Clive Owen didn't get Julia Roberts drunk in 'Duplicity'!

Clive Owen has some pretty hot sex scenes with Julia Roberts in "Duplicity."

Try complaining to your wife about that long hard day, huh?

"I've learned that you don't go home after a scene and say uuuhhh, babe, honestly, I've had such a tough day. I've been in bed with Julia Roberts all day," Clive tells The Dish Rag at the New York press junket.

And he insists (seriously) that sex scenes are no fun at all.

"It's always awkward and embarrassing doing sex scenes -- whatever anyone tells you," Clive says. "There are 50 crew members standing in a room and it's always weird and uncomfortable.  The best way, through, is to have a laugh always."

But Clive says it's often easier if you're already comfortable with your costar.  "If you're friends and you like each other and you trust each other, you can sort of just have a laugh and be in it together." 

Maybe all that "champagne" that Clive and Julia drank helped.

"It's movie champagne," Clive explains "It all looks real until you taste it and it's like ginger ale. [laughing] We've got five pages of dialogue and we've got to do it 25 times; if we were drinking real champagne, we'd be half-cocked."

Clive admits that his pre-movie workout routine is completely based on whether he has to take his shirt off in the film.

"You read a script that says, 'He takes his shirt off....' Let me tell you, you get down to the gym," he says, laughing.

Not that he lets himself turn to mush when he's not working.  "No, I don't ever let myself go that badly.  But it intensifies when you know that you've got to get your clothes off in a movie, for sure."

We're going to see "Duplicity" just to check out Clive's shirtless scenes.

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Photo: Clive and Julia on the set of "Duplicity," fully clothed. FilmMagic