This kiss is just a 'kiss'

This is the moment Nicole Kidman and Jude Law kissed passionately - but only for their new film.

These are the first pictures of the pair in a clinch for the period drama Cold Mountain. However, despite reports to the contrary, there never was any off-screen romance - and Kidman, 36, has the libel victories to prove it.

Law, Kidman and co-star Renée Zellweger spent three months in Romania shooting the American civil war drama about a wounded soldier's trek to be reunited with his sweetheart.

Law, who has a shaggy beard in the film, is separated from his wife Sadie Frost, 37. But Kidman sued over newspaper reports about her relationship with the 31-year-old during filming. She received substantial damages payouts following allegations in The Sun and the Daily Mail about her relationship with Law.

The Sunday Telegraph apologised immediately to the actress after repeating the claims and no damages were sought by her solicitors. She donated all damages to Fara, a charity for Romanian orphans.

Law and Kidman only ever kissed for the film, directed by Briton Anthony Minghella. Even so, the producers are banking on their on-screen chemistry to make the film a hit.

Minghella has said reports of any location romance were untrue and "poisonous" but there seems little doubt that the false rumours have fuelled advance interest in Cold Mountain, which opens in Britain on Boxing Day.