Lohan, 18, had finished work on the fourth sequel to the 1968 film The Love Bug, about a sentient Volkswagen Beetle, when reports from test screenings indicated that some parents felt she came across as somewhat sensual for a family-oriented film. Disney technicians went though scenes showing the actress jumping up and down at a motor racing track and altered them with a computer program — reducing her bust by up to two cup sizes and raising the necklines on her T-shirts. Lohan is said to have been amused by what technicians call her "digital boob job." "I don’t know how Renée Zellweger kept swelling and shrinking for Bridget Jones: it’s no fun," she said recently. "Bring on the computer guys."

Lohan is not the only actress to have had her body shape altered by Hollywood’s computer wizards. Angelina Jolie was "trimmed" in a scene from the forthcoming film, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, in which she slides down a rope.

"She did her own stunts, but that meant there was a bit of loose bosomry we had to tidy up and flatten down," said a technician on the film, which opens next month. "Maybe the original shot will turn up on the DVD."