The director of Liz Hurley's new film has made an astonishing attack on her behaviour on set.

Duncan Roy says she threw tantrums, treated co-stars with contempt and had sex so loudly the entire set could hear, reports the Evening Standard.

Roy, who directed Hurley in Method, said: "Liz seems to have the impression that she is a great actress. She totally believes that she is someone special. She is not.

"She thinks she is really beautiful. Well, when you have seen her first thing in the morning using a spatula to trowel in thick globs of foundation on her old acne marks, she's not that attractive any more."

He said the only person who appeared to keep Miss Hurley smiling was her boyfriend Arun Nayar.

"Whenever there was a spare five minutes he was down there. All over her like a rash. The whole trailer was really shaking," said Roy, adding that the entire set could see the couple's passion through the curtains.

A reformed drug addict and alcoholic, Roy, who was born in Whitstable, Kent, now lives in Australia. In the past, he led a double-life posing as an aristocrat, and in 1983 he was sent to prison for credit card debts.

Miss Hurley's spokesman said: "Elizabeth is astonished that Duncan should be telling these awful lies about her.

"She really liked Duncan and fought very hard to get him the job as the producers were very nervous about hiring him due to his prison record and his self confessed drug and alcohol addictions."

The film's producer Brad Wyman added that Miss Hurley had behaved impeccably: "Elizabeth was extraordinary. I have never known an actor as dedicated to their work and she was the most professional young lady I have worked with."

Source: Press Release