By LOUIS B. HOBSON --

BEVERLY HILLS -- Every man in black needs a woman in white.

In the science-fiction comedy Men In Black, which opens today, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones play a pair of special operatives monitoring alien activity on Earth.

The two dedicated men are so busy helping humans forget about their very close encounters with these aliens that the poor guys have no time for romance.

It's not for want of trying by Linda Fiorentino, who plays a New York, white-smocked coroner.

She is constantly coerced into performing autopsies on aliens.

She flirts outrageously with Smith, who becomes totally flappable in her presence.

He's undoubtedly seen Fiorentino's brazen performances in such films as The Last Seduction and Jade, where Peter Berg, Chazz Palminteri and David Caruso learned quickly how convincing and forceful Fiorentino's advances can be.

"I have this screen image of being a man-eater. (Director) Barry Sonnenfeld told me to play it for all it was worth if that meant getting Will off-guard even for a moment," recalls Fiorentino.

"Will is the master of improvisation, so Barry wanted to see how he would react to an aggressive older woman."

Fiorentino says the camera caught a few of Smith's disbelieving looks when she turned on her charms, but they're fleeting moments.

"Will recovers very quickly and then the scene is his. He comes up with the most incredible lines, and his body language is so hilarious it took everything I could muster not to break up."

Fiorentino says Smith drove the continuity people crazy on Men In Black.

"Will would never do the same thing twice. It must have been a nightmare in the editing room. He really is a comic genius. This is what it must be like to work with Robin Williams."

Fiorentino is less effusive about Jones.

"Tommy Lee Jones is a dedicated, focused actor. If you don't believe me, ask him."

Fiorentino, 37, finds it amusing that she became a sex symbol five years ago.

"For a screen vixen, I had the strictest of upbringings.

"I was raised in a Catholic home.

"I always thought my five sisters were far more attractive than me.

"I was actually shocked to discover that people found me sexy."

Fiorentino says the great irony of her new screen image is that "in real life, I'm the shyest person I know, yet on screen, I play these wild sex sirens.

"It's confusing for men. Most of them expect me to be really aggressive and, when I'm not, they're disappointed."


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