What was it like working with Eli Wallach?

Oh… It was incredible.  I mean, it was completely incredible, the man is ninety years-old and I would just look at him everyday and I would say to him everyday, “I so hope I’m like you.  I so hope I’m still acting and still doing a good job and on a movie set when I’m ninety years-old and not in a wheelchair somewhere… or worse, not here at all.” I mean, that’s… he’s just remarkable, he’s remarkable.  And he would sit me down between takes and he say, “I’m gonna tell you another story.” And he would sit me down and he’d say, “Now the thing about Marilyn [Monroe]…” And I’d be like, oh [expressing excitement] and he’d just come out with these glorious anecdotes.  Just fantastic stories of experiences that he has had that were directly useful in playing Iris, because she had that level of fascination with Arthur, and I just had it, I just had it.  It was there everyday with Eli.  He was so wonderful and he knows his lines, I mean he knows his lines and he’s as conscientious about getting his dialogue right and giving a good performance as anyone else was on the film set.  And he has this incredible energy and Nancy [Meyers] would say to him all the time, she’d say, “Could you act a little more seventy?” [Laughter] He’s just; he’s like a sixty year-old.  He moves around much, kind of, freer than you would expect a person at the age of ninety to, he was just incredible… incredible.

There’s a great scene with the two of you where he say’s that you are a leading lady and you need to stop being the best friend.  What do you think women can learn from watching that scene?

I think most women consider themselves to be the best friend.  And it’s interesting because a lot of people have brought this up, and I’ve genuinely asked my girlfriends, you know, how do you feel… Oh God, I’m definitely best friend type.  I mean, just… most people are.  And I think that’s a self esteem thing you know; it takes a seriously confident, self assured, self possessed individual to say, “Yes, I’m the leading lady of my own life.”  But what I’d hope women would take away from that is that, you know, when it comes to matters of the heart you have to be very strong because it can be a pretty bumpy ride.

You don’t share much screen time with Cameron Diaz in this movie, but did you get to hang out with her much?  What was your favorite part of working with her and were you a fan of her work?

I look forward to working with Cameron Diaz one day. [Laughter] I mean, Cameron is such a great girl, she genuinely is.  She’s completely without ego.  She isn’t a diva and she’s a very happy go lucky person, extremely positive.  And it was so nice to be around that energy, but we didn’t have much time together as you say, and the moments that we did have were just fun, really, really fun.  She’s extremely hard working and she’s a great team member.  But our paths would cross, you know, sometimes we’d be shooting, for example, the scene with Jack and I in the video store.  Cameron sort of happened to be around in the area and she came by, and she was there for sort of, half of the shooting day.  And she was just giving support and making us all feel that we were a part of the same thing together, you know, she was very aware of that.  And she’s a truly fantastic person.

Have you ever had a kind of, life changing vacation or holiday, like in this movie?

Um… no, not specifically, no, not life changing; I mean, I’ve been to places that have really opened my eyes in a sense that… when I went to India, someone said to me before going, ‘a little bit of India goes a long way.’  I was gone for three weeks, I think, when I was doing the film Holy Smoke and I got to do a little preparation and research there.  And after two days I thought, my God, I am so ready to leave now because it was just so much.  It was the biggest culture shock I had had in my life.  So I’ve certainly been to places that have been incredibly eye-opening and inspiring but not specifically life changing.

How long does it take you to recharge from your career?

I’m in the middle of a year off… perfectly timed question. [Laughing] But it’s not so much stepping away from Hollywood; we don’t live in LA so I don’t feel that I’m right in the thick of this industry.  I’m very much in the thick of my family and family life and so I do feel as though I’m always one step outside of it anyway.  But I am in the middle of a year off right now just because.

What about that cottage that your character lives in?  Is that like the Nancy Meyers plush fantasy of…?

I’m telling you, that cottage… that cottage was so fantastic and I promise you it exists.  I mean, places like that absolutely exist.  Friends of mine own places like that and I found it such a pleasure to see England look so picturesque.  Because it does actually look like that in certain towns; you know the town we shot it in, that’s what it looked like.  And that’s why tourists are so drawn to parts of the English countryside, is to really go check out a fourteenth century church because it’s really there.  Um, you know, it was just really lovely to see it, because usually England in movies is portrayed as a very grey, cold place.  It’s usually raining and everyone’s depressed so it was a… [Laughing] no, I just really thought it was great, and honestly those places exist.

I don’t know if you would agree with this but I find that romantic comedies more than any other genre when they fail artistically are more difficult to watch than any other type of genre.

It’s a good thing that this one didn’t fail then, isn’t it? [Laughter]

So my question is did you find that you scrutinized this script that much harder to be sure that you were associating yourself with something that you could be proud of?

No, I mean everything is very much a leap of faith and everything is a risk regardless of the genre.  But I knew when I had met with Nancy and she told me she was writing this script, I was very, very excited, couldn’t wait for her to finish, couldn’t wait to read it because Nancy Meyers does romantic comedies brilliantly I think, she really does.  The scripts are solid, more importantly you absolutely believe in the characters and you really believe that that happens.  You really believe… you feel like you know all of those people.   And the dialogue is incredibly intelligent, it’s not kind of gag for gag sake, it always comes from somewhere, [it] comes from an emotional, grounded place and that’s everything.  And that’s why they aren’t fluffy and they aren’t sort of goofy and silly.  They’re real.  And to be honest with you, I always felt that I was in really, really capable hands.