VL: There is nothing to clarify. There's no relationship except a professional one, a friendly one, between Leo and me.
PB: The Beach producer Andrew Macdonald said you were cast in the movie after Sean Penn called the director and insisted he had to cast you. You haven't worked with Sean, though. How do you know each other?
VL: I met him in Paris. He was there for a festival, and that's where I met him and that's that. But it's not my best friend, so I don't have any gossip about him or whatever. He's just someone that I think is a very good actor and a great director. I like his movies.
(In 1998, the jury of the Paris Film Festival, headed by Sean Penn, voted Virginie best actress for the sexy musical comedy Jeanne and the Perfect Guy.)
PB: In The Beach, you and Leo have to swim several miles across shark-infested waters to get to the island. How far did you really have to swim?
VL: Not so much, but I am a swimmer. It may be the only sport I practice.
PB: You're also a good dancer. You did your own dancing in the bed-hopping musical Jeanne and the Perfect Guy, although your voice was dubbed.
