It was the first and only moment in the life of the 37-year-old actress to do some bare scenes in the movie where Javier Bardem also starred in.

Cruz was not able to deal with the nude scenes of her first movie ‘Jamon Jamon’ well but stated that her mother understood her frustrations.   She cut her hair short and never did any love or kissing scenes at all for a long time.

Most of the people have told Cruz that she is putting her career at risk but she just ignored them and instead followed what her heart desired.

Her mother was at ease after Cruz came up with the decision and she even gave her inspiration to move forward and do some other things.

She had come to the realization now that the person who directed the movie ‘Jamon Jamon’, Bigas Luna, was just giving her the opportunity which she is now grateful of.  It was also the time when she first encountered Javier on that film whom she considered as one of the best actors in the world.

Cruz has also stated how much she is enjoying of being a wonderful woman who is appreciated by other people.

It was not really obvious at first until the baby bump on Cruz’s body began to show.  So as not to stop the shooting, they came up to the decision that Penelope will be taken close-up shots while the distance shots will be portrayed by her three-year younger sister Monica.

Monica Cruz, 34 years old, is an dancer and actress in Spain — and looks like 37-year-old Penelope — so it was a perfect match.

“I did a couple of months of training and did what I was able to do, but I couldn’t do everything, just what was safe. Monica came at the end to do some scenes. She’s a dancer and very good with a sword because she’s done a film herself,” said Cruz.

We already have the pictures of the Blackbeard’s daughter which is portrayed by both Penelope and Monica.

Pedro – who has collaborated with the actress many times – said: “She’s the most happy. Better than always!

“She’s with a man who she loves. She’s a really avocational mother. In all my movies she plays a mother. She always said, ‘I want to be a mother.’ ”

The proud mother loves showing off Leo and although their busy schedules mean Penelope and Pedro don’t see each other as often as they would like, the 37-year-old actress sends Pedro, 62, pictures of her son every 15 days.

He added to UsMagazine.com: “She wanted to really experience being a mother in a complete way. She sends me photos of the baby every 15 days. I see how he’s growing. He has an incredibly big smile, you cannot imagine. He’s beautiful, gorgeous and he’s big.”

The second stage of filming in Sarajevo, which began on November 7, ended without interruptions and on schedule, the media said.

Penelope was joined in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital by her husband, acclaimed Spanish actor Javier Bardem, and their young son, Leo, just as she was in September during the first leg of filming in Bosnia

Although their presence aroused a great deal of interest from the media and the general public, the film stars managed to avoid the cameras during their stay.

In Italian director Sergio Castellitto’s “Venuto al mondo,” scheduled for release in Italy and Spain next year, Cruz plays a single mother who accompanies her teenage son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict.

Filming began in September in Sarajevo and scenes also have been shot in Rome and the Croatian island of Korcula.

The film is based on the like-named novel by Margaret Mazzantini, the director’s wife and a bestselling Italian author.

Do you remember the long, leisurely brunches that comprised a weekend morning back in your pre-child days? Neither do we. Once the wee ones arrive, meals out often become a rushed and hurried affair, quickly cramming in your meal before a meltdown ensues.

This week’s CMC, Penelope Cruz, was  spotted eating out, holding her baby Leo with one hand, while eating  with the other, as only a mommy can do. For mere mortals, negotiating the fork, knife, spoon and coffee cup requires two hands. Mothers of babies however, seem to have finely-tuned hand-eye coordination, allowing them to deftly maneuver the various utensils, feeding themselves and keeping the ever-enticing knife out of baby’s reach, all at the same time.

Whether it’s eating with one hand, having an app-laden smartphone, or special “restaurant-only toys” on hand, moms have devised some pretty ingenious ways for keeping babies and kids happy while dining out. What’s your best tip for keeping little ones content at a restaurant?

How much fun did you have on the set of Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

Every day on the set of Pirates was hilarious because Johnny Depp is one of the funniest people I know. He makes me laugh non-stop and he always plays crazy tricks on me. He’s a complete jokester and you never know what he’s going to do next. He even has a machine to give people a little electric shock!

Does that make working with Johnny Depp quite challenging?

Oh, yes! Johnny is like a box of surprises and you’re never bored around him. However, he’s ‘s also very kind and gentle. Johnny and [Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides director] Rob Marshall were so protective, kind and caring at every single moment of the film shoot. I will never forget that for the rest of my life.

What was your biggest challenge on the set?

The biggest challenge was trying not to laugh because Johnny is really funny. He was always trying to make me laugh.

Did you two get the giggles?

Sure, we’d often get the giggles together. When the two of us started to laugh, sometimes we couldn’t stop for a long time – but we had to keep shooting and that was really hard. I’m not exaggerating, sometimes we were laughing for two hours solid. It was hilarious!

You play a rebellious character called Angelica in the movie. Are you a rebel at heart?

I’ve been told that I was rebellious when I was a little girl, but I’m not so rebellious now. It’s funny because Angelica is a great liar, but that’s something I’m terrible at in real life. It was definitely a lot of fun to play in the movie, but I can’t lie at all!

How would you describe Angelica?

Angelica is very calculated. Everything she does is a game; a mental game, a strategy – and it’s a lot of fun to get to understand that mentality. She must be exhausted at the end of the day because nothing is relaxing in her life. Everything is so tricky.

What scary stunts did you have to tackle for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

The same stunt team worked on this film that worked on the first and third Pirates movies, and they are really impressive. They can do anything! They jump from cliffs 100 meters high, and the fights they get into are incredible.

What stunts did you have to do?

Well, I was pretty lucky because I didn’t do too many of the stunts. However, the stunt team taught me how to sword fight a couple of months before the movie started. That was very cool!

Would you say you’re a good swashbuckler now?

I know how to work with a sword, which is really interesting – but I don’t know if I’m a swashbuckler. You know what? I love the peculiar things we get to learn in this industry. I learned how to gallop a camel once! The next time I go to the desert, I’m really going to impress my friends with that skill. Camels really gallop fast!

Angelica wears fantastic costumes in the movie. Did you have much input into the wardrobe?

The costumes were amazing for every character in the movie, especially Angelica. When I wore her costume and her boots it really helped me get into character.

Who was responsible for the wardrobe on the movie?

A woman called Penny Rose designed all of the outfits in the movie and she did an amazing job.

