What special memories do you remember from the first time you met Penélope Cruz?

I saw her first in Jamon Jamon and I thought she was a great actress, she had such a beautiful charisma : there’s something very pure and angelic about Penélope. So when my career took off with Desperado, I went to Cannes Film Festival and a Spanish journalist asked me if there was anyone I’d like to work with and I said that I’d love to work with Penelope Cruz. I would say this in every interview I’d give, so she saw that and her father too. We had a lot of friends in common, we almost met a couple of times but it didn’t worked out until one time when she came to Los Angeles, found out my phone number and called me. We had a cup of coffee together and we became instantly good friends: the chemistry was great. It happened 8 or 9 years ago and a beautiful friendship has developed through the years. But even before the friendship we wanted to work together and all those years we have been looking for the right project but haven’t found anyone. So Penélope came up with the idea of doing a western-action comedy. We were both friends with Luc Besson - we think he’s amazing: she mentioned the idea to him, he was interested and wrote the script!

What did you think of the script the first time you read it?

I thought it was very fun and I was very impressed by Luc Besson: in Hollywood, often, somebody talks about a project and it takes years of talking and talking and most of the time it never gets done. With Luc, we talked about the project and within a couple of months the script was there and he was ready to go shooting. It caught us by surprise: Penélope was not available then I was not available, I had never worked with somebody who says he’ll do something and does it right away ! That was impressing.

You must have been very happy to do this movie “at home”?

Oh yes, especially because I knew every single person in the crew we worked with: except for a few new comers, I had been working with this crew for ten years. A lot of them are my friends, they were already in movies I’ve acted in or produced here. It was very lovely to be at home speaking my own language!

You were already in Desperado and Wild Wild West : what is it you like so much about westerns?

I like western films but it was more Penélope’s idea to make one. I’m a fan of westerns but there are not like my number one love, it’s really a coincidence.

Since you had already directed a movie, did you pay special attention to technical decisions on the set?

No I did not. I don’t think the directors would have liked that! I just did as I was told and I had good time with my friend. We felt very protected by each other, we really did. The thing that I enjoyed the most about making the film was my chemistry with Penélope and the dynamic that happens between us. It happens in real life in different ways and I really think it was captured in film. It was a very demanding shoot - exhausting with a lot of action and outfits that were so hard to get in and out - but it was such a beautiful experience, being with my friend for months: there was the risk that maybe, we would get on each other nerves... and it was absolutely the opposite : there was not a moment that was not a moment of joy and friendship !

What scene did you have special pleasure to do with her?

There was a couple, we worked as one entity, we were unanimous all the time! We laughed a lot when we had the cat fight, we were making jokes to each other, and we had a lot of fun doing the scenes with the training: we really loved working with Sam Shepard and the other guys.

What was the worst: the training or the corset?

Both, definitely both!

And where did you learn how to kiss so deeply?

That’s a talent I was born with...