When picking her roles, the play isn't the thing for actress Eva Mendes. Neither is the character she'll be playing, necessarily.
"For me, it's all about the experience," Mendes said in a recent phone interview. "It's not even about the role so much at times. When I choose a role, it's more like, 'Who's in it? Who am I going to be acting opposite of? And who's directing?' Those are the first three questions, because for me it's the experience, and I want to work with amazing people."
That's what made her jump on the chance to participate in the recently completed, New Orleans-set re-imagining of "Bad Lieutenant," in which she worked alongside Nicolas Cage for the duration of director Werner Herzog's 35-day shoot. It's also what made her go all-in with "The Women," a remake of George Cukor's 1939 classic, which opened Friday.
"I feel like I always want to be the worst actress in the scene -- just like you always want to have the worst house on the block -- I always want to be the worst actress, and I'm OK with that," she said. "I have no ego, because I'm a student. I'm constantly a student."
So even though the 34-year-old actress has been working steadily in Hollywood for the past 10 years -- due partly to her supermodel looks, but also because of her willingness to tackle edgy roles such as in 2001's "Training Day," last year's "We Own the Night" and the new "Bad Lieutenant" -- "The Women" ended up being something of a master's course.
The film -- which recycles its 1939 progenitor's gimmick of not featuring a single male actor, not even as an extra -- tells the story of a woman spurned, and the girlfriends who come to her aid. Mendes plays the Joan Crawford role of the other woman ("the man-eater, Crystal Allen," Mendes said), but she relished the job for the chance to work with the film's star-studded, all-female cast.
"These women -- they're pros," Mendes said. "I mean, Annette Bening, my God. Not only do I love her choices as an actress, but she's just amazing. She's got a way with comedy. She can make anything funny, subtly funny, you know. And then you have Meg Ryan, who's just got the comedy thing down. She's just such a great comedian. Between those two, I was taking notes."
A legion of other notables round out the cast, including Bette Midler, Candice Bergen, Debra Messing, Cloris Leachman, Carrie Fisher, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debi Mazar.
"It was nice to have this sisterhood there, kind of backing each other up," Mendes said.
Her experience was decidedly different on "Bad Lieutenant" -- the drastically different tones in the two films make that a foregone conclusion. In that much more muscular (and masculine) movie, she plays a prostitute who is romantically involved with Cage's troubled cop.
"It's like, 'When am I going to get the opportunity to work with Werner (Herzog) again? I have to take this,' " she said. "And then of course, I love Nic. We did 'Ghost Rider' together, and I felt like, I love him in 'Ghost Rider,' but I love the Nicolas that takes chances -- I call it the indie Nic, that does the independent films -- whether it's 'The Weatherman' or 'Adaptation.' I just love seeing him take these crazy chances, and this was a film (in which) he created this pretty amazing character and was out there.
"The whole experience was just, that's why I'm here, as far as to have experiences like that and to work with people like Werner. He just rocked my world."
So did the city. As a first-time visitor to New Orleans, Mendes did all the touristy stuff -- the French Quarter, the beignets, the Bananas Foster. But it was the history of the city that got under her skin as much as anything else.
"I can't believe it's been through so many hands -- the Spanish and the French and the British, and then back to the French and back to the Americans. It's like, oh my God, the history. And honestly, I feel embarrassed about my ignorance, but honestly I didn't know we had such a town, such a city.
"I have to say, between the people, the architecture and the food, I can't wait to go back," she said. "I'm sold."
Perhaps to work on another film? On that point, Mendes was a touch coy, mentioning her big Christmas release, the eagerly awaited superhero film "The Spirit," but only saying there "might be something exciting, something percolating" on her schedule between now and then.
"But I'd love to shoot there," she said. "I'd love to go back."
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Movie critic Mike Scott be reached at mscott@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3444. To comment or read past stories, go to nola.com/movies.
