When I was on the set, I was not talking on the phone or reading anything else. I was just reading things, listening to music and watching things that had to do with the state of the scene. So it would be a constant, maintaining for the whole day that state. If I had an hour off for lunch, I would put on a movie or something that would help me stay in that area. And at the end of the day, I was like a zombie.
If we continue on the path we're on, there simply won't be enough fresh water for everyone.
When I read a script, I try not to judge the characters. I try to have an open mind and really see what it makes me feel.
Pedro Almodóvar asked me to watch italian films again as homework to look at the energy of all those women from the Italian neo-realist films. A lot of them had those characters that represented motherhood. For some reason, in the '50s in Italy, the mother figure was very important - and my character needed to have that energy.
Pedro's Almodovar different - very unique, very particular and difficult to compare to anyone else. But I've been lucky with many of the people that I've worked with. I think I've been very lucky with great opportunities - directors like Stephen Frears, Cameron Crowe and Fernando Trueba, as well as Bigas Luna, who gave me my first opportunity. There are a lot of people I would love to work with again. But, of course, I have a special relationship with Pedro and I don't think it's good to hide that.
Calcutta is like another world. People there are very special and grateful.
When I am dreaming at night, I see everything as a shot from a movie. I have cranes and extras in my dreams. I swear to you! It doesn't happen every day, but many nights my dreams are like a movie. I don't see normal movement - I see things in very complicated shots.
I am a big fan of photography, more of being behind the camera - so when I get the opportunity to work with such great photographers, I always try and learn from their technique.
As an actress, I really love people like Anna Magnani and Debra Winger. I also think there is nobody better than Meryl Streep.
I can cook a few things. I always save the same recipes to impress my friends, and I always do two or three things, so they think I can cook. But I don't know how to do anything else.
I really think insecurity is something that comes with being an actor - I don't know actors who aren't insecure. I do think I kind of lie to myself - there is a percentage of ego involved. And I don't say that's a bad thing - it's good to know that it's there whether we like it or not. But ego is like a lion that we have to keep under control.
It feels great and it's very beautiful when you can bring someone of your own nationality into a story, where even the historic element of it is important. I loved that I could use my own accent for the character.
I don't know if I believe in marriage. I believe in family, love and children.
In my house every Sunday, everybody was cleaning the house. There was always music, and everybody was dancing, sometimes naked around the house. Not hippie, but very free.
I used to dance for seventeen years -classical ballet, which was very disciplined. I like yoga and Pilates, but I don't have the discipline to go to the gym.
Madrid is what I call home, but also the States.
Sometimes you will do a close-up for a scene in the morning where you are totally distraught, then shoot the rest of that scene seven hours later. How do you hang on to that feeling all day without burning up, without going so far that you have nothing left to give when the cameras roll again?
There's so much more I want to do. I refuse to get to 50 and wait at home for the phone to ring. In Spain, actresses work until they are old. That's my plan.
Johnny Depp is so special that he is like a Martian. In fact, that's what I call him, Martian.
I was happy that I finally could play a mature woman, because I started working when I was a teenager and was always playing characters according to my age.
I'm very honored to play one of the women in the movie Volver, and it was special acting with all those other talented actresses. Carmen Maura is a legend and it was a thrill to make a movie with her.
I have had a very singular kind of life since I started working so young, so I am very used to traveling, working, taking time for myself.
I think it will be better when I get involved with someone again, because I made this time for me. I haven't really been single for a while, and I think it's been good for me, to lose the fear to be like this.
It's very much like a torture sometimes, the process of trying to get rid of an accent.
I still feel like I have so much to learn. I love that feeling, that next time I go to set, I will be terrified again. I don't want it to be any other way.
