Kate Beckinsale is intelligent, eloquent and pretty as a picture. So sorted, one can hardly believe she is only 27 – in one sense. In another – and this is part of the allure – there is something about her that smacks of the teenager, an impression exacerbated by the dash she makes to the ladies’ as soon as she walks through the door of the hotel where we meet in her teetering Spice Girl platforms and dramatic make-up.

As the daughter of Richard Beckinsale, the late actor of Porridge and Rising Damp fame, and one who has a very forthright reputation in the film business, Kate is used to a certain amount of scrutiny. But thanks to her – until now – art-house profile (Cold Comfort Farm, the TV adaptation of Emma, The Last Days Of Disco and Merchant-Ivory’s last period-piece, The Golden Bowl) she has never exactly had anyone running down the street for an autograph. “I’ve always been a funny sort of famous,” she says. “I never, ever get recognised unless I’m somewhere I’m supposed to be, like an awards ceremony or a premiere.”

It’s reputed to be the most expensive film ever made, so it’s only fitting that the premiere to Pearl Harbor should have been the most costly in cinema history. The 2,000-odd guests at the event – held in Pearl Harbor itself – were treated to air displays, fireworks, endless champagne and sushi at a cost of over £3 million. Held on the flight deck of the USS John C Stennis, the premiere saw the film’s stars take 90 minutes to walk down a quarter-mile red carpet before taking their seats. Kate, looking stunning in a cream Prada gown, was overwhelmed. “Wow, this is really something. It’s like going back to the movie,” she said, adding: “I feel like I’m getting married.”