Question's & Answers with actress Michelle Rodriguez from the “Summer of Sony” International Press Junket - Cancun, Mexico

MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ (“Rain Ocampo”)  

Q. I guess you can’t reveal how you’re back in this film but what can you tell us about your character?

A. Let’s just say that when technology starts to mess around with God’s creation a lot of crazy things can happen. And that pretty much also sums up the entire franchise. [Laughs] 

Q. Is it possible to be a kick-ass action chick and still be feminine?

A. Absolutely. Have you ever heard about the contradictions between the Marines and the Air Force? The guys in the Marines always look at the guys in the Air Force like they’re pussies. It’s because when they’re in battle, especially the special ops guys, they can hurt people with their bare hands and they have to grit it out in the sun and live hard core. Meanwhile, the Air Force guys are in air conditioning and they get called up and they sit in a chair, buckle up, fly out, press a couple buttons and fly back home. To the grunts, it’s like, you’re a pussy. If you ever had to face what I face you’d get your ass kicked. It’s the same battle between women and men. It’s the battle between the physicality and the mind. I feel women are internal. We’re internalized creatures. We have a different kind of power. I feel like that power has never really been exploited as much as our sex or “Let’s turn her into a dude and make her battle if she’s going to be strong.” It’s not necessarily that way. Sometimes you can win at a game of chess and be slicker. I think that today is opening up a whole new world for Hollywood where we can reinvent ourselves very easily. The macho man is dying. He’s being killed by the tech-y geek, the wimpy looking Spider-Man guy or the guy from Wanted who can shoot a gun from the side but can’t literally come up and kick your ass. The Sylvester Stallones and the Arnold Schwarzeneggers are gone. Now there’s room for a girl to play because these new guys and these new heroes don’t really have to save anybody. They’re existing in a different way. It leaves it open for all different types of powerful women. I feel like I want to explore that more. When I say, “I want to get into my femininity,” I don’t mean be a prissy broad who’s wearing lipstick and trying to woo some guy while she’s spying or trying to kill somebody in their sleep. I’m talking about a creature that is intelligent, beautiful and slick. Just be slick. You don’t have to be this tomboy girl holding twenty-five machine guns with your cargo pants on. I’d like to put that away. 

Q. What is Milla and Paul’s relationship like on set?

A. They’re the bomb together. It’s freaking awesome. I love watching them. It’s interesting because my first experience working on Resident Evil was my first experience in Europe, so I remember everything. I remember how they both got together. It was awesome. She loves to work. He loves to work. I think that’s their true bond. They really love what they do. They genuinely enjoy coming up with cool imaginary stories and how the characters interact and they love brainstorming about this stuff. They’ll do it on set all day. It’s great and it’s cool. They’re like two little kids giggling about it. They’re talking about the guts of some zombie flying over this character. It’s crazy but I love it. They have a great dynamic. 

Q. What was it like when they got together on the first Resident Evil?

A. I don’t think they want me to talk about that but let’s just say it was really interesting because the dynamic at first was like this wild thunderstorm of Milla coming over this calm, passive, innocent child and tainting him. [Laughs] And it was great. It was awesome. Just seeing him with messed up hair. It was like, what just happened to him? Cleopatra got to you! 

Q. Are you into nerdy guys?

A. I’m a geek but I’m not into geeks. I’m the geeky one. 

Q. Did you keep up with the series since part one? Or, once cast, did you catch up with them on Blu-ray or DVD?

A. I tried to catch up to speed once I got back on. And boy, has a lot happened since the first one. I liked the “Jill” character and Boris Kodjoe and Johann Urb’s characters. It’s pretty damn insane. Paul’s taken it everywhere. What I love about is it’s transformed from sci-fi into this action series. It’s an action film now. Even the Vegas desert stuff. It’s an action film. I felt like I was in a wild, wild, west movie that just happened to have zombies in it. I like the way he’s flip-flopped it. He’s gone back and forth and he’s gotten to a place where you get a different quality of sci-fi filmmaking. I think it’s kind of cool. It keeps me interested, that’s for sure. Out of all of the ones I saw, I liked this one the most because I have this MTV a.d.d. thing where I can only watch so much of people dying and panting and stuff like that. I need to be stimulated by different backgrounds. What I love about this is, I’m in China one minute, I’m in Racoon City the next, New York the next, Moscow the next. I’m like, woah, what the hell is this? And the backdrops change like that. Next thing you know, I’m on a glacier. I’m like, “Holy shit.” It’s great and, as a 3-D experience, it’s a ride. 

