Empire Online Exclusive

Fresh from the success of Being John Malkovich, the indie movie that took the Venice Film Festival by storm, John Malkovich turned up in London yesterday to preview his latest movie – Time Regained – and to celebrate the launch of the Martell french Cinema Tour. Asked whether his French was up to scratch Malkovich replied; 'I don't speak French very well and the character I was playing was well known in French Literature, so it was a recipe for disaster. But it turned out well so I'm told.' As to whether being around all the likes of the beautiful Catherine Deneuve took his mind off the job he replied, 'I live in France so I'm surrounded by many beautiful French women, so I didn't find it distracting.' Other stars who turned out to fete the film, which is based on Proust’s **