Hollywood Royalty

MIRREN: I'm sure. Who could resist? Someone who is very close to the queen, a great historian named Robert Lacey, said he thinks she would have said, as the credits rolled, "That wasn't too bad, was it? I think I'll have a gin and tonic."

PITT: How did you start shaping her? She's got this great fireplug walk, and your glasses were always halfway down the bridge of your nose.

MIRREN: Obviously there's a lot of film on her, but it's of her in her formal role--hardly anything behind closed doors. Playing a real character, you have to behave like a detective and see things that maybe no one else has. She's unbelievably composed, but on the films I noticed that her thumb is always turning her wedding ring round and round and round. There's this inner beat, this tension.

When you're creating a character, do you need to find something external like that? Penelope, in "Volver"--

CRUZ: I know what you're going to ask.

You wore a padded butt for your role.