One English rose has left Kristin, Kate and Elizabeth to their graceful Hollywood excursions, opting instead for an arty and action-packed European crime thriller.  Step forward Julia Ormond, mathematical Miss Marple...

Richard Gere. Brad Pitt. Harrison Ford.  One woman has romanced them all, be it in Camelot movie First Knight, World War One piece Legends Of The Fall, or the new take on the Audrey Hepburn film Sabrina. Now Julia Ormond has turned her back on blockbusters and the hills of Hollywood, opting instead for European arthouse fare and the boulevards of East London. She's teamed up with director Bille August for Smilla's Feeling For Snow, based on Peter Hoeg's best-selling novel, and filmed in Copenhagen and Greenland.

Ormond plays Smilla, a strong-willed and forthright '90s Miss Marple-cum James Bond sort, who sets out to solve the strange mystery behind a young boy's fatal fall from off the roof of her apartment block.

"I think Smilla was probably one of the most complex characters I've played," she says. "Smilla is an intelligent, tough and practical scientist, who's managed to marry mathematics and logic with a spiritual take on life. It was a fabulous emotional journey to go through."

But preparation for the role went far beyond the cerebral. Ormond had to endure a rigorous workout regime so that she could cope with the minus 25 degree C temperatures in Greenland and do some of the film's stunts - which also include escaping from an exploding ship. "When you're working with the elements or an explosion going off, you just respond. It gave me a real buzz to complete a shot like that."

Leaping into freezing water marks a departure from her earlier love interest roles, to which she's no real interest in returning. Ormond is now in the fortunate position of being able to pick and choose her parts, and has just finished a "wacky" (her description) Russian movie, The Barber Of Siberia, directed by Nikita Mikalkov. It's all part, she says, of her development as an actress.

In addition to her performances, Ormond has also formed a New York-based production company aimed at developing heavier material: she has already produced a documentary about two Bosnian women's rape ordeal and is working on a screenplay with Harold Pinter. She's happy living in England, away from the media attention Stateside. "I don't think it would be a very good place for me. I'd flounder at the competitiveness. I don't find the glamourous side of it very easy I have great admiration for those who do, who step out of the limo and wave to the photographers and are very accepting of their achievements.  I find the whole thing very daunting."