Three actresses have a hoot chasing a hunk in These Girls

When the three young women in These Girls decide to have some late summer fun, they pull out all the stops.

In this coming-of-age comedy from John Hazlett, an Alberta filmmaker who relocated to Quebec in 2000, the recent high school graduates decide to seduce a 30-something stud.

The girls are played by Caroline Dhavernas, Amanda Walsh and Holly Lewis, and the object of their lust is David Boreanaz, the former tortured vampire of TV's Angel, who now stars in Fox's Bones.

Lewis, who plays the only virgin of the three friends, says Boreanaz was "a great sport. He knew we were all nervous about the sex scenes we'd have with him, and me in particular with the most explicit one.

"He took us all for dinner. He talked about his wife (actress Jamie Bergman) and how much he loved her. He made us all feel so safe. After that he kept his distance because he knew it would work better for the film and all our characters.

"We sort of saw David as an older-brother figure and not a sex object like the girls do in the film."

Though hidden under bedsheets, both Boreanaz and Lewis were nude for their sex scene.

'EVEN MORE NERVOUS'

"We didn't talk all that much about the scene, except for a few of the mechanics, and then we improvised all the dialogue."

Lewis admits her confidence abandoned her the actual day of shooting.

"Thankfully, it was one of the last days of our (21-day) shoot or I'd have been even more nervous than I was. But it really paid off for the scene.

"I think I was as nervous as my character."

It wasn't her sex scene with Boreanaz that had Dhavernas shaking and shivering.

"The movie is supposed to take place at the height of a Canadian summer, but we filmed it in New Brunswick in October. It was so cold, especially the scene where we're sitting on the dock in our bikinis," recalls Dhavernas. "All the crew members were wearing goose down jackets, mitts and tuques. There we were in bikinis. Between shoots they wrapped us in thermal blankets.

"We had to pretend the chilly October breeze was warm. That's where all our concentration went in that scene."

These Girls, opening locally on Friday, was filmed in Shediak, which Dhavernas says is "the lobster capital of Canada, so we had our fill of seafood.

"We also had the run of the town.

"It's a huge tourist town during the summer, but we rented bikes and rode all over the town undisturbed."

Dhavernas, who was born and raised in Montreal, has been acting professionally since she was 12.

"I started doing voice-over work when I was eight. I was a shy child and my father, who is an actor, thought doing voice work would help me come out of my shell."

She says when she filmed Comme un Voleur at age 12, she "fell in love with acting.

"It was the only thing I wanted to do with my life."

Her life became a series of popular Quebec soap operas, which made her a household name in her province.

Since completing These Girls, Dhavernas has worked on three high-profile projects slated for release later this year.

In Hollywoodland, the story of the mystery surrounding the death of the original Superman, actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck), she plays the mistress of the detective (Adrien Brody) working on the murder case.

In the CIA spy thriller Breach she plays Ryan Phillippe's wife, and in the Quebec drama The Beautiful Monsters, she stars opposite Marc-Andre Grondin, the young star of the Genie award-winning Quebec film C.R.A.Z.Y.

"I have been so lucky in my leading men recently. They are all so talented and all such generous co-stars."

Walsh, who plays the only teenager who actually falls in love with the older man, says, "I knew we were making a wild comedy, but I soon forgot how funny the script was. The whole situation is a tragedy for my character.

"She really is in love with David's character. It may be fun and funny for the other two girls, but it was really painful for mine."

Walsh is adamant her mood switched instantly once she left the set of These Girls each day.

"The film company very cleverly put Caroline, Holly and I in the same little bed-and-breakfast place in Shediak. It was like living in a tiny dorm.

"We became the best of friends, so we understood the relationships of our characters much better. We've all kept in touch ever since."

'REALLY BOISTEROUS'

Walsh admits when she told her real girlfriends that she was playing Boreanaz's lover, they "gave me a really difficult time. They are such huge Angel fans. They were very envious."

Walsh says Boreanaz is "a really boisterous guy and a very talented comedian. It didn't hurt that he's also really easy on the eyes."

Walsh, who at age 19 became the youngest VJ on MuchMusic, got her first major acting role with a cameo on TV's Smallville. "I got to have a love scene with Tom Welling, who plays young Clark Kent. I was this evil head cheerleader who tried to take revenge on the football players and take Kent away from Lois Lane."

Hazlett, who adapted These Girls from a stage play, says he was "incredibly lucky to get the three actresses I did. It was like they were the characters.

"It certainly made my job much easier."