Q. You worked with James Cameron, the master of 3-D, on Avatar. How different was this experience?

A. I won’t talk about how they’re different because you’re talking about a whole different level of filmmaking when you’re talking about that because you’re talking about three years of CGI work compared to something that is done in three months and that will take another three months to complete. You’re talking about a different scale. But I will tell you what is the same: the sets are so elaborate. I was human in Avatar, so I worked on all the sets. I was in my helicopter cockpit and the only place I saw green screen was on the windows outside of my chopper. Before I took off, I was on grass planes with these protrusions coming out of the ground that were these weird plants from some alien universe and there were, like, robot men standing next to me and platforms full of missiles and stuff. I was on elaborate sets. It was cool. Here, it’s the same thing. I’m working in Toronto and I’m on these elaborate sets. I’m in the suburbs, surrounded by all these houses that look the same, like Stepford Wives. The next thing you know, there are freaking zombies running all over the place and exploding cars all around me. I’m sitting there in my Prius like, “What the hell is going on?” Then you’re in Moscow and you’re in this crazy tunnel with submarines in it. It’s sick. And all the zombies are dressed up like they’re from Moscow. Moscow zombies. Seriously? This is gnarly. Where else do you get this stuff?  Then we were doing some Tokyo stuff. Then everybody’s Asian and I’m like, “Wow. This is cool! I’ve got Asian zombies flying at me.” I mean, come on. The stimulation, the environment. CGI is the pepper on top of the entire creation and I like that because who wants to be that six-year-old who has to imagine all of these elaborate things? As an actor, you prefer to have the environment already set for you so it becomes flawlessly easy to embody the character. It was so easy for me to become “Rain.” Look at what I’m surrounded by. 

Q. Is it true you’ve written some screenplays?

A. I’m writing right now. I’m one picky broad. One’s about a secret society of women that’s been around since the Renaissance era and their main initiative is protecting the global green initiative and they’re really rich and powerful right now and I love it. Working on that is amazing because I get to take today’s politics and put them into the movie. The other flick that I’m working on is a kid’s movie. It’s kind of like The Goonies meets The Neverending Story but it’s about animals and the preservation of animals in a day and age where we don’t care about them as much.  

Q. Are you environmentally conscious in your own life?

A. I try to be. I recycle at home. I do what I can. When I get my own house, I’m definitely going to make sure it’s self-sufficient and it’s got solar panels all over. But it’s a tough road. I feel I need to use the gifts that I’ve been given to inspire. My whole plan is to keep incredibly aware of all the technology that exists and who’s focusing on it. Right now, Abu Dhabi is focusing on desert tech. They’re one of the biggest investors in desert tech. That’s like a trillion dollar fund. They’re trying to take Northern Africa off the grid and parts of Asia and India. That’s inspirational. I love that shit. They’re also building their own communities that are self-sufficient. That’s what I think the future is and that’s what I’m going to focus all my technological research on and I’ll put all of that into my writing as best I can because that’s all I can do. This is what I know how to do so I need to do my part this way. I’m not going to go stand there with a picket sign hoping to get something done. I just want to try and inspire people with some good projects. 

Q. With the passage of time, how do you measure the experience of working on the TV show “Lost”?

A. It was amazing. It was a really great experience. I enjoyed working on it. What was so fresh and new about that was the idea that you can strip away everything that we’ve become so comfortable with. What happens to a man or a woman when they’re stripped back to nature? That was the appeal of it for me. How do you survive in the middle of nowhere with nothing that you’re used to, especially in a day and age when we went from rotary phones to beepers to cell phones to what we know now as social networking? Imagine living without your iPad. Take away the toothbrush. Take away the meat. The Starbucks. All that. I think that intrigued a lot of people. Then, all of a sudden, it got into some supernatural stuff that I never get. But that’s what attracted me about it. 

Q. Do you believe that all buildings in the future can be self-sufficient?

A. I don’t believe it. I know it. It’s a matter of who’s going to actually decide that this is the new infrastructure. It’s all dinosaurs who are like, “I don’t want to invest in a transition. It’s too much money. I’d rather make as much as I possibly can off fossil fuels or gas that pollutes water.” Like, fracking is clean energy? I’ve seen people turn on their faucets and light it up. This is clean energy? I freaking hate you guys. But I’m not going to stand there and picket. I’d rather make a cool, awesome action movie about it.  

Q. Are you going to appear in the Machete sequel?

A. Machete Kills! Maybe more yes than no. If I am doing it, I’m flying out to Texas soon to do it. In the Spring. If I am doing it. [Laughs] 

Q. What is special about doing franchise movies like the Fast & Furious films?

A. What’s special is the economy and the lack of creativity. [Laughs] And I think maybe a little bit of people scared to lose their jobs. Taking chances has a lot to do with it. We’re in a place where you have to keep studios alive and what’s better than what’s already proven to work? It’s either that or taking something that has twenty years worth of free advertising like a comic book or a video game and trying to transition that but, like I said, that’s a catch-22, too, because if you don’t respect where it came from, it’ll be a flop. I guarantee you all that shit from the eighties, you’re going to be seeing more and more of it in movie form.