From correspondents in London, England, 10:32 AM IST

Spanish star Penelope Cruz's intimate scenes with Ben Kingsley in their new film 'Elegy' were shot behind closed doors with director Isabel Coixet insisting that everyone left the sets for the awkward parts.

Contactmusic.com quotes Cruz as saying: 'Nobody else but the director was in the room. She was operating the camera and we could hear her breathing. There was nobody else on the set ever.

'The set was lit by the director of photography and Isabel operated the camera. Then it was just the sound person, myself and Ben.'

And the intimate setting helped Cruz through one of the toughest scenes she has ever had in a movie.

'Telling Kepesh (Kingsley's character) that my character (Consuela) had cancer was the most terrifying scene for me in that movie. It helped for such an emotionally exhausting scene that there were only four people there on the set.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)