Eva Mendes We Own the Night Interview

She's one of the nicest celebrities you'd ever want to meet. Bubbly, down to earth, and while she laughs out loud when you call her a celebrity or famous, Eva Mendes can't fight the inevitable. She's consistently good, whether she's in a thriller, drama or a comedy and her work in films like Training Day, Hitch and Ghost Rider has meant a rapid and direct rise to the top of her profession. She credits James Gray the director of her latest film We Own the Night, as the one who finally made her get over her nun like inhibitions along with her fear of her father seeing her naked on screen. Gaynor Flynn caught up with the actress at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Gaynor Flynn: Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg have worked together before. Did their prior relationship make it tougher for you at all?

Eva Mendes: Oh no, it was great. They're amazing actors. I didn't have much to do with [Robert] Duvall and Wahlberg, unfortunately. But I look forward to doing more in the future because they're amazing. Most of my scenes were with Joaquin Phoenix. I'm a huge, huge fan of his, and I was ready for it. And I knew that James had warned me about the way he worked. He said, 'Are you ready for this? I will push you every day,' and I was like, 'I'd expect nothing less. You'd better push me every day. I'm not doing this for the money, that's for sure!' So I was really in for it.


Gaynor Flynn: The first scene is a very explicit sex scene. How did you feel about that?

Eva Mendes: Agony!. The good thing is that at least you get it over and done with really fast that's the good part but that was very difficult for me to shoot actually. I was crying.


Gaynor Flynn: Was that because you had second thoughts about doing it?

Eva Mendes: No the good thing about me is that once I commit I commit and then I'm done. I don't look back on it. That's a total lie (laughs). Usually I'm pretty good about that you know once I've said I'll do something then I'm fine with it, but that was hard because it was my first love scene ever so that's what was hard about it.


Gaynor Flynn: So just take us through it.

Eva Mendes: Well what happened is that my director came to my trailer and was talking to me and Joaquin Phoenix and he was saying you'll be fine, you'll be fine and I'm like okay, I'm just really nervous. Thankfully he did it the last day of the shoot so its three months of being so close to James and Joaquin Phoenix so we had the trust thing going on with us right so what happens is that then I get to set and we're in the room and I start to get really, really nervous at this point and we sit on the couch and we're all trying to talk about how the scene should play out and as I'm hearing the details of it I'm starting to get even more nervous and then tears start to well up and then I got really emotional and James is great and Joaquin Phoenix is amazing and they're like what can we do? Well we can omit the scene or you can pour me a vodka orange juice. So James made me a huge vodka orange juice and that helped a little. But its really hard probably because it was my first time.


Gaynor Flynn: You've said the sex scene was challenging. Now that you've done it and got that out of the way, are you in a position to say 'No, I'm not doing that again?'

Eva Mendes: Well, I'm sure I'm in a position but I would never do that. It's about the art. It's about the film. I would never tell a director what kind of scene to put in his movie if I read a script. I would either say yes to the film or no to the film, but I would never have somebody take something out. Just because it was difficult for me doesn't mean I don't want to do it in the future. It's all about the story. It's all about the characters. Now, do I want to be in a scene that exploits me and it has no relevance to the story? Absolutely not. Do I just want to do my job as an actor and represent my character completely and honestly? Absolutely. If that takes rapes scene, or whatever it takes, I will do it once I commit to that movie.


Gaynor Flynn: Was this movie is a big deal for you?

Eva Mendes: It's a huge deal for me. Huge! I've never worked at this level before. Even though I've worked with amazing people I've never worked on something like this. I did a drama once. The first kind of thing that broke me out was Training Day, but I only had two scenes in that. Not to minimise that but it was on so much of a lesser scale. The movie wasn't but my scenes were. I barely spoke in that one, even though it got me a lot of attention. I've never been pushed and challenged like this on a daily basis before.


Gaynor Flynn: Do you think this will change the kinds of roles you can get in the future?

