Slipping Into the Uniform of a Secret Service Agent in The Sentinel: “It was really easy for me. It was fun to put the earpiece in, to speak in our wrists. I felt like I was playing make believe instead of doing a movie because everybody wants to wear the glasses. Everybody wants to have the Men in Black suit and we got to do that. So to run around and do that… Kiefer obviously looks much better doing it than I do.”
Longoria continued. “For me, the reason this character was so easy for me was because she is pretty defined. Why I find Gabrielle so challenging is because she has no moral boundaries. She doesn’t live by any rules. She just kind of does what she wants when she wants to do it. Because of that I’m always like, ‘She could do this. She could do that.’ There are so many colors she can play. Where Jill is very specific. She’s lived her whole life by laws and rules. She lives by the law and she has a protocol and she has procedure. She lives her life by procedure so it’s pretty easy to make choices as an actor whenever you’re really defined as a Secret Service agent. There are things that are just not even an option to act.”
Working with Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas: Although Longoria and Sutherland star on two of the most popular TV shows around, they didn’t spend much time discussing shop. Instead Longoria found other topics to discuss with her The Sentinel co-star. “What I love most is just the human being that he is. He has a well of wisdom when it comes to life and he had a lot of life lessons,” said Longoria. “He had a lot of things to tell me about the business, which I was like a sponge absorbing everything. He was just really inspirational to me for him to have been through everything he’s been through in this business, all the way from being a child with his father to a hit show like 24. It’s just an amazing career that he’s had and everything that he’s been through personally, too. And yet he’s still the kindest human being you’ll ever meet.
I was nervous at first to work with him because I thought he was very serious and he was going to be very boring to work with. He’s quite funny and very serious, and he’s a great musician so he’s always playing his guitar. It was fun.”
Asked for specifics on what she picked up from Sutherland, Longoria said, “He told me so much stuff that I was like, ‘I gotta write all of this down.’ He was really concerned about protecting me in the business. He was like, ‘Just be careful…’ He kept saying, ‘Do you understand what is happening to you?’ and I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he goes, ‘No, no, no. Do you understand that you have an opportunity to do some great things?’ He said I could be the future so and so and I could be the future so and so, so I just listened to him and a lot of tips on how to pick scripts. Things like that.”
Longoria had equally nice things to say about co-star Michael Douglas. “Michael’s great. He was very supportive from the beginning with me doing this movie. He called me personally and he said, ‘You’ve got to do this movie. I’ve seen your work. I know who you are is deeper than Desperate Housewives.’ He knew I was from Texas; he knew I was a tomboy. So for me to just have that person kind of want the best, have the best intentions for you… I really felt that from Michael. He was kind and a sweet person.
Probably the thing I most recognize about him was that he’s just so dedicated to his family. So for me, every time I’m around people, I just like to absorb from them more personal traits than working traits. But career-wise, Michael, Kiefer and I had an amazing work ethic. It was like a race to get to set because we were all early birds. Nobody was a diva. Kiefer took the longest in hair and makeup so it was nice to be on that set of just complete professionalism and have a good time.”
Transitioning from Television to Films: Like most TV stars, Longoria’s only free to work in movies a few months out of the year. Despite her limited availability Longoria said she has a lot of projects to choose from. “I had a good choice of films but I wanted to do something as far away from Desperate Housewives for my first film so people don’t get locked into only seeing me as Gabrielle,” explained Longoria. “That’s the reason I chose The Sentinel. Also Michael Douglas called me and said, ‘You have to do it.’”
Page 2: Eva Longoria on Playing a Secret Service Agent and the Future of Desperate Housewives
