‘I knew she had the theatre training and could carry herself. We had so many actresses, big and small, who wanted to play this part.

‘The moment she started the read through, the very first line, I thought:'' Everything is going to be fine -- she's going to be brilliant.'' She was the right age, which was important, and was a few other things as well.'

When filming began on location in Dorset his star was not so sure:' When I went to the cast reading and saw mainly Brits I thought:'' What have I got myself into? But I'd been working with an accent coach and the other actors were so supportive. Phyllida Law said:'' You are doing marvelously dear, put it out of your head.'

She admits she was nervous and also trying not to dwell on the fact the film was weighed on her performance. The American critics have been enthusiastic but she, of course, is waiting for the Austen home town critics.

‘I was in no rush to be the star of a movie because there is so much responsibility placed on your shoulders. I wanted to do smaller parts, really diverse things, things that are opposite from the last role you've done.'

That is what happened after ‘Flesh and Bone'. She was an over-the-top type in ‘Mrs Parker and the Vicious Circle', father-fixated in ‘ Jefferson in Paris', the chain smoking sister in ‘Moonlight and Valentino' and the little woman in ‘Seven'. On that surprisingly successful peer into the sordid side of life she was detective Brad Pitt's wife and simply a plot device:

‘I really got beat up over that but what I realised is that I don't really care what anybody thinks. I read the script and thought:'' If she's not full and doesn't have a soul then the movie won't work.'' Then I thought:'' I'm the only one who can get this right.'' Which is egotistical.'

It is a confidence which finds its way to her family. Her first dozen years were spent in Los Angeles and then the family moved to New York where her mother was a dominant force on Broadway. She went to Spence, a Ralph Lauren style private school for girls, but de-prepped as a year-long exchange student in Spain . Her parents were not keen on her acting. She went to the University of California at Santa Barbara to study art history but kept going AWOL to acting auditions down the coast in Los Angeles .

She appeared with her mother in a New England production of ‘Picnic' and after the dress rehearsal her father appeared backstage and told her:' I don't think you should go back to college.'

Roll on the Damascus thunderclap:' It's probably the one moment in my life that was truly one of the most amazing things and at the same time one that was really a definitive thing. I knew it was just a matter of time. When I started I thought: ‘' When is it going to happen?'' But I knew it was going to happen.'

She had a cameo in family friend Steven Spielberg's 1991 ‘Hook' as the young Wendy having made her debut earlier that year in the John Travolta vehicle ‘Shout' which she reviews as ‘ so bad -- it's amazing.'

American ‘Vogue' says she ‘reigns supreme as the Ubiquitous Blonde of the Minute' but, like ‘Emma', she is in for the longer haul no matter what the complications. Brad Pitt is one of them.

She finds the worldwide newspaper coverage of their relationship as bizarre as her pop culture membership:' It's just garbage.'

She has been portrayed as more nightclubs than Jane Austen:' I never go to clubs. Ever.'

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