Liz Hurley’s son has said there is nothing “controversial” about the bikini shots he takes for his mother’s beachwear line, insisting it is all just part of being in showbusiness.
Speaking alongside his mother in an interview with Access Hollywood, 21-year-old model Damian Hurley said: “People find this really controversial. Showbusiness has been a fundamental part of my entire life.
“So, to us, it’s not a thing, it’s just part of business. She takes my photos, I take hers.”
On the combined family effort involved in her fashion brand, Elizabeth Hurley Beach, the 58-year-old model and actress said: “Who likes being photographed in bikinis? No one, even when you’re 22 and fabulous.
“But it’s relaxing knowing someone’s behind the camera who looks out for me, which was the same on this movie in a way”.
Damian, who is Hurley’s son with American businessman Steve Bing, is now making his film directing debut next year with crime drama Strictly Confidential.
Hurley went on: “The things that his script needed me to do weren’t necessarily things I’d always done in movies many times before.
“But having him there meant that I felt safe and looked-after, and I knew, in the production and in the post, he’d look after me.
“So actually, it’s kind of liberating to work with your family, I may do it again.”
The crime drama, set in the Caribbean, is about a young woman trying to solve the mystery of her best friend’s apparent suicide.
‘Some secrets are meant to stay buried…’
His mother, best known for her acting roles in Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery and Bedazzled, stars in the film and shares romantic scenes with actress Pear Chiravara.
Also starring Georgia Lock, Freddie Thorp and Lauren McQueen, the beach-themed mystery has the tagline: “Some secrets are meant to stay buried…”
Damian has said he was approached to make Strictly Confidential after an executive at Lionsgate saw his short film, The Boy On The Beach, which also starred his mother.
He said he had been making films since he was a child and was “terrified” before making his first feature, about a woman who is obsessed with her best friend’s death.
However, he said he felt in his “comfort zone” because they “didn’t have time” during the short shoot to think about many things.
“Thank God I had you (my mother) to do it with. I don’t think I would have survived that one,” he added.
‘Mama dropped everything’
In an Instagram post to celebrate the final day of filming in December 2022, Damian said he wanted to “worship” his mother, who he said promised him while he was making his first short film in 2010 that she would appear in his first feature film
“True to her word, the minute this film was green-lit, Mama dropped everything and raced out to the beautiful Caribbean to help,” he said.
“Working together was a dream.”
He said making the movie had been the “most incredible experience, both professionally and personally” during which he had “made lifelong friends and learned many valuable lessons”.
Strictly Confidential will be released in select theatres on 4 April and on streaming sites including Prime Video and Apple TV+.