HOLLYWOOD -- Very basic, sort of wet and slightly icky. Not the kind of words you'd expect a woman to use to describe kissing Tom Cruise.

But locking lips during the filming of the upcoming slam-bam action thriller M:I-2 was all business and no pleasure, according to Thandie Newton.

The beautiful Brit actress plays a jewel thief opposite Cruise, who reprises his role as agent Ethan Hunt from the original Mission: Impossible.

Her character falls hard for Cruise's suave spy, and the two engage in more than one romantic tussle before the final credits roll.

While countless women across the globe would gladly swap places with Newton, she insists smooching the superstar was really no biggie.

"It's very basic. If you do the same thing over and over again ... you start wondering what all the fuss is about.

"It's slightly icky and sort of wet and nonsense."

But she admits the mechanics of movie kissing sapped away any potential sizzle that might have been there. "I couldn't really go for it because I'd squash his face sideways. So you actually ended up just touching lips.

"You're not actually thinking about kissing - you're thinking, 'Is my face in the right place, is my hair there, oh my God, you can see my nipple.'"

M:I-2 opens in theatres May 24.


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