It's a case of big, bold and beautiful for Malin Akerman in her latest project Rock Of Ages.

The Swedish-Canadian actress sports a massive head of curls in the movie musical as Constance Sack, a hard-hitting Rolling Stone magazine reporter who catches the eye of rock god Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise) and gives him way more than just a cover story.

The Adam Shankman-directed flick, which is adapted from the popular Broadway jukebox musical production of the same name, sees the cast belting out classic 80s rock tunes.

Rock Of Ages may revolve around two young wannabe rock stars Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and Drew (Diego Boneta) in their search for fame and love, but the emotional arc between Sack and Jaxx steals the limelight.

The role required the 34-year-old former model - who was last seen in Couples Retreat (2009) and Watchmen (2009) - to appear in her underwear for a raunchy, over-the-top musical number performed by her and Cruise.

Singing rock tunes isn't new to Akerman, who used to front rock band The Petalstones which featured her husband, Italian musician Roberto Zincone, on drums.

However, it was the stripping and making out with Cruise that caused the most awkwardness.

You got to sing in this film. What was that like?

Nerve-racking and exciting. I was in a rock band in 2002.

Self-taught, self-made, you can't hit a note, you scream it kind of thing, all right?

We recorded in a closet.

But this was a completely different experience where you're singing an epic song and there was so much pressure to do it justice.

It was so self-conscious, but so much fun, and to hear the end result, I was really proud.

And it was exciting to hear Tom (Cruise) sing as well. I thought he did an amazing job. He has such a powerful voice too. So, it was great and it was unique. It was a totally new experience for me.

What was it like working with Tom? How many times did you rehearse that number?

We definitely had a lot of rehearsals. We had a few weeks of choreography and it was amazing.

To work with Tom was incredible, and we had so much fun. I was so shocked at how game he was for all this stuff. Like him getting down on his knees singing to my butt. It was quite the choreography.

Was there ever a moment where you felt awkward?

Oh, there are a lot of those, especially when you're standing there in your underwear...

And then we had the tongue-iest tongue kiss of all time in a later scene.

What you see is not what it's like on set. It's completely silent. There's no music playing and you just have all these extras staring at you and all you hear is tongues going. That's such a weird, weird feeling.

So, when they call cut, my face is probably bright red and just super embarrassed. But we would just break out laughing because it's so silly.

What was it like learning choreography for those kinds of scenes?

Well, the choreographer would say, 'All right, these are the moves'. It was all sort of step-by-step in the choreography. You kind of figure out what you're doing.

Tom was really lovely. He's so respectful, and vice versa. It was always like, 'All right, so is this cool with you? Can we go this far?'

We did all of the rehearsal first and then once we got on set, it was a go.

Do you crack each other up?

Yes! Constantly. It's just such a silly situation to be in, when you're doing these moves and this love scene on this air hockey table.

But, of course, imagine them calling cut, and you're like, "That was really wonderful. That was some deep stuff."

You crack up at yourself and the positions that you're in and what you're actually doing.

So how do you think your husband will respond? My husband's seen it and he knows this is my job. He's a huge supporter. I bring him to set and have him meet everybody and I think that really helps.

I mean, we've been together nine years. We know each other so well. We know that I'm not going to run off with Tom Cruise. We'll be fine.

How did you like the perm you wore? That was a very out-of-control perm.

I loved it. I so badly wanted a perm as a kid and my mum wouldn't let me, which I'm happy about on hindsight.

It was a wig actually because to just stand and curl that hair every day would have taken hours. But it was great. I kind of missed it when it was gone. Miss that volume. We called it the Sharon Stone.

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