Bridget Is Fonda Her 'Kiss' Costar

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Definitely not for the squeamish: Bridget Fonda's new movie, Luc Bresson's "Kiss of the Dragon," has her playing a recovering junkie who is also a prostitute. It's set in Paris. "I like how sweet she is (on the inside), but on the outside she is crude," Fonda, 37, told PEOPLE about her character. There were also, Fonda admits, dangers to playing such a, well, action figure. "I not only had to fear running on the cobblestone in heels, but . . . I had to take a lot of punches and throw myself to the ground." Sure enough, she concedes, "I got hurt a few times." There to soothe her wounds was costar Jet Li, 38, perhaps best known as the villain of "Lethal Weapon IV." In "Dragon," which opens July 6, he plays a hero -- one adept at a fighting style known as Woo-shoo. "It is a form of martial arts," Li told PEOPLE. "I practice martial arts everyday, and I think I've memorized the outside part of it, but I'm still learning about the inside." That would be the mental and spiritual part. But when it came to describing her own inner feelings about Li, Fonda went with her gut reaction. Said she, "I really dug him."