“What’s exciting in the end is the actors. That’s why I do it - for the thrill of those moments when you feel they’ve chipped a bit of themselves off and given it to you,” says director adrian lyne (above, with Richard Gere)

Unfaithful was shot mainly on location in Manhattan and White Plains: Paul’s loft is an actual Soho conversion, and the Sumners’ house is a converted 19th-century farmhouse, although both were completely redressed and refurnished for the movie. And the reunion between Gere and Lane was not the only instance of cast and crew getting back together with old colleagues. Most of Lyne’s crew have worked with him before, including cinematographer Peter Biziou, who won an Oscar for Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning, and who previously worked with Lyne on 9 1/2 Weeks; production designer Brian Morris, who did Jacob’s Ladder with the director; and costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, who previously filled the same post on Fatal Attraction and Jacob’s Ladder. Rounding out the multi-nominated crew is veteran editor Anne V Coates, who received her first screen credit in 1952 and her first Oscar for Lawrence of Arabia in 1966. But she, however, has never collaborated with Lyne before.

The director is famed for his attention to the detail and the craft of film-making - a dedication he shares with the other British directors like Alan Parker and Ridley Scott, who began their US careers around the same time. But, he says, “what’s exciting in the end is the actors. That’s why I do it - for the thrill of those moments when you feel they’ve chipped a bit of themselves off and given it to you.”

And part of the fascination of Unfaithful, he says, is watching the three principal actors navigate the emotions of guilt, desire and the various ways of achieving fulfilment, whether it be the fulfilment of passion or the fulfilment of revenge.

“Guilt and sexuality are a fascinating part of that,” he explains. “I think all of us have a breaking point where we potentially could be pushed over the edge. What does it take to bring us that far? I’m very interested in the details of deception and suspicion. This is a story in which it may actually be easier for the audience to forgive a murderer than an adulteress.” He pauses, then adds with a chuckle: “Which is insane, of course!”