PENELOPE CRUZ
28.Apr.74, Madrid

You've made five films with Almodovar, but how does that compare with a Woody Allen film set?
Woody doesn't go to the set with any kind of drawings or storyboards; everything is in his mind and he has the confidence to be able to say, "OK that's it" - one take, move on. You cover the scene with two shots or just one in a scene where there are five, and you see that in his movies. It's really beautiful for me to have been able to see Woody and work so close to him. He's a machine. The amount of talent is overwhelming. All my life I've wanted to work with him. I remember exactly the moment they told me I had the role. I was so excited, and then I never saw him again until I was in front of the camera.

And you shot the film in your home country, Spain.
It was great because we shot in a lot of beautiful places here and it was very good to have Woody working here in our country. Hopefully he will come back.

I really had to forget that we were doing a comedy, because there is nothing funny about it for her

Did you enjoy getting under her skin?
It was very interesting to get to understand her and to understand why she brings chaos everywhere she goes. What are the reasons? Its not just for attention, she's desperate and she's in real, real pain and I had to approach that pain from a very serious place. That's why I really had to forget that we were doing a comedy, because there is nothing funny about it for her. She only sees darkness and that's what she's trying to find a way out from. But her ways to find the light are very peculiar. I like her.

Her interaction with Javier Bardem's character is certainly entertaining!
They have been together and separated and trying to work things out many times. They are both very peculiar people. They feel like they cannot live together, but they cannot live apart, so they feel that they are condemned to live with that pain for the rest of their lives. And then they try to work things out with Scarlett's character. And my character, Maria Elena, really believes that Scarlett's character was the ingredient that was missing and that now, with the three of them together, they can have a much more balanced relationship.

Besides winning the Oscar, what do you think about the film itself?
I think this film is about people searching for answers in very different ways, with all of them trying to defend their own realities and the conflict that that creates. When you come out of the theatre I think you have laughed a lot, but you go home thinking about a lot of things that can touch every one of us. And also because we all ask ourselves very similar questions, even if we approach those subjects from different ways, different perspectives, point of views. Like these characters too, because they couldn't be more different from each other, but I think the movie has so many layers. You laugh, but it hurts also and makes you go home thinking about whatever is important for you, because it can touch so many buttons.

THANKS TO JOHN AT OPTIMUM • JUN.09

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