Eva Mendes modelling leopard underwear
Tuesday,
February
27,
2007
Eva
Mendes
is
taking
up
some
serious
space
at
the
newsstand
this
month.
She's
"showing
her
wild
side" in
leopard
print
underwear
on
the
cover
of
men's
magazine
GQ
-
"Grrrr!"
She's
drop-dead
gorgeous
and
naked
on
the
cover
of
Maxim.
Cosmopolitan
has
crowned
her
"the
Fun
Fearless
Female
of
the
Year",
and
Shape
magazine
has
decided
she
has
"the
sexiest
body
in
Hollywood".
As
the
face
of
Revlon,
Mendes
is
described
on
the
cosmetic
giant's
website
as
"sultry,
seductive
and
so
divine".
Her
press
file
makes
extensive
use
of
words
such
as
"exotic,
passionate
and
vivacious".
All
of
which
is
true,
but
it's
her
sense
of
humour,
her
cool
confidence
and
self-acceptance
that
makes
her
really
attractive.
"Eva
has
a
quality
that
is
instantly
likeable,"
explains
Ghost
Rider
director
Mark
Steven
Johnson.
"Sure
she's
beautiful
but
she's
also
real.
I
needed
a
gutsy
cool
chick
that
you
could
root
for
-
and
Eva
is
that."
Ghost Rider is Mendes's latest movie where she plays a foxy TV reporter and Nicolas Cage's love interest. For the role Mendes wanted to put on weight in order to appear more like the marvel comic book character the film is based on. "I just let myself have dessert and I skipped the gym," she says. "It wasn't a big deal. The good part about my body is that when I gain that extra 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms), it goes to the fun parts. After that it goes to the other parts where you don't really want it to go, as an actress." Wearing platform shoes, high-waisted flared jeans and a light purple fitted T-shirt Mendes looks more like a 1970s starlet than a modern-day actor when we catch up at Sony Studios in Culver City. Mendes says she is back to her normal size. "I don't really worry about it," she says. "I've never put that pressure on myself. I'm not saying I don't have my bad days where my jeans aren't fitting and I go, OK, ease off the pizza, but I just exercise and I eat. I have a very healthy relationship with my body. I know it's not perfect but really, who cares? Perfect is boring." If she was striving for perfection, she says, she'd have changed lots of stuff including "my teeth and my big nose".
Ghost Rider was made in Melbourne where Mendes "had a great time" dining in some of city's best restaurants, drinking "way too much beer" and even trying some of our more traditional cuisine. Mendes's home is in the Hollywood Hills. She was born in Miami to Cuban parents, and was raised in Los Angeles by her mum after her parents split. She was teased about her "buck teeth" by her older brothers and sisters and would dream about a bigger and better life - one with money. "I was poor. I came from a lower-middle-class family so I would imagine all kinds of things. I thought I was going to be an astronaut and an opera singer when I was really little. Then I thought about being a movie star when I saw Annie. I was seven then."
It was 20 years later that Mendes's acting career finally took off. In 2003 she starred in three high-profile movies with big stars - Denzel Washington (Out Of Time), Johnny Depp (Once Upon A Time In Mexico) and Matt Damon (Stuck On You). "Four years ago when I had a few big films coming out I took Mum to the premiere and sent the limo to her place to pick her up. When I got in the car she was crying and I was like, "No Mum. Please don't start. Not now. I've got fake eyelashes on! She showed me a note I had written to her when I was nine years old. It said, 'Mum I'm going to take care of all your bills and I'm going to pick you up in a limousine'. Then of course I started crying and the fake eyelashes were falling off and I was a mess when we arrived on the red carpet!"
Mendes said she always wanted to "save my Mum who suffered so much to make my life OK". She bought her a town house a few years ago after buying a place for herself that she lives in with her boyfriend of six years. ("It's not flashy and it's not in Beverly Hills. It's cosy and it's got character.") Mendes is certainly not a star you'll see staggering out of clubs, flashing at photographers, getting done for drink- or drug-driving or parading around West Hollywood with famous friends in a new Mercedes-Benz. I live a really quiet life. I don't date actors. I don't go to the hot spots. I don't do lunch at The Ivy. I stay under the radar," she says.
And she doesn't plan on settling down any day soon. "I believe in commitment wholeheartedly but the institution of marriage doesn't appeal to me. Maybe I would consider the idea if gays were allowed to get married." And kids? "I'm certainly not thinking about being a mum at the moment. I can't imagine it. I'm too selfish but I really want to get a pet pug. I've wanted a puppy for the past year but I'm not here all the time and that just wouldn't be fair."
Mendes's
route
into
acting
was
a
haphazard
one
that
began
while
she
was
studying
marketing
at
college.
Her
neighbour
was
a
photographer
who
"kept
bugging
me"
to
pose
in
a
few
pictures.
"He
was
shopping
his
book
around
and
a
manager
asked
who
I
was.
That
was
my
big
break!"
she
says.
Mendes
was
booked
for
a
few
commercials,
then
a
video
and
got
cast
in
a
film
"without
having
a
clue
what
to
do.
I'd
never
had
an
acting
class
in
my
life.
I
was
terrible!"
She
tracked
down
one
of
the
best
coaches
in
the
business,
Ivana
Chubbuck,
and
is
still
learning
from
her
today.
Mendes
says
she
is
grateful
that
bigger
roles
have
"come
gradually"
-
that
is,
she's
grateful
success
hasn't
happened
overnight.
"There
hasn't
been
one
movie
that
has
taken
me
straight
to
the
top.
It's
been
little
by
little,
which
is
great
because
I
have
a
feeling
that
I
wouldn't
have
been
able
to
deal
with
it.
I
would
have
run
away
and
quit."
But
the
paparazzi
she
says
are
"out
of
control"
and
she
now
sees
a
therapist
to
deal
with
it.
Mendes
has
not
had
that
many
bad
tabloid
moments.
There
are
the
fashion
police
who
she
doesn't
mind,
"because
that
means
I'm
doing
something
different.
If
they
hate
what
I'm
wearing
then
I
think,
'Yeah!
I
love
it'!"
And
then
there
are
the
co-star
rumours,
"that
usually
go
away
pretty
fast
because
they
are
never
true",
she
explains.
Mendes says she just "doesn't get the whole fame and celebrity thing", and her good friend Damon tried to warn her about it a few years ago. I remember not long after we first met Matt said to me, 'Fame is going to be so strange to you because you're going to stay the same but everyone around you will change', and I was like, I don't really get that. Whatever. "Cut to three and a half years later and I completely get that. That's exactly what happened. But at the rate Mendes's career is moving she may have to increase her time with the therapist and decrease her time with her co-stars or just try to "get it", because the paparazzi won't be going anywhere any time soon.
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