Eva Mendes On ‘Rider’ Role & Superhero Envy

LOS ANGELES (February 15, 2007) — Eva Mendes has shared the screen with an impressive roster of A-List leading men. She has starred with Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington (twice), and Matt Damon.

She can now add Nicolas Cage to her list of after ?Ghost Rider,? the adaptation of the classic Marvel comic book.

In the movie, Nic Cage?s Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil to save the soul of his father and becomes Ghost Rider when evil is nearby. Eva plays news reporter and Blaze’s childhood sweetheart Roxanne Simpson.

When Eva sat down with Maria Menounos to chat up her role in the film she admitted, ?I had major superhero envy? after seeing Cage?s action sequences on the set when he becomes Ghost Rider, a hunter of renegade demons. ?I wanna do something,? she laughed. ?His head is on fire.?

What?s a girl to do but to ask director Mark Steven Johnson to beef up her role beyond being a damsel in distress? Johnson responded by giving her a scene where she was harnessed in a crane and flown fifty feet into the air.

Even after that impressive feat, she still wasn?t quite done playing a tough girl. ?He added this little part in this scene where I get to be a badass for two seconds. I shot this huge rifle that was bigger than me. I shot it right at the devil and it was pretty intense. I got my moment thanks to Mark,? she says proudly.

One would hope to have some fun stories from any big budget special effects filled film, and Eva made the best of some of the more tedious parts of such productions – like acting to things that would be added into the film after the shoot wrapped.

?I didn?t have to do green screen too often, but when I did it was kind of fun because I have such a crazy imagination as it is,? she says. ??It?s like ?Oh there?s a monster over there.? So it?s my idea of what the craziest most horrific monster looks like.?

And according to Eva, what exactly does that look like you may ask? ?It?s a twelve foot spider. Thick and hairy, just out to get me.?

But the true hazard on the set for her could very well have been her character?s wardrobe. ?At the end of the film I?m running from all this craziness and I?m in three inch Prada heels,? she says. ?But actually I came out of the womb in high heels, so for me it wasn?t really a problem,? she laughs.

?Ghost Rider? hits theatres February 16th.

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