For Ana de Armas, Cuban food is comfort food. The Cuban-Spanish actor, who stars in the upcoming “John Wick” spin-off action thriller “Ballerina,” shared what her final meal would be while feasting on a platter of spicy chicken wings.
“Cuban food is just comfort food for me and it’s very basic, you know, it’s rice and beans,” de Armas told “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans on Thursday’s episode. “Black beans are my favorite. Definitely ropa vieja and tostones. Picadillo is really good too — it’s minced meat in tomato sauce and olives. Cuban food is really well condimented. It’s not spicy but it has… spices. Oh my gosh, I love it. It’s so yummy.”
De Armas also weighed in on what separates a great mojito from a mediocre one: “I think it’s how much sugar you put in it. It’s a fine line between making it way too sweet and just the right amount. And the rum is important. It’s white rum, Havana [Club] 3. That’s what it is. You can’t put anything else in it.”
Aside from food, the actor revealed the one thing she hated doing onscreen — which she, unfortunately, couldn’t avoid in Ron Howard’s “Eden.”
“Singing. I hated it,” de Armas said. “I remember when I talked to Ron and I was like ‘Ron, I really think I should lip sync. This is not for me.’ And he just didn’t want to hear it. He was like ‘no, you’re singing. You’re singing. If you do it bad, it’s good for the character.’ And I’m like ‘yeah but people don’t know that.’”
She continued, “I just couldn’t convince him to let me lip sync, so I had to learn the song. It was horrible. I was terrified. I would rather do 100 stunts than sing that song. It was terrifying because it’s also in front of all the actors. I just felt very exposed and vulnerable and it’s not one of my talents for sure.”
De Armas’ latest role is a vengeful ballerina-assassin, which came with it’s own John Wick-style fight sequences.
“I think we wanted to just keep pushing the humor in the franchise,” she said. “You know you watch the John Wick films and sometimes the fights are really intense and gory. But it’s the kind of action that you’re just having so much fun like you put your fingers on your face but you’re looking through. You can’t stop it.”
As for adding the ballet element, De Armas said “it was really important.”
Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.
“I really wanted to see her — she’s a woman in a man’s world and I want it to feel like every punch, every kick, everything was hurting. I really wanted her to go through that pain.”
Despite her impressive filmography — which includes titles like “Knives Out,” “Blonde” and “Blade Runner 2049” — De Armas told Evans that she actually hates watching herself on film.
“Yeah that goes all the way through to the end, so I start seeing early cuts of the film. I’ve kind of gotten better at watching myself and trying to separate myself from my performance alone and just look at the whole thing,” she said. “The whole picture and what’s good for the film sometimes it’s not what selfishly you would want to do for yourself.”
“I’m a very perfectionist and I like things, you know, they can always be improved. They can always be better.”
Watch the full interview below, via YouTube:
Read more
about "Hot Ones":
