The Challenge To Me As A Director

As A Woman, She [penelope Cruz] Obviously Has Changed As She Has Become An Adult. But, As An Actress, I Actually Might Say That She Has Not Changed That Much. And She Has Something Great, Especially In Comedy, And She Hasn't Been Exploited As Much As She Could Be In Comedy, But Particularly In That Mix Between Comedy And Drama. She's Got A Very Special Quality About Her. You Can Place Her In Very Extreme Situations, Especially Very Painful Situations, In Terms Of How Her Character Interprets It. And Sometimes, The Deeper And More Human That Pain Is, The Better She Is At It.

The Silent Film Has A Lot Of Meanings. The First Part Of The Film Is Comic. It Represents The Burlesque Feel Of Those Silent Films. But I Think That The Second Part Of The Film Is Full Of Tenderness And Emotion.

Cinema Can Fill In The Empty Spaces Of Your Life And Your Loneliness.

The Challenge To Me As A Director Was For The Audience To See The Film As Going On In A Straight Line, So That They Did Not Sense All Of These Break-ups. I Did Not Want A Film To Be A Collage Of All These Images.

Maybe It's The Culture, Maybe It's The Cliché Of Latino Machismo, But The Mediterranean Male Character Is More Dull Than The Female Character. Women Are More Surprising And They Have Fewer Prejudices.