{"id":65213,"date":"2013-03-26T11:47:01","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T11:47:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2013\/03\/26\/eva-mendes-talks-the-place-beyond-the-pines\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T09:29:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T09:29:36","slug":"eva-mendes-talks-the-place-beyond-the-pines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/eva-mendes-talks-the-place-beyond-the-pines\/","title":{"rendered":"Eva Mendes Talks The Place Beyond The Pines"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eva Mendes Talks The Place Beyond The Pines<\/a><\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

March 26, 2013<\/p>\n

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Coming out this week (March 29) is Derek Cianfrance<\/strong>\u2019s latest film, The Place Beyond The Pines<\/a><\/strong>, which features his \u2018Blue Valentine\u2019 star Ryan Gosling, Eve Mendes<\/strong>, and Bradley Cooper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

This compelling drama centers on a motorcycle stunt rider (Gosling) who turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover (Mendes) and their newborn child; a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop (Cooper) navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.<\/p>\n

For Mendes, who plays Gosling\u2019s lover in the film, this role is a big departure from her last known film, Leos Carax’s bizarre but polarizing film \u2018Holy Motors,\u2019 where she played a fashion model who gets kidnapped by a troll. Prior to that, she appeared in a cameo, but reprising her role as agent Monica Fuentes in \u2018Fast Five.\u2019<\/p>\n

In promoting \u2018Beyond the Pines,\u2019 Mendes addresses her reasons for doing the film, goes over her character, and working with director Derek Cianfrance and Ryan Gosling.<\/p>\n

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It was a wonderful, dramatic and intense role but you are the only person who seems to age when they go to fifteen years later\u2014everyone else looks the same. Was this something you said to Derek (Cianfrance, the director).Is the way you wanted it to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eva Mendes: <\/strong>Because of the tragedy she suffered I wanted to make sure that you could see it\u2014that you could see it in her face and body. And I did certain little tricks that I want to keep secret to make sure I looked haggard and just kind of like time has its way with me. I did\u2014I talked to Derek a bit. I did all the obvious\u2014like crying a bit. One of the little tricks I did was to shave down my eyebrows to look very, very thin. I do not really recommend it for an everyday look (laughs) but when you want to change your face a bit and look a little insane, it actually works. So, I wanted it to be stemming from an emotional place rather than going into prosthetics or aging too much because the truth is, at the start of the film, she is in her mid to late 20s\u2014it\u2019s a little ambiguous\u2014then you are going into her early 40s and there is a difference there but it is not as drastic. We were like, \u201cWe don\u2019t want the attention (in the film) to go into, \u2018Oh my god, is that her?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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But emotionally we see her change\u2014I saw her emotional change.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Great, that is what I was concentrating on.<\/p>\n

So how did you make that emotional change? What happened? How did you get yourself from there to there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Well, it\u2019s the same thing that I do on every film whether it\u2019s a big studio film or a comic book film or a film like this: I work very closely with my acting coach, Ivana Chubbuck. I have worked with her since Training Day. We get together on a rainy day and break down the character. For me, it\u2019s the process that I love. I love to work on a character and break down all that emotional stuff. And thankfully, Derek Cianfrance, is my dream director. I love how this man works. I can\u2019t get enough of it as far as the way he approaches things; and I knew from the audition that we were onto something special because I came to see him for this role and said to him (I\u2019m from Los Angeles and he\u2019s from New York), \u201cI can go into that room and read this material for you but I really don\u2019t think that\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for. I think we should get into a car and I will take you for a drive around the neighborhoods I grew up in Los Angeles and you can see how me and this character are really alike; and I can talk to you about my experiences growing up.\u201d And he was totally into it, and we took this beautiful couple of hours in the car and I talked to him about my upbringing and I showed him where I was from and I drew the parallels between the characters. It was so great. So, the fact that he was so into that non-conventional approach to auditioning, I was like, \u201cOh gosh, this is going to be fun. I like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It is not exactly singing a lullaby to males (laughs) but I saw some emotional parallels between Holy Motors-\u2013your character there–and here (in Beyond The Pines). There is tenderness and confusion and motherliness to a beastly character. You didn\u2019t try to tie them together at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>No. I did Holy Motors just a month after I wrapped Pines so maybe there was a little residual (effect) that went over.<\/p>\n

But the residual is still there\u2014you are still pulling the same things out (in Pines). It just shows you as a great actress. Seriously, you did a great performance in both films.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>Thanks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why does your character continue to see this one night stand it sounds like, this fling (in Pines)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> That was my question I asked myself before I started this film in Schenectady. I have so many women in my like\u2014my family, my friends, my sisters and my mother\u2014that before I started on the character, I wanted to have a women\u2019s day at home. I brought all these women\u2014they were all mothers\u2014and we all sat around and talked and ate. We all had fun but I gave them a subject matter (to ponder). I gave them a question. I said, \u201cOK, so here is a situation\u2014you have a child with a man you don\u2019t know. That man is out of the picture. Then you meet a great man who wants to provide for this child as if it were his own. Then the biological father comes back into the picture. He wants to be involved in your life but you have this great man who wants to provide because the biological father is unfit. What do you do?\u201d And the thing is that I thought you go with the man who is fit to provide for the child. And all these women were like, \u201cNooooooo!\u201d Everything in your body and your being has a primordial pull to the biological father no matter how wrong or unfit he may be and you try everything to make that work. Not to say it is going to work but you do try to make that work somehow. And I was like, \u201cAh! Wow! This is so interesting.\u201d I got so much insight from my friends and family and women who were in similar situations. It was amazing; it was so helpful for me. So I figured that when she kept seeing him\u2014when Romina kept seeing Luke\u2014she was flawed and she wanted to keep the man who was stable but she was like \u201cAh, let me see, let me test him out first (when it comes to Luke).\u201d Before she introduces the baby to him, she tests him out a little bit\u2014she\u2019s testing the waters a bit and she\u2019s scared and trepidacious but there\u2019s an \u201coh my God, can this work\u201d kind of feeling, and obviously, you have to play a little bit and can\u2019t ignore the fact that Luke is incredibly exciting. He\u2019s a motorcycle stunt driver in a traveling carnival that comes into this sleepy little town. It is the early 90s and there is no Facebook\u2014nobody knows where anybody\u2019s at. (Laughs.) He\u2019s disappeared, he\u2019s come back in and she\u2019s still like a young women who\u2019s caught up in this \u201cwhole\u201d larger than life character who\u2019s electric. He\u2019s filled with electricity and that is something that is (appealing).<\/p>\n

