FILM INTERVIEW: MICHAEL KEATON & EVA MENDES

By: Team Buzzine

August 7, 2010

By: Izumi Hasegawa

Izumi Hasegawa: We heard that Will Ferrell actually insists in having a guy on set who counts lines, so there’s a constant line-count rotating through the production…

Eva Mendes: I had the least amount of lines. I lost that one.

Michael Keaton: It’s a miserable experience, but when you look at it on screen, the guy has an approach, and it works.

IH: Eva, the joke in the movie is all about Will’s perception of you and how everyone else sees you. Does it amaze you in real life how hot guys think you are?

EM: Wow! Help me. I don’t know how to answer this. I’m going to sound like an asshole for saying this, but the truth is the fame walks in the door before you do, so you no longer know how men really react to you. They just react to, “Dude, there’s that famous girl from Training Day in the other room.” I just don’t feel like I get that genuine response anymore. I’m going to tell you a little story. I did this movie a few years ago with Will Smith called Hitch, and we went around the world promoting the film. He calls me Reba, so one day we were in Rio doing press, and he came back and we had a coffee. He goes, “That Reba — that’s it — she’s the best. That’s it. She’s a beautiful girl. This is Reba.” Well, I just went down to the coffee shop and I saw about five Rebas that worked there. He said, “In Brazil, you’re not a big deal.” Puts it all in perspective.

IH: How was it working with Mark Wahlberg in a comedy?

MK: Let me say this, everybody: that guy was ridiculously funny. He does voices and impressions… I was knocked out. When you look at him, sometimes you think, “He’s nice enough, but he looks like he’s going to kick my ass,” and that doesn’t make you feel very comfortable. He is committed to the reality.

IH: There was a lot of pop cultural references in the movie. Was that in the script?

MK: No, I worked pretty closely with a lot of sociology and anthropology professors.

IH: Michael, have you had lousy jobs?

MK: I have, and I have one right now.

IH: Mr. Keaton, you’ve played some cops and action heroes in movies. Did you feel it coming full circle to get to play captain?

MK: Yeah, and if I was a higher rank, that would be even more of a complete circle. I’ve played a bunch of cops, and none on a set that was this much fun. They were all fun. I always have a good time while I’m working. I go to work in the morning and I start laughing. Then I come home thinking about the day, laughing. Then I have a really nice meal and stay in a really nice hotel. I wake up in the morning and start it all over again. It’s the most ridiculously great job.

IH: Eva, are you playing Maria Callas in Greek Fire?

EM: Actually, Julian Fellowes is writing the script right now for me, based on Nic Cage’s Greek Fire. It wouldn’t focus on any of her actual performances and her singing; it would focus on her relationship with Aristotle Onasis, which I’ve become very obsessed with. It’s a very interesting kind of Greek tragedy within itself. So it wouldn’t focus on the singing.

IH: So it’s when she was already thin?

EM: It’s when she became Callas, so yes.

IH: Do you try to peel away the layers of diva and find the person?

EM: It has nothing to do with her becoming Callas. It’s already her being Callas, meeting a man who she gave everything up for which was her dream. But what she didn’t realize was when she gave everything up for this man is he left her because that’s exactly what he wanted, the everything. So it’s a really beautiful tragedy. I am talking about business and I have my serious face on, and dammit, you will respect me.

IH: What is your favorite cop film?

EM: I’m going to go with Michael Mann’s Thief, absolutely.

MK: I was going to say Serpico, but it’s not really a cop movie per se. There’s a little film with Dustin Hoffman years ago called Straight Time. It’s a really underrated performance. There’s a scene where he looks at this gun and he’s got to stay straight. It is awesome what he does in it, looking at that gun, knowing what he’s thinking about. It’s really great.

EM: I have to say, and I’ll probably sound like a total ass right, now but Mark’s movie we did, We Own the Night — I love that movie.

IH: Eva, are you more comfortable in drama, action, or comedy?

EM: I think it’s really about who you work with. I feel like I’ve never had more fun than I have on this set, and I’m not just saying that. McKay is like my Scorsese, and that would make Anchorman my…what? Raging Bull? Okay. I’m going to go with that. No, I definitely had so much fun here, and I felt really at home, but at the same time, I mentioned We Own the Night earlier, and I had a different kind of fun but equally as creatively stimulating. So it’s just about the people you work with I think, for me anyway.

IH: Michael, did you want to read the script?

MK: I read the script 77 times. No, I always read. I get…not annoying but a tad thorough, so I would probably have more conversations than were really necessary because I really wanted to do it, but I’m a question-asker. So I said, “Yeah, okay, let’s do it, but I have certain things lined up to see if I even know what we’re going to do.” It was really fundamental stuff. “How about this? How do you want to play that?” Then I was in.