At one point in the movie, Angelica pretends to be Captain Jack Sparrow. Were those scenes fun to film?

It was definitely a lot of fun to wear the mustache for those scenes! After a while, I kept forgetting I was wearing it and I would talk to people with a straight face, but they would start laughing. Sometimes it bugged me because I would think, ‘Why does everyone keep laughing at me today?’

What did Johnny Depp think of your Captain Jack impersonation?

Johnny thought it was fantastic, especially the mustache. Those scenes took about a week to shoot and it was one of the most fun times during the making of the movie. We were constantly laughing away!

Another fun scene in the movie sees Angelica stranded on a desert island. Where was that scene filmed?

That little island was in Puerto Rico. It’s called Palominito Islet and I’m not sure if it is private, but it is very, very small and beautiful.

If you were stranded on a desert island, which three things would you take with you?

I would only need my family and friends with me. That would be fine. Oh, and some water and food, and maybe some music too. I know that’s more than three, but that’s what I’d need!

Which set impressed you the most while making this film?

When they told me they were building a beach in Los Angeles, I thought I hadn’t understood them properly. But then I got to the set and there was a complete beach built at Universal Studios! That was very, very impressive. I’m amazed at the things they can do.

Would you sign up for another Pirates Of The Caribbean film if they ask you?

I would love to work with everyone again, especially Johnny and Rob. When I said yes to this film, I hadn’t even read the script; that’s how much I trusted them and that’s how much I wanted to work with them. I’d love to do it all again, but who knows what the future holds…

The actress, 37, who is currently shooting her latest film Venuto al Mondo in Rome, was seen pulling a number of adorable, as well as silly, poses.

The stunning brunette was clearly feeling playful acting out her character Gemma and Penelope was seen pulling her cardigan up over her head for a childish, but super sweet look.

was seen in a floral dress, bare feet and the cardigan as she moved and danced around.

Despite the unusual moves the Spanish star still managed to look sexy albeit in a rather cute, and strange way.

Throughout the shoot, Penelope was seen being attended to be crew members including to help her put on some hard-wearing boots, a change from her bare feet.

They pair an argument that culminated in the brunette beauty throwing Hirsch’s character’s cigarette into the water.

Penelope had been dressed in a drab ensemble consisting of a green dress, long-sleeved mint top and crocheted shawl.

Man (almost) overboard! Feisty Penelope was seen filming a fight with Emile Hirsch yesterday

 

 

 

Slap! The Oscar winner gets ready to give the actor a good thunk

Cruz plays the part of Gemma, a single mother who accompanies her teenage son to present-day Sarajevo, the hometown of his father, who died in 1992-1995 Bosnian war.

 

She recently filmed in Serbia where she displayed a shorter, straight bobbed style, before moving on to the Italian capital.

 

Her husband, Javier Bardem, had accomapnied her to the city of amore, along with their 10-month-old son, Leo Encinas.

 

Involved: Emile takes control and moves in for Penelope’s neck as he sits on a chair

 

Playing nice: Onscreen mother and son take a break from sparring

 

The gorgeous family enjoyed the best of Italy on Saturday, when they indulged in a traditional Italian pasta lunch during Penelope’s break from shooting.

 

Unfortunately, the 42-year-old had to leave his wife because of his own commitments.

 

He is now in New York, where he addressed the United Nations about ending the human

by Sarah Fitzmaurice,

Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, her husband, Javier Bardem, and their son, Leo, are in Sarajevo, where she will begin filming `Venuto al Mondo`, Bosnian media reported.

The movie is about a single mother, Gemma, who brings her 16-year-old son to Sarajevo, where his father died in the 1990s Bosnian conflict. It is based on a best-seller by Margaret Mazzantini. The filming will start Sept. 12 and last for 11 days.

The Spanish star won a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ Oscar for her performance as a crazed painter opposite future husband Javier Bardem in Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Being able to work with the acclaimed filmmaker still stands one of Cruz’s crowning achievements, The Vancouver Sun quotes the star as saying.

“It gave me a great experience making it, along with the privilege of working with Woody Allen, whom I first admired as a little girl. I’ve seen all his movies, so just to be around him, to spend time with him, to work with him,” she explained. “It also gave me an Oscar, so it’s a very special movie for me.”

Cruz will begin filming on Allen’s 42nd feature film in Italy this summer, but refused to provide any details about her character out of “respect” to the director’s wishes.

“We’re going to shoot in Rome in July,” the star added. “I can’t wait to be around him again, because he makes me laugh so much.”

Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Maricel Álvarez and Judy Davis have also signed to appear in Bop Decameron, which is expected to premiere next year.

Source: Digital Spy

In an interview with Parade, the actor – who plays Hector Barbossa in the film franchise – credited Cruz’s varied career with helping to “raise the bar” on the project and to provide conflict for hero Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).

“She is such an amazing actress. You look at Vicky Cristina Barcelona and that’s one of the high comedy acts onscreen. It certainly deserves an Academy Award,” he explained. “And you see her in a Pedro Almodovar film as a great dramatic actress. So to have that come in and raise the bar as a principal character, and with Ian McShane, it kept us on our toes.

Watch our recent interview with Geoffrey Rush below:

That surpasses the previous record foreign opening of the sixth Harry Potter film, 2009′s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which earned $236 million internationally.

Walt Disney co. said On Stranger Tides, the fourth Pirates installment, earned $90.1 million domestically. Its combined worldwide total is $346.4 million, the fourth largest global opening ever.

The new 3-D film jettisons co-stars Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, but brings back Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Chicago director Rob Marshall took the helm from Gore Verbinski, who directed the trilogy. Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane introduce new characters.

It was a risky reboot considering the popularity of the previous Pirates films. The last, 2007′s At World’s End, opened with $114.7 million.

But At World’s End was also badly reviewed and disappointing to much of its audience. For Disney, which has expansive merchandising and theme park tie-ins to Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s a crucial franchise. The first three movies earned a combined $2.7 billion worldwide.

“The whole play of this particular movie was based on a worldwide release because of our feeling of how strong the international marketplace would be,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution at Disney. “Johnny is not just a domestic star. Johnny is an international star.”

Viane said the result vindicated the franchise’s new look, that audiences “loved the rebooted attitude.” Viane didn’t comment on whether this meant a subsequent fifth film, but that seems extremely likely. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer already has a script in the works.

