Scores of curious onlookers including students, office workers and workmen poured onto Royal Avenue to catch a glimpse of the A-lister (37) who was shooting scenes at Clements coffee shop.

There was no red carpet and no limousine normally associated with one of the glitterati - instead the Austin Powers actress arrived in a green Vauxhall Omega with darkened windows.

The star, famed for her naked rollerskating in the film Boogie Nights, was casually dressed in a blue jacket, green top, jeans and tan coloured boots with her hair tied back in a pony tail.

The actress, who can count Casanova's Heath Ledger and Friends star Matthew Perry among her ex-boyfriends, snuggled up to a new beau and drank bottles of still water between scenes.

Up to half a dozen lorries and vans carrying film equipment and crew lined the upper end of Royal Avenue with the crew members making the most of what their location had to offer - coffee, buns and sandwiches.

And the air of excitement hotted up after it was rumoured that four lucky Clements' staff were being picked to be extras.

"I think they are going to pick four of us to walk around and just look like we are working. It's all very exciting," said one hopeful employee who didn't want to be named.

As it turned out, two of the employees got a taste of the limelight.

Dubbed as a quirky romantic comedy, Buy, Borrow Or Steal is being shot over eight weeks in Belfast and London.

It was written by Irish screenwriter Camilla Leslie of the famous Irish Castle Leslie family, an in-house writer and producer at Blue Shutter Films.

Clements, which was closed for most of the day, was chosen after a location scout had coffee there and liked its charm.

Yesterday, a notice on the door read: "We are closed today from 12pm to 6pm for an outside function."

However, customers were not too disappointed at not getting their cappuccino or lattés.

One passer-by said: "It's good to see it happening in Belfast. The film and television commission must be doing their job."

"I wonder do they need any more extras," another joked.

The film, which also stars Tom Ellis, is based on a woman Georgina Scott (Heather Graham) who wants to have a baby. But because of the onset of early menopause, she has only two weeks left to conceive. Learning that her baby-making days are numbered Georgina embarks on a mission to beat her biological clock.