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Can you feel for her and that feeling? We have all been there in bad relationships.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>Speak for yourself. (Laughs.) Not really because I grew up in the city and everything was so exciting. My mom worked at Hollywood Chinese Theater. She worked at the box office and souvenir shop but I don\u2019t know. I was always like (used to it). I think maybe I would be (excited) if I grew up in a sleepy town.<\/p>\n

How did you feel about the costumes? I thought they worked very well visually\u2014one looked like a T-shirt that was cut into two pieces for the men in your life. And those necklaces that seemed to choke you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>Yes, those were very early 90s. I wanted her to be as raw as raw as raw as could be and this is not a girl who fusses with makeup or clothing. This is a woman who is in survival mode and who\u2019s really bare bones. A little tidbit: those horrific jean shorts that were so God-awful were mine from 1992. (Laughs.) I swear\u2026absolutely!<\/p>\n

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The director didn\u2019t make you wear them? You brought them yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>Yeah, first of all\u2014the director doesn\u2019t make me do anything. (Laughs.) I learned that early on. You make your decisions as an actress and if you are really uncomfortable with something, I wouldn\u2019t let a director talk me into it.<\/p>\n

You can fit into 20-year-old jeans still?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Yeah.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re a goddess!<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Well, if you notice, they\u2019re a little ripped on the sides, so they needed some tweaking. (Laughs.) But the director because he\u2019s so incredible, he loved it. This is what I love about Derek: he wants as much personal stuff that you can infuse a character with. That is what he loves. That is what he really invites and encourages. I love that. So he loved that I had those shorts\u2014but they were very ill fitting and I was just like, \u201cThat is what I want for her. She\u2019s raw.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Your connection with Ryan in the movie is incredible\u2014did you anticipate this before you started? Did you know him before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Ryan and I have known each other for years.<\/p>\n

So you felt you would be able to show that onscreen?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>You never known what happens before. You can be friends with somebody and not like how they work but I obviously respect him so much as an actor. He is certainly up to my game and everybody else\u2019s game, I think.<\/p>\n

If you are friends with someone does it make it harder or easier for you to do a scene? Was it awkward to do the love scenes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>We\u2019ve known each other for years. Love scenes are always awkward. Let\u2019s just say that. They\u2019re awful. You guys have heard it (before). I am not giving you anything you haven\u2019t heard from every other actress or actor. Love scenes are terrible. I have managed to\u2014in my career\u2014really skip through them. There are times in a script where I read that my character has a love scene and I carefully address it with the director and I say, \u201cCan we please cut this out? I fell like it is gratuitous. There is no need for it and thankfully that has happened. I feel like I try to avoid them whenever I can and I have done a couple of things that have been appropriate for the films I have been in but I have never done a simulated sex scene because I just feel like they are rarely appropriate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What are Romina\u2019s feelings towards Luke in the movie? Does she love him?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>I think that\u2019s up to everybody to kind of feel and I like when people come up to me and say, \u201cOh, she really loved him\u201d or \u201cNo, she really didn\u2019t\u2014she was doing it for her son!\u201d I don\u2019t even know but I think certainly she was a woman in a really difficult predicament. I am so happy that I had that woman\u2019s day at my house. It added a lot of layers (to my character in this film).<\/p>\n

What type of a mother do you think she is? The son seems to be quite a mess. We see that she has spent 15 years raising this kid who seems troubled. <\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> Right. This is so funny. I am suddenly feeling maternal and overprotective but I am about to say, \u201cHe wasn\u2019t as bad as the other kid!\u201d It\u2019s the other kid\u2019s fault; he set him up. (Laughs.)<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s always the quiet kids who wind up being the worst.<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM: <\/strong>The truth is that I just feel that she just over parented. By time we finally see her again, she was like, \u201cOK, he\u2019s a teenager I am going to let him get out of his space a bit.\u201d There were a couple of scenes that were cut. One is when I smack him and it was heartbreaking to smack his sweet little face and there was a really hard scene where I was trying to \u201ctough love\u201d him and stuff. But when we see Romina those 15 years later, there\u2019s a sense of her throwing her hands up in the air. Well, not quite throwing her hands up in the air but kind of going, \u201cOK, I don\u2019t know what to do so I\u2019m going to leave this alone because I\u2019ve over parented and then obviously holding on to this alliance to Luke, which is really beautiful. She wanted to avoid that subject matter (of Luke) altogether because it was just too painful but she had that alliance to Luke; she had that bond with him and that she felt that she had to honor him.<\/p>\n

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Are you going to be in the next Fast And Furious film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> No. I am doing Clear History with Larry David. I just finished Clear History and I am so excited.<\/p>\n

Is it a drama or a comedy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

EM:<\/strong> It\u2019s Larry David! (Laughs.) I am really excited about this, you guys. It is all improv. It\u2019s incredible. It\u2019s shot like Curb Your Enthusiasm in a way. It\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n

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