You've done a lot of flawed characters. Are those roles more interesting?
ZETA-JONES: No, not at all. I want to play a whole array of characters. It just happened that way. You can only do what you get offered and what comes your way. There are only so many ball-breakers and murderesses I can play. There's a tough, strong side there. Even in ?Zorro,? it was like she wasn't a damsel in distress in any way.
I think ?Zorro? was so great for me because no one knew where I came from.

Everyone spoke Spanish to me forever after that - I'm from Wales. When I did ?Entrapment,? I really wanted to do an American accent because I just didn't want to come from Britain and constantly do period dramas in ripped corsets - like the wench. [Although] there may be a ?Zorro 2.? I may be pouring myself into that corset sometime soon. It's just trying to mix it up and getting the chance. When Steven Soderbergh called me to be in ?Traffic,? that was such an amazing [opportunity] because it wouldn't be what would be typically given to me. I just try to keep mixing it up.

What did you enjoy about playing these characters?
CLOONEY: The fun part about these characters is that they both don't really realize the trouble they're in emotionally until they run into each other. They're both sort of romantics in this horrible, horrible screwed up life that they live, and that's sort of the fun of it. That's the idea of a good, screwball, romantic comedy. We all know what the ending of a romantic comedy is.

That's the toughest thing to do and that's why, the truth is, actors don't really do them that often anymore. It's hard to do a romantic comedy and go, ?Hey surprise, they're going to get together!? There's a shock. These elements in this film seem more fun because we know what's going to happen but it seemed like the journey was more interesting and a little darker.

How do you make choices about the roles you take?
ZETA-JONES: For me, it's obviously the script but also all the other elements that come in. You get the piece of material and then you get Joel and Ethan in that equation, and then George and all that - just that whole equation is exciting to me. There are many things that make me choose what to do, but I think primarily it's what's on the page.

CLOONEY: As we know, there are so many things that can go wrong in a film, so it always has to start with the screenplay and then the director. Those are the two things. You can make a really bad film out of a good script, but you're not likely to make a good film out of a bad script. Then the director, since it's their voice, it's their idea, so those are the first two elements. You hope to get to work with really good actors and you hope that all of these elements kind of come together as you go, but mostly you can't start without having a script that you think is fun or interesting in some way. Which is harder than you think to find.

Page 4 - Directing, "Ocean's 12," and Escaping to Italy