Julia's joy down Mexico way

My first thought was that The Mexican script was incredibly original. I was told, 'Here's the script, Brad Pitt's interested, this guy Gore Verbinski is going to direct. Have a look.' I read it and was impressed by the way it took several genres, put them into one script and had it all make sense!

My character, Samantha, is wacky and wonderfully misguided in her pursuit of enlightenment. She really thinks that if she reads all these books she'll understand her problems. I love that about her. She's also highly strung. Maybe if I slept more I would be slightly closer to her emotional level!

I love the fact that she wears her heart on her sleeve. I was intrigued by her because she's well intentioned. She's purely motivated. She has all the best reasons for what she does in a wonderful, messy, erratic kind of way.

I was excited with the casting, too. Brad is lovely - which I have always known - but get on a movie set and sometimes people change. He is still the sunniest guy I know. James Gandolfini is a great actor too, and that was important because I have so many scenes with him. His was one of those parts that you could just cast a thousand different ways. I was discussing the script with Benjamin [Bratt, her boyfriend], and he said, 'What about James Gandolfini?' I thought that was a stroke of genius. So I went to Gore and said, 'I have this great idea...' and I was so ticked when James said he'd do it.

The easiest thing in the world is to act with him. Actually, Brad and I were saying just the other day that James is the king and we are going to start the Church Of Gandolfini and be his followers, because he is really such a wonderful person and an incredible actor.

The Mexican
Cert: cert15