LIZ Hurley has been a fiery customer around Hollywood in recent years and with the movie Bedazzled she became a fiery customer on screen, too.

Some of the screen's finest have taken on the role of the Devil and now it's her turn to try her hand as Old Nick.

Bedazzled is a romantic comedy in which bored and boring computer programmer Elliot Richardson (Ben Fraser), who is in love with a woman in his office, makes a deal with the devil to get his dream-girl.

The devil does her best to torture this poor soul, giving him seven wishes, each of which in some way goes astray.

Our Devil is not a villain," insists director Harold Ramis. "She's more naughty than evil. I also wanted her to be beautiful, really sophisticated and much more worldly than Elliot.

To cast the temptress, Ramis had the enviable task of making up a list of what he calls every devastating" woman in Hollywood.

Elizabeth Hurley was way at the top of the list," says Ramis. "And when she came in to meet with us, she had just the right kind of comic spirit. Elizabeth is very sophisticated, sexual and powerful, and she has a wonderful joie de vivre.

I always thought Elizabeth and Brendan would be great together, because he's so innocent and pure in a certain way, and Elizabeth seems so worldly.

Hurley embraced the character's mischievous nature.

I loved that she's really playful, she admits. "Although she tries to frighten Elliot at times, she's more interested in charming and beguiling him into giving up his freedom. The Devil enjoys influencing Elliot's decisions about his wishes, knowing full well that none of them will work out. She lives to ruin them. And the result? Ramis' modern update of a much loved 1967 Dudley Moore-Peter Cook caper puts a comical new spin on the Faust-Mephistopheles legend, but fails to recreate the touching friendship between the two leads which characterised the first film.