Eva Mendes: I hope that it allows people to think about me in ways that they haven't been able to before. And I hope that I get more dramatic opportunities. Not just dramatic, I would love to do another romantic comedy. I'd love to do a musical. I love the whole gamut. But I want to be considered for things that Kate Winslet's considered for - absolutely. I'm so in love with her. She is so amazing. I think she's spectacular.


Gaynor Flynn: When you were a child I read that you wanted to be a nun, is that true?

Eva Mendes: Oh my god that's so funny. Yes I did and oh listen to this. James was really good because he goes like this when I was struggling with the sex scene, he said what can I do? And I was like you know there is this little catholic girl still inside me somewhere, and he was like tell her to go home because you're an artist now. And I was like you're right, I've got a job to do. But I did want to be a nun when I was very little.


Gaynor Flynn: Is that what you tell your parents when they see those scenes. It's just a job?

Eva Mendes: They won't see this. My mother and my father would be mortified. I think I figured it out I'm going to tell them come 15 minute late to the film, because it'll be done by that so I worked it out. My dad tries to act tough he's like no you're an actress and I'll see anything you do and I'm like dad I don't know, you're not going to like this....


Gaynor Flynn: How would you describe this film? Is it just another police movie in a way?

Eva Mendes: I don't really think of this one as a police movie, I think of this as a Greek tragedy. There are so many layers to this movie that I think so many people can relate to, certainly everyone can relate to family and feeling obligation whether its family you create on your own or family you're born into. I come from a big Cuban family and I understand those ties and obligations and being in predicaments and situations that you have to face and oh there's just so much in this film that I think people can relate to so I don't really see it as a cop drama or anything.


Gaynor Flynn: You say your very emotional now, but you've been acting for a few years so what was missing before?

Eva Mendes: The right people, the right script, the right project, even though I'm not speaking badly about my projects like I just did Ghost Rider which was a really big hit in the States and world wide actually and I'm so proud of that but it's a genre. I mean I worked on that character with my acting coach like I would work on any character but its like a big old cartoon so there's only so far you can go. People don't want to see stuff in that genre, so I just didn't have those projects. Before that was Hitch and that's a big old romantic comedy and people only want to see so much stuff in movies like that.


Gaynor Flynn: Are you planning on doing projects that are more serious in the future then?

Eva Mendes: I did The Cleaner that's pretty dark. You know who I'd love to work with? Mike Leigh. I love his films Secrets and Lies and I'd love to do a film with Pedro Almodovar, he does such dark funny films. I think that he just has his own world and I love what my friend Penelope Cruz did in Volver.


Gaynor Flynn: What was the biggest challenge of We Own the Night for you?

Eva Mendes: I think it was one big challenge. Every day there was a bunch of little challenges.


Gaynor Flynn: Did you ever feel out of your depth?

Every day. Every day there was something like that which was great, because we just had to fight it and rise to the occasion. I guess the most obvious is the sex scene - I like to call it the 'love scene'. I think that was the most obvious one because that was so difficult.


Gaynor Flynn: How did you get along with Joaquin Phoenix?

Eva Mendes: Fantastically. I respect him so much. I know that it's my job but I don't know that I could have done it without him. It's like working with a puppy. It's a compliment, though, because he's crazy, he's a like a puppy, and then you get the most genuine moments because everything is so true that comes out of him. He was like my rock. He was my buddy. He was my best friend. He was right there for me. I don't know if he knew it was a first for me, that I had never worked at that level before, that I had never gone that deep and dark before, but he was just so there for me and I love him to death. So was James [there for me]. I call him Papa Gray because he was my Papa Gray. Being in an all-boy cast, feeling like the only girl, I could have definitely felt exploited. You know, playing the 'girlfriend' role, blah, blah, blah. But those boys were right there for me every step of the way. Whether it was the morning of the love scene, where I was crying and very nervous and scared, they were just there for me. That means so much.


Gaynor Flynn: How nervous were you going to see James Gray for the first time?

