Modine's Eiffel Tower Work-Out

Movie star Matthew Modine is trying to quit smoking and guzzling coffee after realising how out of shape he was in new comedy LE DIVORCE.

The MEMPHIS BELLE star had to dash up the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, in the film and admits he struggled more than he expected he would.

He reveals, "I can't venture to give you a number of times I ran up those steps but it was a tremendous work-out. I was smoking then for some stupid reason. You're in France, so you're drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes - you gotta. It's part of the French experience.

"The director, James Ivory convinced them to give us the Eiffel Tower for a week early in the morning. It was 6.30am in the morning when the public came to the observation tower and we had to get out and take all the cameras back down to the ground and then come back the next morning at 5.00am and start all over again.

"It was early and it was a lot of stairs - it was hell."