On Stranger Tides was the only new film in wide-release on the weekend. In its second week of release, the acclaimed comedy Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig, was second at the box office with $21 million. That was an impressively small decrease of just 20 percent from the Universal release’s opening weekend of $26.2 million.

The slight decrease was even less than popular comedies like The Hangover and Wedding Crashers, which had similarly sustained business due to strong word-of-mouth.

Last week’s top film at the box office, the comic book adaptation Thor, from Paramount, slid to third place in its third week of release. It earned $15.5 million, bringing its cumulative total to $145.4 million.

Making its limited-release debut was Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which has received some of the best reviews for Allen in years. The Sony Pictures Classics release opened in just six theaters, but drew an exceptional per-screen average of more than $96,000.

Though On Stranger Tides had the best North America opening of the year, the international revenue was the larger story. The film traded on its foreign appeal by casting international stars like Cruz and setting itself in bright tropical locales.

“This proves the importance of the global marketplace,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com.

The film performed especially strong in Russia, China and India, accounting for $52.6 million. It set an all-time record in Russia, taking in $28.6 million.

The film benefited from higher ticket prices for 3-D showings, but perhaps more importantly from IMAX screenings. “On Stranger Tides” set a global record for IMAX with $16.7 million worldwide.

Propelled largely by the Pirates installment and the continuing success of “Bridesmaids,” it was the second “up” weekend in a row as compared with box office figures from the same weekend last year. Next weekend, the three-day Memorial Day weekend, also appears bright, with debuts from The Hangover Part II from Warner Bros. and Kung Fu Panda 2 from Paramount.

Combined with the second weekend of On Stranger Tides, Dergarabedian expects it to be one of the biggest moviegoing Memorial Day weekends ever.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, $90.1 million.
2. Bridesmaids, $21 million.
3. Thor, $15.5 million.
4. Fast Five, $10.6 million.
5. Rio, $4.7 million.
6. Priest, $4.6 million.
7. Jumping the Broom, $3.7 million.
8. Something Borrowed, $3.4 million.
9. Water For Elephants, $2.2 million.
10. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, $990,000.

Source: Yahoo

Here are some reviews on the film and Penélope’s performance. Reviews are mixed, although not surprisingly pretty negative. I have also added production stills to the gallery.

From: The Hollywood Reporter

Angelica is Jack’s match for swordplay and sexy banter, and while the tone of the film, which deals with a search for the fountain of youth, is darker than the three directed by Gore Verbinski, its action, adventure and comedy will see it find a similar pot of theatrical gold.

… Cruz makes a splendid entrance in disguise but once revealed she brings her Oscar-winning vivacity to an irrepressible woman who claims to be Blackbeard’s daughter. McShane, too, grabs his first appearance on the bridge of a pirate ship with great panache.

… At 136 minutes, the film is marginally the shortest in the series and it profits from that. Cruz is a wonderful addition and a teaser following the credits augers well for more so long as Depp continues to get as much enjoyment from playing the role as he gives to his audience.

From: The Guardian

He finds himself confronting an old rival, or possibly an old flame: fiery buccaneer Angelica, played by Penélope Cruz, who has been trying to pressgang a crew of ne’er-do-wells among the city taverns to set sail with the terrifying Blackbeard – who she claims is her father.

Some might find their enthusiasm for the Pirates films sinking. I have to say that mine is still there, just about. Depp’s Sparrow is a genuinely funny character and Depp still puts the ho-ho into yo-ho-ho.

From: LA Times

The newest shipmates include Penélope Cruz as Angelica, a former lover of Capt. Jack whose paterfamilias is none other than the villainous Blackbeard, Ian McShane doing his witty wicked thing. She’s a lethal beauty who has a winning way with a rapier but suffers far worse battles with the bad lighting, which can be the only explanation for the fact that Cruz looks more sullen than sultry most of the time.

From: Daily Mail

As his romantic interest, Penelope Cruz manages to be neither romantic nor interesting. Depp and Cruz don’t strike sparks off each other, even though they are meant to be old flames. She looks feisty and Spanish, and evidently thinks this is enough.

From: EW

There is also a great deal of turgid scene-chewing devoted to the issue of whether Angelica (Penélope Cruz), Jack’s ”feisty” new love interest, is actually Blackbeard’s daughter. Cruz, rather than enticing, is testy and one-note, and Jack doesn’t seem all that sparked by her.

From: Roger Ebert

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is about what you’d expect. It is long, expensive and bombastic, and the beautiful mermaid has a tantalizing way of not coming quite far enough out of the water. For me, it’s too much of a muchness. The whole series was inspired by a ride at Disneyland. There’s a bright side to that. At least no movie has yet been inspired by It’s a Small World.

From: Variety

Cruz is a reliably welcome, gorgeous presence, though she too often falls back on the “feisty Latina” signifiers that have been the crutch of so much of her English-language work.

Pictures have been added to the gallery! New visitors, don’t miss all our recent premiere photos, as Pe has been globe trotting almost daily lately. Also remember you can follow us on Twitter, @penelopecruzorg for the instance updates to your twitter feed!

When Penelope Cruz revealed that she was pregnant halfway through filming her latest picture, there was no question of being made to walk the plank from Pirates of the Caribbean. “I just had a new costume fitting every three weeks,” recalls Cruz. “They were very good about it.” In fact, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Rob Marshall were so keen to keep Cruz aboard that they navigated their blockbuster movie around her condition. Besides swapping her corsets for stretchier fabrics, Cruz’s sister, Monica, a dancer and actress, was brought in to body double for the 37-year-old actress on the swashbuckling stunts and swordfights.

“Their reaction could not have been better,” says Cruz, who married Spanish actor Javier Bardem last summer and gave birth to their first son Leonardo in January. Motherhood is something Cruz has played close to her chest; in the past she had repeatedly claimed she was more likely to adopt, and she and Bardem didn’t announce Leonardo’s arrival for a full week. Today, her husband is nowehere to be seen and her son is safely stashed far from prying camera lenses, but above Cruz’s wedding band sparkles a diamond-encrusted “maternity ring”, a gift from Bardem.

“Things I had been worrying about before are suddenly incredibly insignificant,” she admits. “All that matters now is my family, and this little family I have started now.”

