"They said, 'Get a degree first.' And I did," says the Cambridge grad. "I'm a good little girl."

A good little girl who's done pretty well for herself. The 28-year-old Brit was recently seen in the indie flick I Want You , with ex-beau Alessandro Nivola. Prior to that, she was in Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty and Chain Reaction with Keanu Reeves.

Weisz, whose sultry good looks are quickening pulses across the nation, is currently flirting with Brendan Fraser and running from the hideous title creature in The Mummy. As Evelyn, an English librarian living in Egypt, Weisz stumbles onto a great adventure that includes flesh-eating scarabs, ancient curses and--naturally--unbelievable treasure.

Now safely back home in London, she has eschewed big-time Hollywood work to star in the West End revival of Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer.

Which got us to wondering:

Having Come from Theater, Was It a Huge Leap to a Big Studio Movie Like The Mummy? "Yeah. The fellows in my theater company were just disgusted by me. They said I was selling out in such a major way."

Still, You Often Opt for the Intimate Projects Like the Upcoming Art-House Film The Taste of Sunshine. What's Different About Working on Those? "There's not a huge difference. You're still just playing a part. Although, in The Mummy, there were thousands of extras and all of that blue screen and computer-generated stuff."

"Blue Screen" Work Must Be Tough. Is It Difficult to Act Like There's Something There When There Isn't? "I'd love to say it's really taxing, but it's not. It's sort of like being a child. The director says, 'Imagine there's a great, big dripping putrefying mummy walking toward you.' But it's a little tiring, because with an actor you get something back. With blue screen, you get nothing."

Even So, Working with Nothing's Gotta Be Better Than Working with Notoriously Stinky Camels... "I have absolutely no empathy for camels. I didn't care for being abused in the Middle East by those horrible, horrible, horrible creatures. They don't like people. It's not at all like the relationship between horses and humans."

Horses Look a Lot Easier to Ride, Too! "Yeah. The galloping scene was tough. It hurts progressively more every time. You get really bad sores on your arse, like welts."

Ouch. Was Learning Egyptian Any Less Painful of a Process? "Well, it's ancient Egyptian, and since nobody knows what ancient Egyptian really sounded like, we took the Hollywood liberty of making it up."

Had Us Fooled. Was It a Stretch to Play Evelyn As Such a Klutz? "I'm quite fumbly. She was actually incredibly close to home in lots of ways."

Really? Ever Get Really Drunk and Make a Fool of Yourself Like She Does? "I'm better with the liquor. Let's just say we're alike, except that I've been kissed before and I can hold my liquor."

Did You Get to Kiss Keanu in Chain Reaction? "I think we had a little tiny kiss at the end. Or did we? I can't recall. It was obviously very memorable."

Well, Then, the Question Is, Who's a Better Kisser--Keanu or Brendan? "Actually, I don't think I did kiss Keanu. So, Brendan--it has to be."
--Jeffrey Epstein