Tell us your take on Rita, the character you play in
Wild West West.
I think this role is very fun, because Rita is this
woman who has gotten herself into this adventure.
She is on a mission. She is a little bit naive, and she
doesn't quite know what she is doing although she thinks she
does. She gets herself into trouble at the same time that
she is naive, she is a little manipulative and clever. At the end
of the day she gets her way. It's all for a good reason and it's
all in a fun way.
Your part seemed too small
was it cut in the editing process?
I can tell you that right now: It's exactly the same
size. They think they gave me this... they think this is
a huge part for a Mexican girl. But that's what you get
as a female lead in a big action film, because they have to
distribute the time between the two heroes, the bad guy, the
[mechanical] tarantula, the special effects and then the girl.
How did you feel wearing
all that fancy underwear?
It wasn't very
comfortable, especially
after lunch. One time I
tried to keep it really loose...it wasn't that tight, but I said, "I
am just going to leave it loose." Like, where I could move inside.
Barry [Sonnenfeld, the director] started staring at me, and
looking, and putting the camera in a different place and looking
through the thing. I said, "Okay Barry, I know what you are
looking for. I'll tighten the damn thing." He noticed it right away.
You're also in a small movie
called The Velocity of Gary that's
coming out July 16. What can
you tell us about it?
The movie is a love story. It's about this girl who just
lives for the moment and doesn't have any plans for
the future and doesn't have a job. She doesn't care
about anything but this one man, who is her life. This man is
going to die; he is in love with her, but he is also in love with
another man. She is completely irresponsible and lives in denial
and now she has to grow up and take care of him. She has to
let that other man that she hates in, and between the two of
them they have to walk this man that they both love through
death. They are both not equipped for this job, but together
they sort of have to do it. It's a modern tragedy. I think what
it's about is family; it's about people who don't have families, so
they go to the streets and find a family there.
There's a scene in Wild Wild West
in which your rear end is hanging
out: Were you embarrassed?
I was very embarrassed and I
was very nervous, but my
co-stars helped me very much.
When I come out [in that scene], I come out, I talk to them,
then I turn around and you see a little bit of my butt. So I come
out, and they are mooning me: Their butts are where their
faces are supposed to be. So I was very professional and very
serious and said my lines to Kevin [Kline]'s butt. Then Will
[Smith] talked and I turned around and talked to Will's butt. So
by the time I turned around and knew they were seeing a little
peek-a-boo of my butt, it didn't feel bad, because I saw the
whole thing.