Since she first became famous, at age 18, Cruz has shied away from personal revelations. If anything, tabloid attention has made her even more reticent. In the past her on-set romances with Tom Cruise and Matthew McConaughey have been a source of speculation, while film critics judged both her career choices and her English skills and found them wanting. Yet the past few years have been transformative for Cruz: a three-time Oscar-nominated actress, she finally took home the award for her stunning diva turn in Woody Allan’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) and she’s become the first Mediterranean actress since Sophia Loren to earn a place on the Hollywood A-List. And she’s also learnt to shut out unhelpful opinions.

“I try not to read about myself on the internet,” she says. “You can get angry for no reason. The good and the bad – everything is out of proportion.”

Admittedly the balance of news is good right now: besides an Oscar, a marriage and a baby son, there’s Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which opens today. The rebooted film is a return to form for the franchise following the lukewarm reception to the more recent outings. A couple of overlong and over-complicated sequels had made audiences a little seasick, so the studio decided to change the colours of the flags, marking a back-to-basics return to vigorous looting, and rapier wits.

From an early stage, producer Jerry Bruckheimer had a picture of Cruz on the drawing board: a feisty beauty more than able to hold her own against Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow. Unlike Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann, there’s no swooning in corsets for Cruz, who stipulated that if she came on board the franchise, she had to be a pirate too.

Eventually Marshall, who had just directed her in a musical remake of Fellini’s Nine, took her out for dinner to try to persuade her to take up the role. “But I said yes before I read the script,” smiles Cruz, who had worked with Depp before, on 2001′s Blow. “I said, ‘Are you crazy? I would love to do this. With you and Johnny, I don’t need to read anything’.”

On Stranger Tides was filmed around the world – at London’s Pinewood Studios, the Royal Naval College in Greenwich and at Hampton Court, as well as on a tiny island in Puerto Rico in temperatures above 40C. The island, where Depp and Cruz are supposedly marooned for one scene, had nowhere to hide a portaloo for the stars, which caused temporary anxiety for Cruz who was by then well into her pregnancy. “In the end I would take off part of my costume and head into the sea every so often,” she admits. “Everyone thought I was cooling off, but in fact I just had to pee.”

Most of her scenes are with Ian McShane, who plays Blackbeard, her pirate father, or with Depp who alternately woos and feuds with Cruz’s Angelica.

In real life, Depp and Cruz are more like brother and sister than sparring lovers, sharing a goofy sense of humour that led to Cruz donning yet another costume on the final day when she lost a bet to Depp. During filming the pair of them had become obsessed with the animated adult comedy South Park, and Cruz’s penalty on the final day was a brown Depp-designed outfit which was supposed to resemble Mr Hanky The Christmas Poo. “Christmas Poo” sounds positively delightful in Cruz’s heavy accent, but apparently the outfit was not. “Johnny made me walk around in the costume while he took photographs of me” she says. “I hope they don’t see the light of day.”

Next for Cruz is a reunion with Woody Allen for The Wrong Picture in Rome.
Their last collaboration won her an Oscar, and a husband – although Cruz and Bardem had known each other for 16 years and started their careers together in Bigas Luna’s Jamon Jamon, it wasn’t until they played husband and wife in the Allan picture that they clicked in real life. Yet all Cruz can remember of the film is that “I was crying and screaming for the whole time. I had no idea what I was doing with that character.”

Cruz is often prey to doubts about her ability, and tormented Allen – a one-take director from the Clint Eastwood school – by requesting that he redo her scenes over and over again. This is perhaps a legacy of her early experiences of Hollywood; despite being a huge star in Spain, she struggled for years to crack the international market.

One of her first English-speaking roles was in a Lynda LaPlante series called Framed, where she played one of Timothy Dalton’s many girlfriends and ended up having her voice dubbed by another actress. On the set of her first English-language movie, The Hi-Lo Country, she locked herself in the bathroom, crying, because her lack of English vocabulary meant she didn’t understand what her castmates were saying. Even in the mid-1990s, films like Gothika, Sahara and Bandidas were failing to win hearts and minds.

Cruz could write off these movies now, but doesn’t. Instead she stoutly insists that “every movie I’ve done since I was 17 is important: the ones that are good; the ones that are bad.”

The big change is that she’s no longer someone who says yes quite so easily, and after years of signing up for what seemed like any movie that came her way, she’s now pickier about her projects.

“A few years ago I changed the rhythm a little bit,” she agrees. “I was a workaholic, and used to work on three or four movies every year, but that changed a while ago. Now I maybe do one a year, two if they are very short. It’s very important for me to have that equilibrium, to have that balance, because I was always tired before. I could never enjoy the work, because I was always tired. Now I think I have a more healthy equilibrium.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, is on general release from today

Source: The Scotsman

“Why not, if we find the right project? But that remains to be seen. Who I’d like to work with again is Pedro (Almodovar), (Alejandro) Amenabar, with Bigas and … with others with whom I haven’t worked in my country, like Julio Medem: I have a lot left to do and a lot to learn,” she said in an interview with Efe.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is an “adventure (film) and is filmed in 3D, a perfect marriage,” said director and choreographer Rob Marshall, who – among his other projects – directed the 2009 musical Nine, where he met Cruz.

“The filming was marvelous. We traveled for six months all over the world, we went to Hawaii, to Puerto Rico, to an island named Palominillo and then (to) London to shoot,” Cruz said.

The actress, whose main problem was not her pregnancy but rather the fact that she didn’t know how to use a sword, said that the help of her companions on the project – and even before the filming began – was very important.

“I was working for two months with the team that did the other Pirates films and they taught me a lot. Then, during the filming, we did what was safe. For the rest, I had a marvelous double who helped me a lot,” her sister Monica, Cruz said.

In July, Cruz will film a movie with Woody Allen and perhaps, she said, with Roberto Benigni, in Rome and in Italian, something she said she’s looking forward to because at the end of the year she is scheduled to work once again with Italian director Sergio Castellito.

Source: Fox News

Izumi Hasegawa: Johnny, this movie is based on a ride at Disneyland. Have you ever been there and seen your likeness on the ride, and if so, what was your reaction?

Johnny Depp: It’s pretty psychedelic, actually. Yeah. I suppose you could make it more psychedelic, but we probably shouldn’t go into that now. The idea of wandering through this ride and suddenly there you are three times on the thing – I mean, Geoffrey [Rush] has a similar experience there. He has to go in and see his head in there as well. It’s quite an honor, in a weird way. It’s a great honor. Some sort of thing that you took part in creating becomes this forever object.

