Ana de Armas 'loved' playing Eve Macarro in Ballerina
The 37-year-old actress plays Eve Macarro, a ballerina who trains as an assassin, in the 'John Wick' spin-off movie, and Ana has revealed that she jumped at the chance to join the film franchise.
Speaking to HeyUGuys, Ana explained: "As a fan of the 'John Wick' franchise, and everything Keanu Reeves and [director] Chad Stahelski had done, I was like ... I have a great foundation there. And I think our movie is just so very organic and in a really good place for us to carry on with this world. And I love the character.
"So, I was just like ... tick, tick, tick. This makes sense."
Despite this, Ana had to get herself in tip-top shape for such a physically demanding role.
The actress actually spent "months and months" preparing for the project.
The Hollywood star shared: "Everything was so challenging. And the training especially.
"Stepping into the training period was kind of like ... it was not like I was underestimating what I was going to have to do, but it took me a moment to realise the discipline that it requires to take on something like this.
"It was just months and months of training. Different kinds of training, too. It was like weapons to combat to some martial arts to ... just even learning the basics."
Meanwhile, Ana previously admitted that becoming a movie star seemed like a distant dream during her childhood.
The brunette beauty - who grew up in Cuba, before moving to Spain and then the US - told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: "I had there, in front of my eyes, people who were not working or who didn't have money.
"On television I would see nothing more than old re-runs of soap operas or things that were of poor quality."
Ana first dreamed of becoming a well-known actress at the age of 12. However, it required a lot of courage and ambition for her to achieve her dream.
She explained: "I don't really remember a specific day that I said, 'I'm going to be an actress'.
"In my home, we never had videos, DVDs or VHS. We used to watch movies at my neighbour's home. If I saw a scene played by a woman or a man that I really liked, I would run to the mirror and repeat it.
"Then I would come back home and do the movie for my brother because he didn't see it.
"I couldn't dream of anything else outside Cuba. You grow up thinking that it's good enough, it's all you need, which in some way is true.
"You can dream big in Cuba but very few people can go outside and have the balls to make it happen."
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