Penelope Cruz has much to talk about

Penelope Cruz is busy, busy, busy. She’s in her hometown Madrid, dashing to an evening shoot for Pedro Almodovar’s Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces), while talking to us on her cell as her driver zips in and out of traffic. She’s got two other films to plug: the mournful Elegy opposite Ben Kingsley, and Woody Allen’s decidedly more cheerful Vicky Cristina Barcelona, in which she locks lips with both Javier Bardem and Scarlett Johansson. (So not a big deal, she says, but “it was very crowded that day on the set.”)

So where are you based these days?

Madrid is always my main home because my family is here and I have a house here. And I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. I have a home there, too. But I’ve always preferred New York....I fell in love with that city as soon as I landed. 

Do you still take ballet classes?

I don’t do it unless I have a reason. Now this—filming the musical Nine with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren—is a very big reason, to dance five, six hours a day. Finally I was able to fully train and dance with a movie. I’m really excited about it. 

With Elegy, it seems like you’re really coming into your own with an English-language role.

Now that I have spent all those years studying, and living where they speak the language, I feel more free. I still have my accent, but I feel much more free now....(Woody Allen) asked sometimes for me to improvise in English and Spanish. I couldn’t have done that three or four years ago. It’s great not having to hear that anymore (that she doesn’t speak English well). (She laughs.) 

And what was it like, working with Woody Allen?

He’s not a man of too many words. But he gives you treasures....I would go to him with all these questions, all these theories of the character. He’d say, “We can do this if you want, but I trust where you’re going with the character.” But in a very respectful way. But very direct. And very funny. Of course. I would have liked more time, but he shoots the whole movie in, like, five weeks. Things go flying on his sets. (She shrieks.) 

What happened?

We almost crashed with the car. My driver almost crashed with the car.

‘Protect Me From My Desires’

NOT as harried as on his previous visit to be part of the Ayala Malls’ “Bravo Filipino” series of highbrow shows where he unleashed his intellectual Matavenero collection, Lesley Mobo was having fun this time.

Gab Fab: ‘Seen at the scene’

Seen at the scene: John Lloyd Cruz and girlfriend Liz Uy spending a weekend in Hong Kong. The two enjoyed each other’s company but when it came to shopping, the two did their own thing, with John Lloyd checking out the men’s stuff while Liz browsed through local Hong Kong designer stuff.

PIANIST Victor Asuncion is a man in a hurry. He had barely stepped on the stage of the Little Theater of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) when he went straight toward the piano and, without even so much as a smile or a bow to acknowledge his audience, launched into the Bach-Busoni “Chaconne.”

Penelope Cruz has much to talk about

Penelope Cruz is busy, busy, busy. She’s in her hometown Madrid, dashing to an evening shoot for Pedro Almodovar’s Los Abrazos Rotos (Broken Embraces), while talking to us on her cell as her driver zips in and out of traffic.

Alec Baldwin: Over acting?

ALEC BALDWIN was rushed and soaked with sweat as he entered the Upper West Side home of a photographer for a portrait shoot and an interview. He closed himself in a tiny air-conditioned office, decided not to be photographed on account of the heat and made a long phone call. The words “Democratic Party” and “$600,000” floated out.

The Rebirth of the Denim Skirt

Turning a much-loved, overworn pair of jeans into a skirt isn’t a new idea—nimble sewers have done it for decades—but making the results look chic took the happy rediscovery of the mini. It’s a trend that belongs to the street—jean skirts were the coverup of choice at the recent US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California, and the paparazzi are catching model Agyness Deyn and other leggy style leaders wearing them just about everywhere—but now even fashion houses such as Chanel are turning out superdistressed denim minis.