Eva Mendes: I wasn't nervous at all because I didn't want to do his movie. He sent me a script and I was like he's a great director but I didn't want to do it because I thought this is a girlfriend role. I had just finished Hitch or something, and I was moving into leading lady area, and I was like I don't want to be a girlfriend in a boy movie. Anyway, he's a great director and I was told he really wanted to meet me. So anyway, he lives very far away and I made him drive all the way to this restaurant down near my house, and I told him I think he's great. I go, 'I think you're amazing. I want to do your next movie. Write a really great female role,' and he's like, 'No, no, no, you have to do this movie.' I said, 'Well, I'm not going to do it.' He goes, 'I promise you there will be more of a role. This is just an early draft. I promise you there's going to be more.' I'm not really trusting the 'I promise you' thing. I'm like whatever. It was fun.


Gaynor Flynn: Do you feel that you're going to be more demanding in the future now that you know what you can do?

Eva Mendes: Yeah, and from my co-stars, now that Joaquin Phoenix has spoiled me. Again, look, I've worked with Denzel Washington, I've worked with Will Smith, I've worked with the most amazing actors, but because I worked with Joaquin Phoenix on this thing that's darker . . . no, no, it's because it's a drama. It's a drama. I was ready to quit acting before Training Day. I had been acting about two-and-a-half years and I was doing bad TV shows - not even TV shows, I wouldn't even get picked up on TV shows, but like bad movies - and I was like, 'What am I doing? This isn't going to be for me. It's not working.' I did Training Day, worked with Denzel Washington, and he was single-handedly responsible for me continuing acting. And every time I see him I thank him, because he is completely responsible. I haven't done a drama since then, really, and so this is a very similar experience: Joaquin Phoenix has ignited me. James Gray has ignited me. Now I'm ready again [clicks her fingers].


Gaynor Flynn: What else do you have coming up?

Eva Mendes: I'm having a little break then I'm doing a remake of The Women. It's the George Cukor film and its an all female cast and I think its from the 30's or 40's and I'm playing the role that Joan Crawford played back in the day which is kind of genius. Oh my god that I'm even attempting this is hysterical. So its an all female cast, its Annette Benning, Angelica Huston, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Candice Bergman and I think we're trying to get Dakota Fanning and it's a really cool to be part of an all female cast and I play Crystal who's just a nightmare.


Gaynor Flynn: Is it more competitive being around an all female cast?

Eva Mendes: I feel comfortable around good people, people that are open and not judgemental and don't try to intimidate you. So its either or for me.


Gaynor Flynn: Do you get on better with men more than women?

Eva Mendes: I'm the first one to give a woman a compliment and tell her she's gorgeous or she's great. I think that that kind of stuff is so ugly and it only hurts you and the last thing I want to be when I get older is bitter. That is the last thing I want to be. Bitter is the ugliest thing to me in the world and I think when you play into those things you just end up being all those negative things you don't want to be. I've seen bitter and its just awful and I really mean that.


Gaynor Flynn: I understand you're involved with some charities? What are they?

Eva Mendes: Actually I'm involved in a charity Mr Phoenix introduced me to called Art of Elisium which takes up a lot of my time lately because its unbelievable. And its basically this woman founded this charity ten years ago and its bringing any kind of art into children's' wards in hospitals and a lot of these children have never even been outside because they've been hospitalised their entire lives. Some are completely not conscious, some can't speak so what ever the debilitating disease they're fighting we go in as artists and we either play music for them, we finger paint with them. I was a part of a big old play for them with James Franco and Kirsten Dunst a few months ago.


Gaynor Flynn: Would you like children of your own?

Eva Mendes: I would but I think I'm a potential adopter. It seems to be the thing to do in LA these days. Not because of that no way. Never because of other people.


Gaynor Flynn: Why do you prefer to adopt?

Eva Mendes: Because I'm already 32 and I don't have a maternal bone in my body and I figure the clock is going to run out at some point so what if I'm 45 and I can't physically have a child then I'd adopt one. I don't want to put that pressure on myself saying I have to have a kid by 35. I don't like those rules so I like to leave it open that if I still feel this way if I don't want a baby inside of me then that'll be okay because I'll just adopt one.