IH: Penelope, was there a lot of preparation for you doing an action movie, and did you get to go one-on-one with Johnny, or was that all a stunt double?

Penelope Cruz: We did have a lot of preparation. We started a couple of months before the shooting started, with Rob [Marshall] and John DeLuca and our teachers — a team that they had on the other three movies. They are amazing, and they taught me with patience. So I knew most of the choreography because they put them together like choreography, almost like when we were doing Nine together. So it was very helpful that I knew most of them before we started shooting. Then we did a lot of it together, and of course everything was safe because of my situation then. But they were really protective at every moment, and that meant so much to me.

IH: I know that some of this team is going to bring us The Lone Ranger. What kind of movie can we expect in that? Will it be funny like this?

JD: I feel like what we’re creating within these story meetings and script meetings, and in terms of character and in terms of story… I couldn’t say that you could compare it to Pirates, but I suppose, tonally, there is a relationship because there’s a kind of fascination with the absurd that’s involved in The Lone Ranger as well — somewhat of an irreverence. But you need that. You have to have that.

IH: Penelope, what was the key thing for you, in terms of creating this character — the clothes or learning the sword play…? And did you have anyone who inspired you in the way that Keith Richards inspired Mr. Depp?

PC: For shooting a character a like this, it really helps to have those costumes, to be in the real locations. It was very helpful that we didn’t go into a studio until after we shot already for two or three months in Hawaii. Then they built a beach at Universal Studios, and when they told me that, I thought it was my English — that I didn’t understand what they said. Then I went there, and there was really a beach at Universal Studios. Then we went to Puerto Rico to this deserted, private island, and then we ended up in London at Pinewood. But all of that helped me a lot to try to imagine what the pirate world at that time was, because it’s so far from our reality to create a character like that. It’s all about your imagination, and I think it really helped to be in those beautiful places.

IH: Johnny, you once said, “None of my movies will ever make any money.” Do feel really guilty now?
JD: It’s not my fault. I did my best, even to the point of trying to get fired from the first [Pirates], but they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it. It’s interesting to experience that kind of ride after essentially 20 years of enjoying a career based on failures. Suddenly, something clicks. The weird thing is that I never changed a thing. The process is still the process, as it ever was. The fact that people decided to go see a movie that I was in was probably the most shocking thing I’ve ever been through.

IH: Do you see yourself carrying on with this role for decades?

JD: Yeah. They’ll wheel me in. My dreads will get tangled in the wheels of my chair. I don’t know, sure. Interestingly enough, for me, a character like Captain Jack, you feel like you could just continue. The possibilities are endless and limitless. There is any possibility of madness and absurdity that could commence, so you feel that, with this character, you’re never really done.

IH: Geoffrey, what was it about this particular script and taking your character forward that really attracted you to come back?

Geoffrey Rush: I have to thank Johnny because, in the development of the screenplay, he said, “We must keep Barbossa and Sparrow as an old married couple, constantly bickering.” It goes back to the first film. The ownership of the Pearl is at the heart of the conflict. Early on this film, we decided to talk about the Black Pearl as a shared girlfriend, which made that plotline a little more interesting than talking about a boat. But they keep shape-shifting the character, which is quite good. I started out as the outright villain, spat out from the mouth of hell. And then, in Pirates 2 and 3, he became more of a diplomat. Now he’s really landed on his feet, or foot. Barbossa is vain, arrogant, and pompous enough to think that he actually does belong in the court. That gave me a terrific new set of variables to play with, which was a lot of fun.

IH: Johnny, what are your dreams for your future, both as an actor and as a family man?

JD: Smooth sailing! That’s what I hope for. I’m okay with no big ups and no big downs. That’s all right. I’m just full steam ahead, with all things well and good. As a family man, all you want as a dad is pure happiness for your kids. That’s a universal parent thing. Yeah, that’s it — that’s my dream. Happy kids.

IH: Penelope, where would you like to see the next movie go for your character in the future? You have the doll and Captain Sparrow’s memory with you…

PC: At least I hope she’s not going to die of hunger! I have the hope that, because she finds the doll, she has some of those voodoo powers from her father that she got from him. And maybe she’s going to be able to come back! But she can’t die alone out there! No.

IH: Johnny, what are the similarities between you and Captain Jack?

JD: We’re totally different. There’s nothing that I can relate to in Captain Jack, whatsoever. No, with every character you play, there’s a part of you that goes into that, in terms of the ingredients of making this stew. There’s most definitely a part of me in Captain Jack, and now, fortunately or unfortunately, there’s a great part of Captain Jack in me as well. Basically, I can’t shake him. He won’t leave me alone. He keeps showing up at odd times. In fact, he arrived this morning when I was getting my kids ready for school. I had to shoo him away.

IH: If you decide to direct again, would you take a lead role in the film?

JD: No, I tried that once. The first one’s free. No, if I ever thought of directing again, I don’t know. The idea of directing a film is a strange one for me. I feel anti-mathematical in that sense. I don’t like when things make sense. I prefer if they don’t. So if I made a film, it wouldn’t make any sense and no one would see it. Maybe I’ll just make little films at home with my phone, never to be released.

IH: Johnny, how was it to work with Penelope Cruz? Did she teach you any Spanish?

JD: She taught me the raunchiest Spanish that I’ve ever been told. It’s so foul that I couldn’t bring myself to repeat it here and now. It’s a bad idea. I would carry that on my back for the rest of my days. Going to work with Penelope again, having done the film Blow together 10 or 11 years ago, the weird thing was that, when we saw each other again, it felt like we’d wrapped Blow the week before or a few days before. It just clicked instantly. Whatever exists, in terms of chemistry, was just instantly firing on all cylinders. It felt completely right. It was Rob’s brilliant idea to bring her in, and when he brought up the idea to me, I went, “Great idea!” I was very, very excited to have Penelope come into this film. I knew she would be not only a worthy opponent, but someone who would just kill the scenes, and she did. She was incredible.

IH: What was it like to work with Rob Marshall?
JD: What a gift, to have someone of his caliber and someone of his talent to come in and drive this beast and shape this strange animal into something. It was incredible to experience. Some filmmakers go into a film, and it’s already shot and cut in their head. I didn’t get that feeling from Rob. What I got from Rob was that he heard it as music, in a weird way. It was rhythmic. And he knew tempo and a way to finesse the sound, which became visual as well. It was an incredible experience. His timing, and not just his choreographic timing, but his sense of comedic timing is impeccable. He would have us just shave an eighth of a millisecond off of a beat, and it would change the whole dynamic of the scene. It was quite something. The only problem is that he’s really mean. He’s really mean! No. He’s the kindest man alive.

