Pedro Almodovar: my crush on Penelope Cruz

The Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar has admitted to having a huge crush on his famous muse, Penelope Cruz. In a Sunday Times interview, the director of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Volver said: "Out of all the actresses that I have worked with, Penelope really has been the one who has caused a sense of desire in me beyond the sensuality of a film shoot.

"Normally, as a director, you engage with your leading lady on an extremely emotional level and there is everything but sex," he went on. "But it's true that Penelope is different. She has caused me sexual desire."

A 59-year-old man confessing to falling in love with Penelope Cruz would not normally be remarkable - except that Almodovar is gay.

He first became aware of his feelings for Cruz - who was once involved with Tom Cruise and now has a relationship with Javier Bardem - while they were making Volver. They were reunited for his latest movie, Broken Embraces, which tells the story of a sex-crazed love affair between a director and his leading lady.

As Sunday Times writer Giles Hattersley, to whom Almodovar confessed his feelings for Cruz, writes: "Broken Embraces begins with a mock screen test for hair and make-up for Cruz's character, Lena. In a lingering single shot, her eyes dart furtively to the camera and back, making you feel like you've invaded a private moment between muse and maestro - to say nothing of being profoundly erotic."

Meanwhile, there are reports in the US that Cruz and Bardem are expecting a baby. Cruz was photographed at the recent London premiere of Broken Embraces in a red Bottego Veneta trouser suit, found for her at the last minute. The story was that she had lost her luggage on the flight from Madrid, but there is now speculation that the high-waisted outfit was needed to disguise the start of a baby bump.

Broken Embraces opens in Britain on August 28. ·