Sean Connery is the name and passion is his game: We're talking about passion in politics, in movies and even in kissing.

The 69-year-old Scotsman, a regal elder statesman of cinema who still gets women worked up just by strolling into the room, held court at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival yesterday.

Looking casually dapper and cracking jokes about needing cosmetic surgery to look young enough to play the leading man, Connery touched on everything from his 007 legacy (he's amazed by the character's longevity) to Scottish nationalism to how delightful it is to buss with luscious-lipped Catherine Zeta-Jones in their movie Entrapment.

The thriller was screened here last night as a gala, but it is showing out-of-competition, which means it is ineligible for awards.

"It was a terrific pleasure," Connery enthused about working with Zeta-Jones, sitting beside him flicking back her long raven tresses and squirming in a tight-fitting, champagne-coloured dress with a plunging neckline that exposed half her chest.

"She is a tremendous girl and I have to say, never once was she late all the days we were shooting. I can't say more than, 'The ultimate professional!' She has a great sense of humour -- and she's not bad looking." His eyes danced with delight.

Later, pressed on the rigours of shooting a movie in which he romances a woman four decades younger than he, Connery grinned and jibed, "Well, it's a tough job but somebody has to do it. And she's a great kisser."

"Thank you," Zeta-Jones interjected. "I'll pay you later."

Connery, said Zeta-Jones, was up to the task. "I've had a great run at kissing men lately," she said of co-stars from Antonio Banderas in The Mask Of Zorro to Liam Neeson in their forthcoming Gothic horror thriller The Haunting.

"On a scale of 10," she continued about Connery, "he ranks as an 11-plus. And he can pay me later."

Age, Zeta-Jones said, is completely irrelevant.

Connery said he loved infusing a little comedy into the Cannes experience. "For me, it has to have some measure of humour. Otherwise, we would all go insane."


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