Sharon Stone, Rupert Everett for Malta shooting

Sharon Stone, renowned for her seductive role in Basic Instinct, and British film star Rupert Everett will be in Malta at the beginning of June for the filming of the movie A Different Loyalty.

The low-budget picture - around $10 million - is being produced by an independent Canadian production company, Forum Films, and is also being shot in Montreal, London and Moscow.

Malta managed to fight off stiff competition from Casablanca and Spain, and is doubling as Beirut in the 1960s, said a spokesman for the Producer's Creative Partnership - the local production company involved in the Malta shoot - who confirmed the arrival of the stars.

Filming in Malta will last six days and should include Valletta fortifications and a sandy beach.

The spokesman said the project was born from a "casual" conversation with one of the film's co-producers, who happened to mention the company's search for a setting that resembled Beirut, following which a successful scout and a recce were organised.

Scouting in Malta and finding the appropriate locations was not easy, particularly identifying a 1960s-style hotel. "It was like looking for needle in a haystack", he said.

"One of the major challenges is the fact that A Different Loyalty is shooting around the same time as the war epic film Troy, which is absorbing Malta's limited resources," the PCP said.

The PCP was receiving strong cooperation from the Malta Film Commission with regard to permits and other bureaucratic issues, the spokesman said.

A Different Loyalty, a UK-Canadian co-production, is being directed by Marek Kanievska (Less Than Zero). The character-driven drama is based on the true espionage story of Harold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby, who defected to Russia. He was one of the few British traitors and counter-spies to have earned such national revulsion.

Vain, arrogant, cynical and oozing with self-confidence, Philby was a clever spy, who revelled in outwitting the British intelligence agencies for whom he worked. He was a dedicated Marxist, who preferred Communism to western democracy at any cost, including his own citizenship and reputation.

The movie focuses on the relationship and characters of the couple, Eleanor and Kim Philby, played by Stone and Everett respectively.

Stone accepted a breakthrough role in Basic Instinct (1992), with Michael Douglas, and her interrogation scene has become a classic in film history, her performance captivating everyone, from MTV viewers, who honoured her with Most Desirable Female and Best Female Performance Awards, to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

Other landmark films include The Specialist (1994), with Sylvester Stallone, and The Quick and The Dead (1995), with Gene Hackman. However, it was not until she played the beautiful, but drug-crazy wife of Robert De Niro in Casino (1995) that she got far more than just fame and fortune, receiving the acknowledgment of the movie industry for her acting ability, her first Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Stone has been chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history and ranked 77th in Empire (UK) magazine's list of Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time.

Everett grew up in privileged circumstances, but the wry, sometimes arrogant, intellectual was a rebel from the start. In 1984, he successfully transferred a stage role, Another Country (1984), to film, turning into England's hottest new international star.

His career was further revitalised as Julia Roberts' gay confidante in My Best Friend's Wedding (1995), and continued to bloom in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), An Ideal Husband (1999), The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) and The Next Best Thing (2000), with Madonna.