"I am a speed talker," says Eva Mendes as we sit in a Toronto lodge room to debate her latest position in the relationship drama Last Night, which opens in the UAE today. The actress has had a long day selling her new movie and I'm her final interview before she has to ready herself for the world premiere of Massy Tadjedin's film.
Not that anyone would be able to inform that Mendes is exhausted - in the flesh she appears lots younger than her 36 years and he or she operates on bundles of enthusiasm.
The film sees Mendes play one of many toughest characters to like on celluloid: the beautiful different woman. She plays sassy businesswoman Laura who takes a work trip with her colleague Michael Reed, performed by the Avatar star Sam Worthington. The drama revolves round whether he can be untrue or not, particularly as he is aware of that his wife Joanna (played by Keira Knightley) suspects one thing is amiss between the pair.
It's an intriguing function that is removed from the glamorous love interest that she portrayed in Will Smith's Hitch, and her role as Nic Cage's belle in Werner Herzog's Unhealthy Lieutenant: Port of Name New Orleans.
One of many problems with being tagged as a magnificence and performing as the face of selling campaigns equivalent to Revlon is that it is all too simple to be thought of just a pretty face - so it is no surprise that Mendes jumped on the probability to play a more complex character whose appeal went beyond her looks.
"Nicely, at first I really responded to the script," the actress says of the role. "I assumed it was a really clever, entertaining script that almost learn like a play, which I assumed was really cool. I liked all of the characters and immediately felt connected to all of them and to their situation. My solely trepidation with my character was that on paper she learn as a seductress. So after I obtained along with my amazingly talented author and director Massy Tadjedin, we spoke about find out how to play that character.
"I mentioned it would be very boring and one-note for me just to play the other woman as a seductress, and he or she completely agreed. So what we began to do was strip this character."
The method of stripping down the character actually meant including layers to the character to make her more likeable. The result is a personality that feels actual on display and likewise demanded that Mendes play down her looks.
"I, of course, did all my inner work that I all the time do when getting ready for a task," explains Mendes. "But what Massy and I did collectively were some more apparent things. I haven't got any make up on in a few scenes in the film - like nothing within the first opening scene. I might need just a little mascara on from finish of day work and a bit of powder, however actually there is nothing on my face for most of the film."
Mendes's hair was straightened and tucked behind her ears and in films where usually the actress could be expected to put on revealing clothing, she wears costumes that conceal her mannequin frame. Glasses had been additionally added. Of course it would not really work as a result of even with no make-up the actress has an attract that is unmistakable.
This can be a movie that will arouse debate and in addition has that quality whereby the awkward situations that the characters find themselves in seem strangely familiar.
Mendes says: "It is a type of issues where I feel most moviegoers will connect to a little bit of every of the characters as a result of we can all take a few of our experiences and relate to these characters. I feel in case you are of a sure age, then you'll have had or identified people who are these characters."
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Eva Mendes
