Nancy Schafer, TFF managing director and programmer, sat down with Volver star Penelope Cruz at the Tribeca Cinema Series advanced screening.

CRUZ THE MUSE Nancy Schafer, TFF managing director and programmer, sat down with Volver star Penelope Cruz at the Tribeca Cinema Series advanced screening. Q: You and Pedro Almodóvar have worked with each other frequently. How many films have you done with him? Three with him. [All About My Mother], Live Flesh and now Volver. And hopefully we'll do many more together. Were you glad to be working with him again, and what was it like? I was so happy that he called me again and gave me the most challenging, difficult, complex character of my career up to now. When I read it, it was more than what I dreamt about. He was actually my biggest motivation to becoming an actress. When I was 13, I saw Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down – that's what pushed me to make the decision to look for an agent. I looked for my agent just so that I could go to castings, become an actress and one day, maybe be able to work with him. That was my biggest dream. Do you two talk about other projects? Yes, we do, but then I don't share that in interviews – all the stuff that he tells me that he's writing. He should be the one to share those things. But you're obviously a muse for him. Well, he never uses that word, and I don't think in those terms. I think he is somebody who gets inspiration from everything constantly because he's a great observer. I'm just happy to be one piece of those puzzles; that I'm in those movies. Besides Almodóvar's work, what other films and filmmakers do you love? I love all the work from [Francois] Truffaut, [Jean-Luc] Godard, Claude Chabrol, [Federico] Fellini. There is an Italian director that I love; I've worked with him once – Sergio Castellitto. That was his second movie [Non ti muovere or Don't Move], but I can't wait to see his new stuff. He's one of the best actors in the world, but he's also a great director. I also love Lars Von Trier, Julio Medem, [Alejandro] Amenábar. Who would you most want to work with? Well, all of them. And, I love [Martin] Scorsese, and of course Coppola – father and daughter. And Clint Eastwood, Paul Haggis, and … I mean, I forget so many people. There are so many people that I admire, and I would love to work with. I would love to work with Cameron Crowe again. I would love to work with Jim Brooks, who I think is a genius. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Watch Cruz's introduction of Volver (click the image to play)

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