Here's what she told us.

IGN FILMFORCE: So Spy Kids is kind of like a reunion for you and Antonio...

CARLA GUGINO: Yeah.

IGNFF: Except this time around you get a lot more screen time.

CG: Exactly! We get much more screen time, which is very cool. Yeah, on Miami Rhapsody we just sorta got to know each other on the set, but we had, I think literally one scene where we said "Goodbye." So yeah, this was cool when I found out Antonio was doing it. It's always nice when you go on a set and you know someone. So when I got to Austin and got in the hair and make-up trailer and, you know, there was Antonio "Hi! Hi!" and it just makes it...it's easier to start a movie on that note.

IGNFF: The thing that you got screwed out of on Miami Rhapsody was that you never got to cut a rug with him. I mean he danced with just about every woman in that movie, except for you. So did you get a chance to dance with him this time around?

CG: That's true. We did do a little dancing on the set of Spy Kids, actually. Because Robert plays guitar, so we did a little bit of dancing and he's a very good dancer, I have to say. But, yeah, not onscreen.

IGNFF: Your career has been pretty extreme, ranging from light-hearted comedies to heavy dramas. I tried to wade through Jaded the other night...

CG: Oh my Lord! You deserve a prize for that. I saw once online that it was referred to as "Carla Gugino's lesbian movie." I didn't realize that I'd done one.

IGNFF: But going from something like Son in Law, which is the Pauly Shore piss-take, to a film where you're naked and beaten up on a beach after having been raped is a pretty drastic character change...

CG: Right [laughs]. I am so sad that you reminded me of that.

IGNFF: And then to go to Spy Kids, that's something that a lot of actors wouldn't dream of doing these days, you know actually stretching their roles to the extreme.

CG: Yeah. You know, the thing is that I definitely do gravitate towards really very, very different material. And I don't have a favorite genre. I mean, I always sort of base it on instinct. And it does seem to be that after I finish something that is very dramatic, I end up inevitably wanting to do a comedy or something like that. Jaded was something – not to give it too much time – that was an interesting idea, I thought, and the director's a very smart person, and there were a lot of good elements sort of about it, yet I also think that I was in a place in my career, it was early on enough that I felt that I could change more than I really could change; that I could improve it more than...now I think I realize that there is only so much you can do to make something, to elevate something. And again, like I said, it's not that it was...there was a lot of potential there, but ultimately, yeah, it ended up being a tricky movie. Uhhh, there was another point that I was gonna say about that, but I can't remember what it was...

IGNFF: Actually, I was just trying to touch upon your range as an actress. I mean a lot of young actresses these days get typecast as the vixen or sexpot or the smart outsider or they just do the same kind of straight drama over and over again. You've been able to be very chameleonic, you know able to do something like Jaded where you go "Whoa! Time-out now." And then you go "Hey, she was the wild girl getting a tattoo in Son in Law and she was the informant in Snake Eyes. That is definitely unique in that a lot of actors get stuck doing the same role over and over again throughout their careers.

CG: Thank you. Totally. Yeah. And you know what's interesting about that is that I think for the sort of "Who's Hot Now" thing, fitting into a box really easily is very advantageous. For having a long career, one hopes, and this is sorta what I base my choices on, that if you do a variety of things...you know, it's interesting because it confuses some people and they're not quite sure what to do with you and other people, thankfully, you know, appreciate the fact that you don't just play yourself, that you can, in fact, transform into different characters. I find often in Hollywood there are many people who play themselves really beautifully. And certain parts are not that dissimilar from who you are as a person. And there are other parts where you would like to think that you have nothing in common with those characters, but you probably do have more than you think. It's interesting how when you walk into a room in LA there's a sense of what you walk in, as is sort of what you can do. So I spent a lot of time choosing different things to hopefully show people that maybe that's not the case.

IGNFF: And it should be cool, too, in terms of maintaining your anonymity.

CG: Yeah.

IGNFF: I mean I didn't know who you were by name. But once I had a list of the films you've made in front of me, I totally knew who you were. I think that's kinda cool, because I've actually bought into you as each of the characters you've played rather than being "Oh, there's Carla G. again."

CG: That's so good. I mean, I'm really happy with that. You know, the reality is the only reason to have your name really well known is so that you have better choice in projects. And for me, that's the only plus side of that. Eventually you have to get to that point where people know who you are so you can green light a movie or whatever. It's all those business aspects of things. But yeah, also it's funny I have red, short hair in Spy Kids and now that I have long, brown hair, you know, I look totally different. I saw Robert Rodriguez the other day and I hadn't seen him for a few months and he was "Carla? I didn't recognize you." And I was like "Okay, if you don't recognize me then I can certainly wander the streets fine."

