Catherine talks about what it took to film Zorro.

Catherine Zeta-Jones: That is true.

ETOL: How did that make you feel when you heard that?

Catherine: My agent called and said, "A very big director would like to meet you." Of course my mind went blank, I couldn't think of one. When he said it was Steven, it was like yeah, that's pretty big. I went up to meet him and he was charming and completely not intimidating. We went and had a meeting and he told me about the project, and that Martin Campbell was to direct it. He did and Martin did the screen test of me done in Mexico. Then I got the role. It was one of those great little stories.

ETOL: What did you think about Elena when you read the script? Did you have any apprehensions about playing her, or the physicality of the role?

Catherine: No, that was one of the attributes of it that I loved you know. To be able to get to do all that. I also liked that there was some substance to her as well. She wasn't just running around in pretty frocks. I love the emotional side of the story that goes with Anthony Hopkins [Don Diego de la Vega] and then the romance with Antonio Banderas [Zorro]. All that as well as the physicality was like, "Oh, this is going to be real fun."

ETOL: She wasn't your typical damsel in distress was she?

Catherine: I know we're getting a little bit bored of those damsels running around.

ETOL: So, you've got the sword playing, you've got physical challenges in this film. Have you had any practice with that in any prior roles, or was that something that you had to learn?

Catherine: I've never done the sword play before. I'd danced before, I use to be in musical comedies. The horse riding, I had done a really bad job on a few movies. I fell off a few times. What we had was a really great four month intense kind of boot camp and physical rehearsal period. Everyday, every hour was jam packed in there. Two hours with Catherine and the horse. Two hours with Catherine and Antonio. Two hours of Catherine and Antonio dancing. Two hours of Catherine's voice training. It was a great physical routine to get into. So, by the time we got into shooting we'd really, one, got to know each other pretty well, and secondly had learned all these skills.

ETOL: How was it working with Antonio?

Catherine: Charming. He's a real giver as a person and as an actor. We had fun and we also worked and trained very hard for it. He was just very admirable. I only had one sword fight to do and he had like eight. We called our first fight the "sexy sword fight" and then we had sword fight one, two, three, four, five, six, you know, so we had to always keep on top of which one he was doing next. He was just brilliant.

ETOL: There's a kissing scene as well.

Catherine: Oh yes, yes, yes.

ETOL: Is Antonio a good kisser?

Catherine: A really good kisser, yeah.

ETOL: So, have you seen a final cut of the film?

Catherine: Yes, I have.

ETOL: What did you think?

Catherine: I enjoyed it. It's really hard, for me it is, to see myself on the big screen. I still haven't quite come to grips on how to deal with that. What I loved about the whole piece was that it really came together. All the different attributes that we wanted to put in, all the comedy parts and the tender real emotional parts, and then the physicality of it. It all came together. It all materialized in front of me. It was like, "Wow. I never knew that they were going to shoot it that way." I really loved the way it comes together. It's filled with a lot of things.

ETOL: What kind of audience do you think this will appeal to?

Catherine: Well of course I think the general thing is for fifteen-year-old boys, is what I hear. I go, "No, when you see the movie it's universal." My niece, who is nine-years-old, will love it. She can't wait. My nanna, my grandma will love it. It really has that universal appeal like Raiders did, you know like the Indiana Jones feel. It's a universal audience which is great, especially for the summer I think.

ETOL: Well great, I really enjoyed it.

Catherine: Well thank you very much.

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