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diversions:
movie review
Cruz finds success
in American cinema
By Alex Roman
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
A couple of years
ago when artists like Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony broke
into the mainstream, it was supposed to be the year of the
Latino. As actresses like Penelope Cruz and Jennifer Lopez
continue to enjoy enjoying worldwide success, the new millennium
could be that of the Latina.
While her transition
from Spanish to American film star has been a gradual one,
Cruz's new relationship with the recently divorced Tom Cruise
is threatening to make her famous for reasons other than her
tremendous acting ability.
Cruz is sitting
in Malibu Beach in an argyle sweater and slacks to discuss
her new film "Captain Corelli's Mandolin," which
co-stars Nicolas Cage, Christian Bale and John Hurt and is
directed by "Shakespeare In Love's" John Madden.
"I like her
and I normally don't look for that," said Cruz of her
role as Pelagia, a Greek woman whose quiet world is ripped
apart by World War II. "I think it makes sense.
The decisions she makes in her life make sense to me and I
feel that I identify with her feelings. In acting, this character
is a gift because of all the emotion that she goes through."
Cruz is the eldest
child of Encarna and Eduardo and was born in Madrid, Spain,
where she studied dance for 14 years before deciding to become
an actress. Her Spanish film debut came in 1991's "El
Laberinto Griego" at the age of 17.
While she is still
in the process of speaking English, Cruz sometimes pauses
when she speaks as she looks for the right words to say. She
has an inherent sweetness about her and despite her affability
it is obvious she is uncomfortable with the attention she
is currently receiving.
In 1992, Cruz's
career began taking a serious rise when she appeared in the
Academy Award winning film "Belle Époque"
and the critically acclaimed "Jamon Jamon." However,
her international success came from her work with renowned
Spanish director Pedro Almodovar in 1997's "Carne Trimula/Live
Flesh," and 1999's "Todo Sobre Mi Madre/All About
My Mother."
"I've only
worked with Almodovar twice, but we have a very strong personal
relationship," said Cruz. "He knows me like someone
from my family. He knows me too much and he sees everything
I could never hide anything from him."
In 1998 Cruz made
her American film debut in Stephen Frears' "Hi Lo Country,"
thanks in part to her Spanish performances. Since her American
debut, she has appeared opposite Matt Damon in "All The
Pretty Horses," Johnny Depp in "Blow" and Tom
Cruise in Cameron Crowe's upcoming "Vanilla Sky,"
but huge box-office receipts have alluded Cruz's English speaking
films thus far.
"I've been
combining it with my work in Spain, so it never meant the
end of my career in Spain and the beginning of a new one,"
said Cruz of her crossover to American cinema. "It's
just the continuation of something that I started when I was
very young and I would like it to continue."
If "Captain
Corelli's Mandolin's" UK success is any indication, Cruz
could have her first hit on her hands. The film is already
the highest grossing Nicolas Cage film in the UK, where it
was also a best seller written by Louis de Bernieres.
In the film Cruz
plays Pelagia, an intelligent Greek woman who is the daughter
of a doctor played by John Hurt. Pelagia is all set to marry
Mandras (Bale) until the Italians led by Cage blow through
their quiet Greek Island during World War II.
"It's a little
bit more work, but there is also something interesting that
actually happens when you are working in another language,"
said Cruz of having to speak English with a Greek accent.
"I think you don't hear yourself speaking so much, I
don't recognize myself talking so I think that gives me some
distance with myself to be able to know my self criticism
and be able to be more free and try more things. So that happens
with the language so it's a strange thing it's more work,
but you have more freedom. It's always when a character looks
very different from you, those characters look more difficult
but are the easiest ones."
Cruz considers
herself lucky to be getting such great English speaking roles.
"I felt very
grateful to John that he gave me the opportunity," said
Cruz. "Since it's in English, it's a different thing
than I've done before, but I've been lucky that way getting
different characters all the time and English one means a
lot to me that way."
Filming for "Captain
Corelli's" took place in a remote Greek Island that everyone
in the production fell in love with.
"It was amazing,"
said Cruz of her location. "My family came to see me,
the movie ended and they stayed there and now they are there
again. It's a magical place, it was difficult to leave after
three months."
Cruz's recent relationship
with Tom Cruise though, has put her in the spotlight negatively
for the first time. Where before she was the "it"
girl ? as in the next big thing -- she has now become fodder
for tabloid gossip and Hollywood rumors and has become forced
to deal with the rigors of being an American film star.
"My experience
in Spain makes it very easy, because now it's happening on
a bigger scale," said Cruz of her recent stint in the
public eye. "I've been dealing with it since I was 15
so actually it's like having two professions in one. The reason
I became an actor is because I love acting and always learning
something new, but then you have to find you have to deal
with another thing and you learn how to deal with it and it's
like another profession."
Just because she's
learning to deal with her success, Cruz is not oblivious to
the shenanigans that come with fame.
"I think that
line is crossed many times because it makes me feel uncomfortable,"
said Cruz. "I think it depends on how a person deals
with it. I used to watch those kinds of shows, but I don't
anymore because it sucks. Because I don't watch it anymore,
I'm much happier because it's like it's not happening."
Cruz's American
transition, though, is coming along slowly complete with her
mastering the English language, but it is coming together.
She says she now is beginning to have dreams in English and
will continue to work in both countries.
"I don't want
to work all the time," said Cruz of balancing her career.
"I want to work, but I also want to do other things,
so I have the privilege not to do something that I don't want
to do and that's what I always dreamed to have."
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