Eva Mendes Covers Gotham Magazine
By M.I.A on Oct 18, 2007 in Eva Mendes | | | |
Eva Mendes covers this month’s issue of Gotham Magazine.
Here is her interview.
GOTHAM: Tell us about making We Own the Night.
EVA MENDES: I was in New York for about three months, and when the script first came to me, I said to [director] James Gray, “James, I love you. Let’s do your next movie together. But I don’t want to be just the girlfriend.” I’m really into playing strong characters. A year later he came back with another draft and said, “You gotta trust me, it’s going to be a great experience for you.” He had Joaquin Phoenix at the time, and that was certainly appealing. They were going to offer it to another actress, and I was like, “OK, OK, let me read it again.” I decided to trust James, and thank God I did. It’s the most I’ve ever been pushed on a film. The experience recharged me completely and reignited my love for acting. It was always there, but I wasn’t really given the opportunity to go this far. And I want to go a lot further.
G: We hear Mark Wahlberg wasn’t initially ready to sign on….
EM: James really wanted him, but Mark had a lot going on and had just had a baby and didn’t want to do it. So James and I came up with Operation Seduce Wahlberg, or ‘OSW.’ James, Joaquin, and I went after Wahlberg hard, and it worked!G: You say performing in this film “recharged you”—how so?
EM: I’ve worked with amazing people in my career. When it’s a romantic comedy or a comic-book movie, you work really hard, but different things are expected of you. This is such a dark, gritty film that it demanded certain things from me that were almost lying dormant. When I [eventually] saw it in Cannes, I wanted to leave the theater because I was so vulnerable up there—and I don’t just mean the sexual scene, although I wanted to leave when that came on as well. But in the scenes with Joaquin and me, I felt really exposed. Which is a good thing. I’m going through a really cool time right now with a lot of self-analysis and growth.G: What type of self-analysis?
EM: I started going to therapy a year ago, and I love it. I wasn’t dealing with fame very well. I wasn’t comfortable being recognized, so I thought, well, this is as good a time as any to go. I think everybody needs therapy or some form of guidance.G: Did you learn anything about yourself that really surprised you?
EM: Yes—that on some level I have a fear of success. I’ve always been a go-getter, saying, “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do that, I’m going to rise above.” So I was like, “No, I can’t have a fear of success, I’m so ambitious!” I was shocked. But then I looked at my actions—not going to certain places, even Disney World with my family, not doing certain things. Always wanting to just hang out at friends’ houses… that sort of thing.G: So, how is it dealing with fame now?
EM: In no way do I want to sound ungrateful, because I’m grateful for everything, but sometimes [being photographed] is weird, man. It’s really strange. But the cool thing about where I’m at [in my career] is that I can go to places like Duane Reade and just get in and out and it’s no big deal.G: How do you manage to stay out of the tabloids?
EM: When it comes down to it, I’m not doing anything that scandalous. And there are so many other girls right now, and even they’re not acting that scandalous. I’m not going to name names, but you know [who they are]—pick up Us Weekly and they’re there. I feel bad for these girls. I don’t look down on them. I think they’re in a really hard situation. It’s out of control. I look at them with sympathetic eyes because I just can’t imagine how it is to deal with that.G: Especially if you’re only 20 years old.
EM: And you’re doing everything a normal 20-year-old does, for the most part. You’re just in extraordinary situations. So I guess with me, I don’t have a drug habit, I don’t date actors, I don’t drive if I’m drunk. And I don’t go to clubs; I don’t like clubs.G: Speaking of dating, is it harder to have a relationship with someone in or outside of the business?
EM: Well, I have a boyfriend, George Augusto, who’s actually my producing partner. He’s in the business, so he totally gets the traveling thing and being away. We just make it work…. And sometimes it works to your benefit to be away because you come back and you’re so excited to be together. It’s almost like those little breaks are fun to keep the spark. So it’s not always a bad thing.G: I read that you’re not into marriage as an institution.
EM: Yeah, I totally believe in having a soul mate. I love the idea of being committed to the same person; I’m a romantic in that way. But my boyfriend and I think marriage is antiquated. And we think it’s so unfair that it isn’t legal in this country for consenting adults—no matter what their gender or sexual preference is—to get married. The idea of a union is fantastic, but the actual ceremony isn’t appealing to me. I never wanted the big wedding.G: Never?
EM: No, and I don’t know if I ever want kids, so I’m kind of a weirdo in that way.G: Maybe you just haven’t been hit with the maternal instinct yet.
EM: I’m 32, shouldn’t it have hit me by now? I’m not saying I never want kids, because who knows? I don’t want to sound like an idiot, and someday you’ll be like, “Remember when I interviewed you in 2007 and now it’s 2008, and you’re pregnant with twins?”G: Did you make a conscious decision to go into movies instead of television, or did it just happen?
EM: It just happened that way. I’m a commitment-phobe when it comes to my work. I’ve worked in offices—I actually really liked that, and people talk smack about working in an office all the time. Did I say smack? [Laughs.] I haven’t said that since eighth grade! Anyway, whether I was working at Hot Dog on a Stick at the mall or as a legal assistant—whatever I was doing, I liked cutting it off after six months, or a year at the most. So movies are perfect for me. The idea of being on a show for 10 years is not appealing right now. But who knows in the future? Again, you might interview me next year and I’m pregnant with twins, and I have a TV show running, and I love the stability. You’ll be like, “Who are you?” But for now, it doesn’t seem appealing.G: Are most of your friends in the business?
EM: Not really. I have some good friends in the industry, but my best girlfriends are from when I was 12 to 14 years old. When we get together it’s like we’re 14 all over again—it’s nice to have that. We have pictures of us back then with bad hair…. Oh, man, especially when we thought we were babes back in high school, like the early nineties. Bad, just bad.G: How would your friends describe you?
EM: Oh, God, I don’t know. Scattered. A few weeks ago a bookshelf in my house fell, and I found a book one of my girlfriends gave me for my birthday when we were 19 years old, called Little Miss Scatterbrains. So I would say that they think I’m extremely scattered.G: You don’t come off as scattered.
EM: Really? I think in fragments, so it’s hard for me to articulate my thoughts sometimes. [Laughs.] My boyfriend always tells me, “Babe, remember, we’re not in your head with you.”G: Are you outgoing?
EM: Yeah, I am. Borderline obnoxious. Sometimes I just have crazy energy.G: What don’t people know about you?
EM: I’m not as tough as I look. I even surprise myself sometimes, like in photos or in a movie. I see myself and I’m like, “Whoa, I look like a tough broad.” I’m actually really supersensitive. I’m not a fighter in that way.
Wow that was long,hope she talks less in bed.
