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In "Hitch," Eva Mendes co-stars as New York gossip columnist Sara Melas, who goes undercover to get the scoop on the city's much-talked-about "date doctor," Alex Hitchins. Hitch seems cool and collected when he teaches the rules of dating to his male clients, but when Sara is thrown into the mix, he starts to have trouble following his own rules. MTV News' Jeff Cornell recently took a shot at hanging out with Mendes and not doing anything stupid. Here's how it went:
MTV: Tell us about your character in this film.
Eva Mendes: I play Sara Melas, a gossip columnist of all things, and a very, very guarded woman who's just a totally hopeless romantic inside but has been hurt before and just couldn't deal with it one more time. So the guard goes up and the ice comes up, you know, and it's funny because when I just saw the movie, when I saw my character onscreen, I was just like, "I have friends like that, and I've done that myself." It's so interesting what we do in order not to get hurt again, but we don't realize that we're actually only hurting ourselves by just closing off.
MTV: What was it like, as someone who is a potential target of gossip columnists, to try to get in the mindset of one?
Mendes: I was kind of like, "OK, how do I justify what I do as my character?" So I started reading about a ton of people like Liz Smith [of the New York Post] and a bunch of New York gossip columnists, and one of them said — I can't remember the name, and I couldn't find the quote when I was trying to find it the other day — but one of them said, "I don't abuse, I amuse." I thought, "Well, that's interesting." I know that's a fine line, but ... with that lightness, I approached my character like that. Like, she wasn't going out to get anybody.
MTV: You've said that the chemistry between Will Smith and Kevin James in this movie was fantastic.
Mendes: So great, so great. But I thought that his and my chemistry was great too. I'm biased — I'd rather see him and me up there.
MTV: What was it like working with Will?
Mendes: He's amazing. My God, it was so not acting. ... He's got so much going on and stuff, I would just be his little audience. I'd be like, "Oh, man, I'm in the scene. Jeez." But yeah, you don't get any better than Will. He's the best. Absolutely.
MTV: There's a really good message at the end of this film. It seems both men and women can learn from this story.
Mendes: Yeah, I think so too, and I love the fact that this is from a male's perspective, so it's just so totally different than most romantic comedies, but it still shows the struggles we go through as men and as women. And yeah, at the end, it's really interesting 'cause it's just about basic principles — there are none. And that is so true, especially with relationships.
MTV: What will we see you in next?
Mendes: I have "The Wendell Baker Story" coming out. It's opening at the Austin Film Festival, and that's with Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell. And I was just a part of "Trust the Man." It's with Julianne Moore and David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal — who I love — and Billy Crudup, so that was really great to be a part of such an amazing cast.
MTV: Who are you in "The Wendell Baker Story"?
Mendes: I play Luke Wilson's love of his life, and he plays a petty con artist. He kind of does [one last con job], and I'm like, "I'm still in love with you, but I'm done, it's over," you know what I mean? And so basically the whole movie he's trying to win me back. And it's actually really endearing and it's kind of [about] what he does to try to win me back and all these different characters he meets along the way.
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Photo: Columbia Pictures Industries
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