IH: What’s the timeline for Pirates 5 and 6?

JD: There’s a very clever idea that is being hatched, in terms of Pirates 5 and 6. We’re going to actually shoot them on the ride, just going around in circles, non-stop, kind of like Andy Warhol’s Sleep. It’ll just be close-ups on everyone.
IH: Can you talk about doing the London street scene — jumping on the heads and the carriages? How much choreography and rehearsal went into that, and how much fun was that to shoot?

JD: It was horrible! It was grueling. It’s a very strange little sequence. I’ve never thought of doing many things in my life under the influence of life, and I’ve never actually thought of straddling two carriages while they’re moving before. That was an interesting experience. And then I was jumping on people’s heads and onto another cart, and then the thing catches fire. It’s all a bad dream, isn’t it? And this is how daddy brings home the bacon.

Source: Buzzine

The actress showed off post-baby body in a custom Giorgio Armani Privé red organza, long-sleeved, fitted gown.

Penélope was joined on the red carpet by her co-stars Sam Claflin and Astrid Berges-Frisbey.

The Dream Life of Penélope Cruz

There are oddities that make sense only in Los Angeles—canary-yellow Rolls-Royces, lasagna cupcakes, agents. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is another. Here is a boulevard where Meryl Streep shares the glory with Erik Estrada; where Audrey Hepburn earns the same real estate as Rin Tin Tin; where a Spider-Man impersonator once socked a Charlie Chaplin impersonator in the face. The Walk is America’s most accessible shrine to show-business fantasy: If you dream big enough, one day your name could be commemorated on this hallowed ground in gold letters. And then a sunburned dude with a green parrot on his shoulder will roller-skate right over it.

It’s a warm Friday in April when the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awards its 2,436th star to Penélope Cruz. She is a woman who, growing up in Spain, saw a photo of a bedazzled Michael Jackson kneeling before his red-carpeted star and never imagined she would one day do the same. “It sounded like science fiction,” she says, her famous inflection deliciously animating the term. When Cruz first moved to Los Angeles, she spoke little English and lived in a tiny hotel room she shared only with cats. Cats, plural. “I was very lonely,” she says. “I would find cats in the street and take them with me. I raised a lot of cats in that period.”

The cats all found nice homes, Cruz assures me in a way that recalls those end-of-film disclaimers (no animals were harmed during the making of Penélope Cruz). In the years since, Cruz, too, has found a more comfortable place in America, evolving from a misused ornament in Hollywood movies to one of the most celebrated actresses of her generation, a multilingual Oscar winner and muse to giants like Pedro Almodóvar and Woody Allen. Today her home—whether in Los Angeles, New York, or Madrid—is shared with her new husband, the acclaimed Spanish actor, fellow Oscar winner, and occasional on-screen lover Javier Bardem. A couple of months ago, there was a tender new addition: a son, Leonardo, the couple’s first child.

It has been a staggering journey. “I don’t think people realize the barriers Penélope’s broken,” says Rob Marshall, who directed Cruz in 2009’s Nine as well as the brand-new Pirates of the Caribbean installment, On Stranger Tides, in which she joins the misadventures of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow. “There is really no one like her.”

This is why we’re here, why Cruz is getting a star amid an eight-deep crowd of fans in front of the El Capitan theater, waving old magazine covers. Cruz steps out into the sun. Sheathed in a violet L’Wren Scott dress and wearing tall black Louboutins, she is, as always, a burst of smoky-eyed beauty. Her brown hair plunges over her shoulders in the way hair does only for cartoon mermaids. The crowd erupts. Bardem slips by in sunglasses and a navy blazer, barely noticed.

After some laudatory words from Marshall, it’s time for Captain Sparrow, Johnny Depp. He looks so eccentrically Depp, it’s as if he’s fresh from posing at Madame Tussaud’s: tattered brown fedora, violet aviator glasses, scarf, flannel shirt, and baggy carpenter’s jeans with two black pens tucked into the pocket of the right leg. “A relatively long time ago, we did Blow together,” Depp cracks, letting the double entendre linger. It’s a reference to his first movie with Cruz, released a decade ago, about the cocaine kingpin George Jung. The two actors have stayed close friends. Cruz refers to Depp as “The Man with the Hat.” Depp calls her “this curious Spanish creature.”

“A lot of things can be said about this creature Penélope Cruz,” Depp says. “None of them are bad.” He calls her a “one-off,” “magnificent,” and “magical.”

“She’s the dysfunctional Bacall to my twisted Bogart,” Depp continues. “She’s the otherworldly Scarlett to my clueless Rhett. She’s the. . . .” He pauses. “Well, she’s Ricky to my Lucy.”

A double-decker Hollywood tour bus rattles by. When the passengers on the upper deck see Cruz and Depp standing just inches away, jaws drop. They look like ticketholders on a Loch Ness boat tour who have just seen Nessie flip out of the water.

OmigodPenélopeeeeeee!!
Johnnyyyyy!!!!

A proclamation is read declaring Penélope Cruz Day in Hollywood. Cruz is the first Spanish-born actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, the first to win, now the first one with a star on the Walk of Fame. “I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994,” Cruz begins. “I only knew how to say two things. One was ‘How are you?’ The other was ‘I want to work with Johnny Depp.’ ” The crowd laughs. She has come a long way on this boulevard of dreams—the Lady with the Cats, now waving a sword at the Man with the Hat.

Penélope Cruz adores karaoke. She adores it the way a first-grader adores a golden-retriever puppy—in an unself-conscious, non-ironic way. She will sing “Hollaback Girl,” by Gwen Stefani, and, if she is so compelled, “Without Me,” by Eminem. (Opening lyrics: “Two trailer-park girls go round the outside/Round the outside/Round the outside.”) Karaoke is a non-negotiable part of the Penélope Cruz experience. “I’ve gone to karaoke bars in almost every city I have been to,” she says. “Every time I am on a movie location, we find a karaoke bar and take the crew.”

