'I hated working with Liz'

But British director Duncan Roy has broken that unspoken rule by publicly claiming that he became infuriated with the behaviour of Elizabeth Hurley on her latest film, Method.

He accused the model of throwing tantrums, treating her co-stars with contempt and complaining about her luxurious trailer where she had sex so loudly with her boyfriend Arun Nayar that the entire set could hear.

'Liz seems to have the impression that she is a great actress,' said Roy. 'She totally believes that she is someone special. She is not.'

Miss Hurley, 38, has found so far that her forays into acting have not met with unanimous critical approval. But she has made millions from her looks,

including lucrative contracts with cosmetics houses.

'She thinks she is really beautiful,' said Roy. 'Well, when you have seen her first thing in the morning using a spatula to trowel in thick globs of foundation on her old acne marks, she's not that attractive any more.'

He added that her use of Botox to eliminate facial wrinkles had left her looking 'stiff'.

Her haughty attitude and complaints about her £50,000 trailer in Romania made her even more unattractive, he said.

'She had a tantrum about how her trailer was not the kind she wanted. I couldn't believe it.

'The Romanians had provided their best one with airconditioning and all the extras. They had gone out of their way to make her comfortable.

'She also made it clear that she wanted to be called Elizabeth

and I would correct people when she was called Liz.

'However, she insisted on calling me Dunc, which was plain rude.'

In fact, the only person who appeared to keep Miss Hurley smiling was 38-year-old Nayar, whom she called her 'Oompa

Loompa' after the verticallychallenged helpers in the film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

'Whenever there was a spare five minutes he was down there. All over her like a rash. The whole trailer was really shaking,' said Roy, who revealed that the entire set could see the couple's passion through the thin curtains of her trailer when the light was on.

It was one of these close encounters which delayed filming, leaving Roy, 43, fuming when the actress destroyed three hours of hairstyling and make-up with a quick canoodle between takes.

He did concede, however, that she acted well.

In the film, Miss Hurley plays an actress who takes on the role of a serial killer and becomes one herself. She is also the executive producer.

A reformed drug addict and alcoholic, Roy, who was born in Whitstable, Kent, now lives in Australia. He received a Bafta nomination last year for his semi-autobiographical movie AKA. In the past, he led a double-life posing as an aristocrat, and in 1983 he was sent to prison for credit card debts of £10,000.

Last night, Miss Hurley's spokesman said: 'Elizabeth is astonished that Duncan should be telling these awful lies about her.

'She really liked Duncan and fought very hard to get him the job as the producers were very nervous about hiring him due to his prison record and his selfconfessed drug and alcohol addictions.'

The film's producer Brad Wyman added that Miss Hurley had behaved impeccably. ' Elizabeth was extraordinary.

'I have never known an actor as dedicated to their work and she was the most professional young lady I have worked with.'