was voted The Most Beautiful Woman In The World by an internet site. She takes the accolade modestly.

"How can any person be considered the most beautiful anything?" she protests. "It's ridiculous."

Italian-born Monica is happily married to French actor Vincent Cassel, 36. They live in Paris and have a second home in London's Chelsea. Her kiss-fest with Keanu hardly raised an eyebrow with her husband.

"Vincent is never jealous. He knows it's work. He's done his share of screen kissing himself, including a passionate scene with Nicole Kidman."

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