Not long ago, there was a rowdy karaoke night that included Bardem and the couple’s close friend the Los Angeles Lakers basketball star Pau Gasol, who is from Barcelona. Cruz and Gasol performed “Without Me” as a duet. Gasol is seven feet tall. Cruz is not.

“I was this big next to him,” Cruz says, squishing an index finger to a thumb. It is a few days before the Walk of Fame event, and I am meeting Cruz at an outdoor restaurant at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. “My husband took a picture of us while we were singing. It’s very interesting, that picture.”

It is an amusing mental image, the elegant Academy Award winner and the NBA giant, howling away to R-rated hip-hop. There is a transformation that can happen when actors win Oscars: Dipped in gold and put up on the mantel alongside the little gold statue, they are denied the human, quirky qualities that made them so appealing in the first place. The public sees Oscar winners as a little rarefied, a little fancy, even if they’re not. (Of course, some Oscar winners see themselves this way.)

But Cruz does not put on airs. She is an Oscar winner who can obsess over the films of the mid–twentieth century Italian actress Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo) but also appreciates Lady Gaga (“She’s invented something that feels very fresh”). She’s an Oscar winner who has befriended Bono but also enjoys the high camp of Glee (especially when Bardem filmed a guest spot on the TV musical). She’s an Oscar winner who confesses to a history of roller-skating and the fact that she doesn’t drive a car, even in L.A.

“I only drive in movies,” she says, laughing. “I know that’s very weird to hear for an American. I have a weird relationship with it. I know how to drive, but I never went to take the test.”

There’s a self-deprecating humility to Cruz. “The best thing about Penélope’s sense of humor is that it’s primarily about herself,” says Cruz’s close friend the actress Salma Hayek.

Even now, Cruz doesn’t feel far removed from her modest roots in Spain, where she grew up the older daughter of a hardware-store owner and a mother who ran a beauty salon. Originally trained in dance, she remembers wearing out the family Betamax with Billy Wilder classics like Love in the Afternoon and The Apartment, and knowing she wanted to be an actress. Cruz is still the belligerent teenager who barged into an agent’s office, begged to be represented, and, when the agent said she was too young, kept coming back. She’s still the dreamer who aspired to work with her cinematic idol Almodóvar—she lied about her age to buy a ticket to Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!—only to wind up starring in four of his films, a director-actress relationship that’s so tight it’s almost telepathic.

Cruz can recall her first conversation with Almodóvar as if it were yesterday. He called her at home after seeing a precocious Cruz break out in films like Jamón, Jamón and Belle Epoque. She was shocked to hear his voice. “He said, ‘I am going to write you a character that fits you like a glove,’ ” she recalls. “Then he did, for Live Flesh. I played a whore giving birth in a bus.”

It was the beginning of a fertile partnership. From Spain, Almodóvar calls the eight-minute opening scene his “favorite part” of Live Flesh, and points out that the woman who helped Cruz’s character give birth on the bus was played by Pilar Bardem—Javier’s mother.

“I always saw Penelope as a mother,” Almodóvar says. “Two years later she did it for me again in All About My Mother. And in Volver, she played the mother of all mothers.”

Cruz and Almodóvar speak all the time, even when they’re not collaborating. Cruz says she asked him the other day for help in writing her Walk of Fame speech. (Almodóvar’s unused suggestion: “If people are going to walk over you, better to be walked over on the Walk of Fame.”)

In Cruz, Almodóvar and other directors have found a glamorous actress with rare range, one who can charm us in one scene, rip our guts out in the next, and knock us over laughing moments later. How strange it is to think that not long ago, Penélope Cruz’s status as an American movie star was an unresolved question. Her popularity abounded in Europe, but there were high-profile misfires here alongside a series of strapping leading men: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, with Nicolas Cage; Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise; Sahara, with Matthew Mc­Conaughey. All of that seems like 1,000 years ago. Cruz is now a three-time Oscar nominee, recognized in consecutive years for her work in Volver, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Nine.

She won, of course, in 2009, for Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina, in which she played Maria Elena, the volatile Spanish artist and ex-girlfriend to Bardem’s rakish painter, Juan Antonio. Audiences may have entered the movie tempted by the promise of on-screen assignations (including a much-hyped kiss between Cruz and Scarlett Johansson), but they left remembering Cruz’s wicked, temperamental performance, which flashed from Spanish to English, from affection to fury.
“She has a wild kind of animal quality that was perfect for the unstable character I had written,” Allen says. “A lot of actresses would not have been able to go that deeply.”

Cruz took her mother, Encarna, to the Oscars the night she won for Vicky Cristina. “I grew up in a place called Alcobendas, where this was not a very realistic dream,” she said from the stage as her mom got misty.

When it was over, she headed over to In-N-Out Burger, still wrapped in her vintage white Balmain gown. “You have to remove the tight dress to eat a Double Double monster cheeseburger with everything on it,” she says.The post-Oscar In-N-Out burger has become a ritual. It’s happened after each of her nominations—the hungry Spanish bombshell at the drive-through. But this February, after Cruz accompanied Bardem to the Kodak Theatre in support of his Best Actor nomination for Biutiful, there was no burger run.

“We had something more important to do,” Cruz says, smiling. “We had to go home to the baby.”

Yes: the baby. “Beautiful Leonardo,” as Marshall called him at the Walk of Fame presentation. Cruz discovered she was pregnant shortly before filming began for On Stranger Tides. She remains grateful for the way she felt protected by Marshall, Depp, and the rest of the cast and crew. “When she found out it was a boy, she kept it hush-hush, but we knew,” Marshall says. With all the high-flying action going on, the director says, Cruz “loved that there was a boy in her.”

“I was pregnant and a pirate,” Cruz says. “A beautiful experience.”

Leonardo’s birth, in January, was announced quietly a week after the fact. Mommy reports that her nights are not too hectic. “Some nights you sleep more, some nights less, but you don’t care,” she says.

I ask Cruz how has motherhood has changed her, and her face grows flushed. Tears begin to collect under her eyes.
“One second,” she says. She dips her head and dabs at her face. I fear I am about to be removed from the hotel, forever banned for making Penélope Cruz cry. But now she is laughing and crying at the same time. “This has never happened to me,” she says. “This is really funny. I’m sorry. It’s unexpected.”

To date, Cruz hasn’t talked at all about her son in public. But it’s clear his impact is profound. “From the first second, you feel so much love,” she says. “It is a revolutionary experience. That’s the best way I can describe it. It transforms you completely, in a second. Nature is very wise and gives you nine months to prepare, but in that moment—when you see that face, you are transformed forever.”

