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SEARCHING FOR HERO   22/01/02 by Julie Goodhand A group of clockwatching journalists mingle in the Grosvenor House Hotel foyer. Enrique Iglesias, son of Julio and worldwide double platinum selling artist, is missing. The interviews have already been put back an hour. Time is running out. When order resumes, it's all too late. Enrique has to hotfoot it to Children's BBC for a live interview. The only answer is for Virgin.net to stow away in the blacked-out Enrique-mobile and ask the questions there. Did he really refuse to kiss Anna Kournikova in his pop video? What can we expect of Enrique the actor in Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico? Oh, and what's the music all about? Can you guess when an all-interviewed-out Enrique is pulling our leg? Play along now, kids. Lies, sex and videotape You're famous worldwide but you've not really hit the UK yet. What do you hope people will think of you after you leave London tomorrow? "That I was a big porn star." A porn star? Okay. Is that your ultimate dream? "No, I was a big porn star. It's not my ultimate dream. You don't recognise me? You've seen some of my movies. Don't lie!" Unfortunately not. I don't pay for the extra channels. "You never saw Twelve Inches Of Separation? I'm serious, you've not seen my movies?" No. You're doing one with Robert Rodriguez though? "Yeah, but that's not porn." Tell me about Rodriguez. "Okay, I'm going back to your first question." Right. "I'll be serious. I just want them to give the album a chance, listen to it. The song [new single Hero] is starting to do really well, which is cool. It's a good break." Kissing Kournikova I watched the video on your new single Hero today. "On CD?" Yeah, you put the CD in your computer and it plays the video. "I didn't know that. Is it as good quality as DVD?" Well, your lips don't sync with the music but that's because my computer is rubbish. Anyway, it was very much like Rodriguez's style. "Actually, yeah. It had a Thelma And Louise kind of lighting. It has a kind of desert-y, orange-y kind of feel. Very movie-like." You met Richard and Judy this week. "They were very nice." But they asked you about herpes? "That's right! That's who asked me about herpes! I guess it came out in some newspaper that I had herpes." I thought Anna Kournikova [star of Enrique's new video] had herpes? "I know, but they swapped it around." So what's the real story? "The story came out in the newspaper that I didn't want to kiss Anna Kournikova in the video." Is that true? "No! Do I look that stupid. You know. It was completely the opposite way around. She didn't want to kiss me." Was she nice to work with? She has a reputation of being a bit of a madam. "She does? Oh no, she was great. She was fun." Musical knowledge What about your reputation? Do you get sick of the love god tag? "I'm a love god?" You've inherited it from your dad. "You serious? I was with someone last night, she wouldn't tell me I'm a love god!" Did you not impress her? "No, I don't think of myself as a love god. Trust me. Not even close. I think that's the cheesiest thing. Pretty corny." You'd rather be known for the music? "Yeah. At the end of the day if your music isn't successful they're not going to catch onto anything else. If I'm not known for my music, I'm not going to be known for my love god image." But you said you wanted to be in porn movies? "But porn is not love god, it's sex god." An important distinction. You're put in the same pop music pot as J-Lo and Ricky Martin because of the Latin sound. Is that all right with you? "I don't care. In the end it comes down to the music. I don't care, as long as the people are listening to my music and get my meaning and get what it's about. That's what really counts. One thing is what the press classifies you as. Another thing's what the public classifies you as." So you don't care? "I think it's kind of ignorant. It's like saying, because they're Puerto Rican and I'm from Spain we've got to be classified the same. It's like, would you classify an Irish sound with a Scottish sound?" Feet first I found this website boasting 100 Things You Need To Know About Enrique. One of them was that you find women's feet very important. "I always look at a woman's feet." What do you check for - corns? "No. I have a foot fetish I guess. You can't believe everything you read. Like I've got herpes or something." I heard another story about you and Jennifer Love Hewitt. "I tried to marry her but she said no." Really? You proposed? "I tried." Why did she turn you down? "She's got no taste. Ha ha. I'm kidding." Too late. "I tell you why she turned me down, because she has got taste. Right?" Does your father give you advice, about ladies or music? "No." Did he want you to go into music? "Probably not." He was trying to get you away from it? "Yeah." [Awkward silence] Let's hear it for the boybands Seen any sights? "No, I haven't had any time." I heard you don't 'do' mornings. If you got up in the morning you'd have time. "I do 'do' mornings! I have a morning show tomorrow!" Okay, but you've not seen any sights? "No, 'cause I'm usually talking to some press guy in the car." Well, we're nearly there. "This is where we were yesterday doing Top Of The Pops! Boy bands are very popular here, no?" Yeah. A lot of girl and boy bands are splitting up though at the moment. Good timing for you. "I'm going to launch a boy band." What are they going to be called? "The Spermatoids." Nice. That'll work well if you go into that porn career.