Entrevista 1 - Entrevista 3 - Entrevista 4
A 1998 interview for Maxim after the release of Zorro
Catherine Zeta-Jones has a way with a sword. An almost lethal way, as Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins discover in The Mask of Zorro, her funny and violent big summer movie. Luckily, when we met up with the Welsh-born actress at a swank L.A. restaurant, the only semi-pointy thing nearby was a butter knife, so we were able to stop cringing every time she raised her hand. After a while we relaxed enough to get out a few questions about her bewildering new life in Hollywood and the tortures of corsets. Eventually ~ after she demonstrated the intriguing flexibility of her spine ~ we really relaxed. By the end of the interview, she had to tell us to shut up.
What is it about men in masks?
When the face is hidden and the eyes become the focus, it's all more mysterious. I actually find it very sexy when Arab women wear those veils [mimes pulling a veil across the bottom of her face], even if I don't agree with the lifestyle. But that's as far as it goes, OK?! [Laughs] No bondage fantasies, no whips, no nothing!
Do you crave mystery men in real life?
I like the idea of it, but on a day-to-day basis, how boring! Then again, there's something sexy about a guy who doesn't speak.
OK, I'm not saying another thing.
[laughs]
You once said you like bad boys. How bad do they need to be?
I think I was talking about a screen presence. In real life, who wants to worry constantly about some bad boy ~ you know, who he's going to punch next?
So if I can't pull off the silent thing, and I can't be an asshole... what do you want?
Physical attraction is wonderful. Beautiful but boring, on the other hand, is not. I guess I look for someone I can laugh with, a real "mate." I'd rather have a great discussion than stare at an exquisite jawbone.
What's it like to chat in extraordinary tight clothing, like those corsets you wore in Zorro?
Bloody hard. Can't eat many tamales, either. And in Mexico [where Zorro was filmed], you don't have much bloody choice ~ it's quesadillas or tamales.
What happens when you take the corset off at the end of the day?
Well, all the blood has stopped for about 12 hours, so you itch madly. And you realize how bad your posture normally is. [A corset] forces your spine to be completely straight. And I happen to have a flexible spine.
What the hell does that mean?
I can double back and all that.
I'm speechless.
You're thinking, What can she do? Well, I kind of slouch, like this... [Bracing her arms across the back of the booth, she bends backward dramatically like a La-Z-Boy chair, thrusting her breasts heavenward]
[on autopilot]: Do you... work out?
Yeah, but I have to work twice as hard here! When I'm doing push-ups at the L.A. gyms, there are all these women whose fake boobs are already touching the floor. I have so much farther to go.
You still smoke, right?
I used to smoke quite a bit, but here they make you feel like a second-class citizen. I feel like a leper.
What other things about you can't people take?
I'm pretty easy to get along with, you know. [Looks around; no one is in sight] The place is empty ~ was it something I said?
Apart from the mountains of silicone, what was the biggest surprise when you moved to L.A.?
The whole dog thing. I stayed in Malibu for three months, and every time I walked on the beach, I was completely ignored. Didn't exist. Then my friend came down with two Labradors, and people who'd barely said hello to me were suddenly acting like investigative reporters: "Oh, how old are yours? Mine is four..."
What pisses you off about L.A.?
The lies. People here talk about you as if they know you. They've seen you once in the bar, and suddenly you're their best friend. I've actually had strangers say to me, "Do you know Catherine Zeta Jones?" Naturally I say, "Yeah." And they go, "Oh, Z knows me too." What else irks me? If you're nice, people think you're an idiot. I've even had to say, "Don't confuse my niceness for stupidity. This is not my first barbecue."
You left your home in Whales at... what, 15? That's pretty ballsy.
Well, I didn't just go with a suitcase and some hope. I'd already been up to London and successfully auditioned for a play.
What was your big acting break?
I was made second understudy in the musical 42nd Street. And one night they let me go on, and I ended up playing the lead for two years.
What's your greatest vice?
How long you got? [Giggles] Um, champagne. I have a glass of Cristal in the bathtub every night.
That image is disturbing to me. What kind of music do you listen to?
Soul. I'm obsessed with Gladys Knight. [Lying with pathetic obviousness] I used to be a Pip.
No you weren't.
Yes, during the in-between years. I can do the dances. [Stands up and performs Pip-like twirl] I love Elvis Presley and Van Morrison, too. Every Sunday morning for 15 years, my father woke me up to Elvis Presley singing "American Trilogy" or Van Morrison's "Moondance". I love that about music: how emotionally onvolved you become with it.
Are you emotional in relationships?
Yeah, and when your emotions are on the plate, it's very easy to get them knocked off. But that sort of vulnerability is an actor's most powerful tool. Take Anthony Hopkins. He's such a strong presence, but there's a fragility in there.
When were you are your most vulnerable?
When the British press went nuts for me [after she became a U.K. TV star], I became self-conscious, even paranoid, about being followed.
How nutty were they?
Well, at one point I discovered a surveillance system with audiotapes outside my house, which naturally freaked me out.
It must be a relief to be relatively anonymous in L.A. How did you get noticed for the Zorro part?
Steven Spielberg, the executive producer, was watching TV on a Sunday night and saw me in a CBS miniseries about the Titanic. And within a week I was screen-testing down in Mexico.
Are you ever pigeonholed as just a pretty face?
No. There are too many beautiful girls in the world and too few movies, so you've got to have something else going for you. In Zorro my character is not the damsel in distress. She's the blood of Zorro, so she rides like a man. She fights, she's athletic, she's smart. And the film's not nostalgic in any way. We weren't trying to re-create a squashbuckling Errol Flynn movie.
Did you just say "squashbuckling"?
Swashbuckling. [Laughs] Sorry, I was just trying to get this bloody orange pulp from my teeth.
Did you slice off anyone's swash?
Thank God, there were no accidents. Those swords were real ~ not those rubber jobs.
What's more important: the size of a man's sword or how he uses it?
How he uses it.
OK, but what if he has a big sword and he really knows how to use it?
Bloody good for him... and for me, too. [Laughs]