IGNFF: I hear that you're shooting what is tentatively called The One, the new Joel Silver-produced Jet Li movie.

CG: Yeah, they asked me to do that and I didn't have to go through the audition process, which was very cool. I play three characters. One of them is sort of a mean vixen who detonates a bomb. Another one is I play the wife of Jet in a different universe and he's a cop and I'm a veterinarian. There's small action stuff, but I don't do any martial arts.

IGNFF: He didn't teach you any Shaolin crane style or other positions?

CG: No, no. You know, this is a man who's been doing it early on. I think when he was like 11 he went and demonstrated for President Nixon. And he's been doing it since he was like six. So I think the idea of teaching me a quick move would probably be incredibly offensive [laughs]. So though I'm tempted to ask I sort of decided [not to].

IGNFF: And he hasn't offered up any free lessons at this juncture, either, I gather.

CG: No, he hasn't. He's a really amazing guy; he's a Buddhist and really just sort of a very peaceful person. So really his martial arts come from a completely different place than, you know, I would think. But, yeah, that movie they asked me to do. It's nice, as time goes on to just sort of have [the luxury of not going through the audition process]. And, hopefully, maybe that's what doing an array of parts does for you.

IGNFF: Hey, did Robert sport his little hat during the shoot?

CG: [laughs] His little fisherman cap? Yep, yep. Which is so funny, 'cause having done Snake Eyes, you know, Brian DePalma also wears like his khakis. Which I've talked to people who worked with Brian 1-, 15 years ago and they asked "Is he still wearin' the khakis?" And I said "Yeah!" I don't know what it is about directors; I guess it's whatever's the most comfortable for them [laughs].

IGNFF: You were easily in the best of the Pauly Shore movies...

CG: I had such a fun time. You know, it's funny because a lot of people really love that movie and it's a movie that for me is not really that reflective of who I am as an actor. And yet I would say that some of the most passionate fans that I have are from that movie. People will come up to me and say, "I've seen that 20 times!" It's actually a fun story. He's a really funny guy and I think that's an example of someone who maybe got into a rut of a certain kind of role, 'cause I actually think that he's more versatile than what we've seen him do. We had a great time. I was sort of trepidatious about doing that movie and then I went and tested with him and he and I had such a fun time that I was like "Okay, I'll do this movie." It was great. You know, Flea was in it; it was just a fun movie. A long time ago, now.

IGNFF: Trepedatious, man, that earns bonus points.

CG: [laughs] Oh no! But I hate that when I read some sort of an interview and it's like "Oh, like they didn't get that out of a thesaurus!" Did I use that word? And I even used it without noticing. You know, I used to be made fun of as a kid for being really articulate; it was sort of like a strange thing. I don't know how it happened.

IGNFF: When you get locked down in a hotel like this doing the press dog and pony show, what's the first thing you grab outta the mini-bar in your room?

CG: Heh-heh-heh....well....let's see...probably those roasted cashews. Yeah, it would be between them and the M&M's, you know? But you gotta mix it up, especially if you're travelling from city to city, 'cause, you know, too many M&M's gets a little [much]. And then of course if there's any sort of dark chocolate around, that would be my first choice over anything.

IGNFF: If you weren't acting, what would you be doing? And to tie into that, what's the worst gig you've even had to do in order to squeak by during lean times?

CG: I was really lucky to bypass that. I mean, lucky I guess, really lucky on that level. I also sort of bypassed, like in a way, my teenage years, because I was so obsessed with being a professional actor, so I missed probably a lot of fun. But I started acting when I was 15 and I got emancipated and I was able to support myself, which was amazing. I got some help until I did my first movie, which was Troop Beverly Hills, which sort of got me enough money to say, "I'm not moving back home, I'm living on my own." What else would I do? I don't know, which is sort of the scary thing. I think at this point now, I would really like to do more producing, as well. I think right now, probably for the next 10 years, I'm so excited to finally be at the age where I can play some of the roles that I'm really excited to play. And play women and not girls. But that time for actresses, as we all know, is relatively short in terms of the amount of roles that come your way. I'm happy to be at the beginning of that period of time. But I would like to be able to, in 15 or 20 years to be able to be doing more producing because I do also find it to be part of the creative process. And it doesn't matter so much how many wrinkles you have on your face and all that kind of stuff. Ummm, yeah, I just sort of fell in love with acting. I know that people have said it a lot "If there was something else I would be equally as good at I might have, at really frustrating times decided to switch and do that," but since I don't know what that is, I'm stuck with this! [laughs]