Where are you based these days?
Madrid has always been my main home because my family is here and I have a house here. I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles, too, but I’ve always preferred New York.

Do you still take ballet classes?
Filming the musical Nine with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren gave me a big reason to dance five-six hours a day. I’m really excited about the movie.

With Elegy, it seems you’re really coming into your own with an English-language role.
Now that I have spent all those years studying, and living where they speak the language, I feel more free, though I still have my accent. Woody Allen asked me to improvise in English and Spanish. I couldn’t have done that three or four years ago. It’s great not having to hear anymore that I don’t speak English well.

And what was it like, working with Woody Allen?
He’s not a man of too many words. I would go to him with all these questions about the character and he’d say, “We can do this if you want, but I trust where you’re going with the character.” He’s very direct and very funny. Of course I would have liked more time, but he shoots a whole movie in about five weeks.