ere Penélope Cruz and Nicolas Cage making music on and off screen during the filming of Captain Corelli's Mandolin? Thanks to Tinseltown's tabloid press, this question will undoubtedly be on the minds of audiences when the film opens.

  Whether or not the rumors are true, it's easy to see how the two comely stars could get swept up in the romance of it all.  
Based on Louis de Bernieres' best-selling novel, Captain Corelli's Mandolin takes place on the idyllic Greek island of Cephalonia. As the Second World War rages across Europe, the island's tranquility is disturbed by the invasion of Italian troops.

  Nicolas Cage plays Captain Antonio Corelli, a mandolin-playing charmer who moves in to the home of the village doctor (John Hurt) and his beautiful daughter, Pelagia (Penélope Cruz). 
When Pelagia's fiancé (Christian Bale), a fisherman who enjoys swimming with dolphins, joins the Greek partisans and goes off to war, the sparks of romance between Corelli and Pelagia ignite into a blazing passion.
actors
Nicolas Cage
Penélope Cruz
Christian Bale
John Hurt

director
John Madden

locations
Corfu
Cephalonia, Greece

outtake
Nicolas Cage
mastered the
mandolin for his part and says that music has always played a big part
in his life and that he became an actor to learn new skills.


  These sparks reportedly continued off-screen where Cruz and Cage were spotted holding hands at Hollywood parties and thoroughly enjoying each other's company. Cage's split from Patricia Arquette, his wife of five years, only helped to fuel the rumor mill. In April, Cruz finally had enough of the speculation. "We are not together as a couple," she told London's Daily Telegraph. "Nicolas and I are very good friends. He really makes me laugh. I grew up watching all of his films," she added. "He makes acting look so easy."

  Perhaps it is a credit to Cruz's acting talent that the onscreen chemistry she creates with her costars routinely results in backstage buzz. She and Matt Damon were linked while filming All the Pretty Horses, and Cruz and Cruise (Tom, that is) became an irresistible coupling for gossip columnists writing about Vanilla Sky, their upcoming film.

  "They try to create that rumor with every movie, and so now it loses its impact," said Cruz. "It doesn't affect me any more. It doesn't affect my family any more because they do not believe what they read."

  Cruz expresses herself very well considering she only learned to speak English five years ago. Born Penélope Cruz Sánchez in Madrid, the 26-year-old actress had 20 films under her belt in her native Spain (including the Oscar-winning Belle Époque) before heading to Hollywood in 1998. Since then, her performances in such films as Woman on Top, All the Pretty Horses and Blow have prompted Tom Cruise to call her "simply irresistible" and Corelli director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) to describe Cruz as "a breathtaking physical presence."

  But Cruz takes little comfort in such compliments. "The most difficult thing in the world is to start a career known only for your looks and then to try to become a serious actress," she says. "No one will take you seriously once you are known as the pretty woman."

  Cruz is taken seriously, however, for both her award-winning performances and her devotion to altruistic causes. After spending a week volunteering at Mother Teresa's children's sanctuary in Calcutta, Cruz donated her entire salary from the film Hi-Lo Country to the sanctuary. Cruz is also an animal lover prone to adopting strays. She has six dogs and six cats and became a vegetarian after filming All the Pretty Horses.

  This empathetic side helped her land the starring role in Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "She has a bizarre depth of emotion, an access to pain which is comparable with someone twice her age," explains director Madden. "She also has this sense of melancholy about the world, which is fascinating to watch. She is herself. That is what runs the whole movie."

- Deborah Smyth