She is not trying to wipe away the tears now. She rolls with it. It’s an unabashed, blissful cryfest. “Even if you have heard from all your friends and family, ‘This is what’s going to happen,’ until it happens to you, it’s hard to understand in your soul,” Cruz says.

Almodóvar says he “never had the slightest doubt that she wouldn’t feel a complete woman until she gave birth.” For years Cruz has been passionate about children’s causes; when she was 22, she volunteered in Calcutta at one of Mother Teresa’s orphanages, meeting the woman herself. “It changed the way I see the world,” she says. She remains engaged in humanitarian ventures, like her friend Bono’s (Red) project benefiting Africa (“A genius idea”), and Sean Penn’s recovery effort in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. “It’s not just somebody who is talking about it,” she says of Penn. “He’s there.”

Motherhood has intensified Cruz’s determination to give back. “Even if you were aware of children and felt compassion, when you have your own, it multiplies,” she says. “It breaks your heart to know that there are so many children in the world suffering so much.”

A day later, Leonardo is present during a photo shoot, cooing gently with the nanny while Cruz poses a few feet away outside. Cruz is very careful about unlocking the door on her new family. Never one to disclose personal details—in the past, queries about boyfriends real and rumored were brushed away like houseflies—she is vigilant about her son. “I want my son—and my kids if I have more—to grow up in a way that is as anonymous as possible,” Cruz says. “The fact that his father and I have chosen to do the work that we do doesn’t give anybody the right to invade our privacy.”

From Spain, Almodóvar says he has connected with baby and “Mama Penélope” via Skype. Motherhood, the director says, is “going to be one of her great roles.”

Hayek agrees. “Penélope is a motherly creature, a warrior by nature,” she says. “I told her that little boy is the luckiest boy in the world.”

Back at our outdoor table, Cruz can’t help being a glowing advocate. “Do you have children?” she asks me.
Not yet.

She slaps me hard on the hand. “Good luck!” she says, beaming. “It really is the best thing in the world.”

On Stranger Tides will open on more than 3,500 screens around the planet. In terms of scale, it is the biggest movie of Cruz’s career, a 3-D megabudget departure from the intimacy of Almodóvar and Woody Allen. Marshall wasn’t sure Cruz would be interested when he proposed the part to her over dinner toward the end of filming Nine. Cruz leaped out of her chair. “I said, ‘Are you crazy? I would love to do that with you and Johnny,’ ” she recalls.

She plays Blackbeard’s daughter Angelica, a devious pirate who shares a complicated romantic history with Depp’s Captain Sparrow. The scenes between Cruz and Depp play like amusing tangos—pirate ex-lovers, bickering in matching eyeliner. “They do this dance for the whole movie,” Cruz says.

Much of On Stranger Tides was filmed in Hawaii, where Bardem joined Cruz on location. At one point, there was a break in filming that saw Cruz and Bardem quietly slip away to tie the knot. And because of Cruz’s delicate condition, her younger sister, Mónica, stepped in to take over some of her sword-fighting and stunt duties.

“I’m sure the movie was daunting because of the size and scope of it,” says Bruckheimer, who has helmed a franchise that has generated $2.6 billion in box office to date. “It was a more than 100–day schedule—a long haul for an actor, especially someone who is pregnant. But she never complained.”

Cruz says she is excited to start working again. There is a new film with Allen, set to begin filming this summer in Rome, its script draped in mystery, as all of the director’s projects are. “A man came to my house with a package, gave it to me, and said, ‘I will be back in half an hour,’ ” Cruz says. “I asked, ‘Would you mind giving me two?’ ”

But these days, Cruz is unsure how busy she wants to be. “Of course I will work, because we all need to work,” she says. “But it’s very important to have time with my family.”

After an exhilarating year of firsts, this is a happy problem for Penélope Cruz. “It is great to see somebody who you think deserves it get everything she has ever dreamed of,” says Hayek. “It’s magical. It gives you hope.” Even if Cruz’s next director might have to guide her back to Earth.

“It will feel strange the next time I hear ‘Action!’ ’’ she confesses. “I’m going to think I am on Mars.”

The Pirates cast Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Depp, and Miss Cruz in a stunning Marchesa Fall 2011 gown were in attendence. Can I just say, Penélope looks dreamlike pretty here, just gorgeous! Totally loving her red carpet looks these days during her globe trotting. A gold Swarovski clutch and subtle Chopard jewels, Jimmy Choo shoes completed her look.

Pe wore a navy dress with a velvet skirt contrasting bodice and a black back panel by Stella McCartney. Matching Casadei satin pumps with a pin heel and sleek straight hair completed her stunning look!

At the premiere Johnny Depp had this to say on Penélope:

“She’s very special, very talented, and also at the same time as an actress she gives you so much that you weren’t necessarily expecting, so you’re up on your toes.”

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides director Rob Marshall revealed how they handled news of Penelope’s pregnancy just one week before filming began.

“We were like, uhhhhh. I said, ‘Are you going to be okay sword fighting with a baby in your stomach?’ But she was up for it,” he recalled.

“She said she’d understand if we had to replace her, but she didn’t want to be replaced. It took more time, ultimately, but she was worth it,” he added.

As for whether or not this will be the last time fans will see Captain Jack, Rob teased, “It’s like the James Bond series. I think there are probably lots of stories still to tell.”

Cruz said she did not share the Hollywood obsession with eternal youth because she is Spanish. While her fellow actresses turn to Botox doctors and plastic surgeons, Cruz is content to let nature take its course.

“Birthdays are always something to celebrate. I’m looking forward to every step of the way,” she said during an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Maybe it’s because I’m from Spain, so I look at it in a different way than in a place like Los Angeles. I will always be a Spanish actress in Hollywood or wherever I work.

“There are a lot of things I keep from my roots and that is one of them – the way we look at ageing. I never want to be afraid of that. Change is good.”

Few Hollywood actresses share her view. Jane Fonda is also in Cannes and appeared on the red carpet looking impossibly youthful. Fonda, 73, admitted last year to having “work” done on her chin, neck and eyes, saying: “I swore in 2000 I’d never have anything done again but this year I got tired of not looking like how I feel… I wish I’d been brave enough not to do anything.”