MOVIES

French lessons

Here's Olivier Martinez's chance to clear up all those rumors.

By Frappa Stout

Olivier Martinez chooses his words carefully. Since his scene-stealing turn as Oscar-nominated Diane Lane's illicit lover in last year's racy "Unfaithful", the French actor has been hotly pursued in Hollywood. This weekend, he plays a bad guy in Colin Farrell's custody in the police-action flick "S.W.A.T." Although already a star in Europe, Martinez, 36, wasn't prepared for the tabloid brand of journalism that comes with American movie fame. Like the magazine that erroneously claimed he was once a traveling salesman.

"It's impressive how I learn about myself, about this guy who has the same name but has done all these great things I never did," says the bemused actor, who wonders if his heavy accent is the reason he's so often misquoted. Items also speculate about his love life, especially his intentions toward his current girlfriend, Aussie pop star Kylie Minogue. "I need to explain to my mom that things she's read are not the truth, because she started to be a little bit nervous," he says, adding only that he's "happy."

And he's learning. "Now I just give up and try to hide myself," he says, refusing to discuss even time spent with new friend Farrell. "I talk about work, and nothing specific about my private life."

One thing he does reveal, although not directly, is that he's not your standard sex symbol. In truth, he's modest. Martinez confesses he's always gotten attention for his looks, but his refusal to do nude scenes (the only thing he bared in "Unfaithful" was his chest) seems very un-French. He contends his image is mostly a celluloid fantasy: "It's funny, and I like it, because it's very agreeable to create desire. But it's not me at all. People are confusing who I am with what they see onscreen. Onscreen, you become much bigger, much smarter and more handsome."

That image could change with "S.W.A.T.", in which Martinez plays a loathsome, amoral thug. He runs, jumps, fights and kills people, yet the role was far less physically taxing than "Unfaithful"'s love scenes, he says. Of his explosive chemistry with Lane, he wryly points out, "I also had good chemistry with Richard Gere."

Martinez lives in L.A. but keeps most of his belongings in his Paris apartment. An actor's life is suited to his gypsy background: His grandfather moved his family to North Africa from Spain, and his dad moved to Paris as a young man. Most recently, Martinez was in Montreal filming a thriller, "Taking Lives", with Angelina Jolie.

And despite his views on the press, Martinez loves his new home, whether it's walking on the beach with his Rhodesian ridgeback, Sheba, or tooling around Hollywood on his motorcycle. (His favorite item of clothing, till they "literally turned to dust" recently, were his Levi's jeans.) He feels the same way about the people here. "I like to work in America, because I like the way Americans work on the set. They are very professional, very rational," he says. "I don't judge things in terms of 'art.' In France, they decide something's an 'arty' movie because no one's going to see it and it's boring. A lot of commercial movies are very arty. If something's done well, it's art."