Alfie is a philosopher as much as a lady-mad Londoner and, while he may be out of touch in the modern world, some of what he says rang true with fellow Brit Law.

'One of my favourite lines he says is what his father told him,' says Law with more of a plummy English drawl than a Cockney twang. 'He goes, "Remember, every time you see a beautiful woman, somewhere there's a guy who's sick of shagging her."'

'It's a way of equalizing situations,' Law quickly adds in between laughter. 'You see a beautiful girl, it kind of makes you think, well, okay, I can't hit on her because of this. I always thought it was funny.'

Romance on the set
Of course, Law nor anyone else dare draw any parallels between this particular piece of Alfie wisdom and his own relationship with co-star Sienna Miller.

The fact that Law's romance with the gorgeous 22-year-old actress started on the set of the movie in which he plays a womaniser is nothing short of ironic.

The couple have been together for more than a year now, but for the purposes of this interview Miller is seemingly just one of a long list of beautiful women lined up for Alfie in the remake of the Michael Caine classic.

'Sienna is great in this,' says Jude, his usual cool slightly jarred now the subject is skirting his private life.

Women on top
'We had such a fantastic cast of women both on and off camera. Each one brought a different sort of energy. Each one drew something very different out of Alfie and, therefore, me as a performer. Each one approached the film very differently and I rehearsed differently with each one.'

It was during one of these meetings that Law found his relationship with one of his striking on-screen conquests moving away from the cameras.

The 31-year-old actor had only recently split with his wife and mother of his three children, Sadie Frost, when he fell for the little-known Miller and she for him.

'I suppose film sets heighten everything,' says Law when asked about the common occurrences of on-set romances in Hollywood. 'It's a fantasy world, kind of like a bubble. Every emotion is gets heightened and emphasised. Film sets are dangerous like that.'