23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Eiza González has a lot to say about those Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo rumours
Eiza González is a true cinephile. 'I just read Moviemakers' Master Class,' she says as she leaps up from her linen clad bed to grab the book off her shelf and show me. 'Laurent Tirard interviewed 20 of the best filmmakers in the world. [In each interview] you can really see the identity of the filmmaker and why they are the style of filmmaker that they are.'
And one filmmaker she can't get enough of? Guy Ritchie. The 35-year-old is starring in her third collaboration with the director, Fountain of Youth which is out on Apple TV+ today. We're catching up about a month before the movie releases, it's a rare sunny day in England, and Eiza is calling from always warm Los Angeles, make-up free, chilling on her bed, and takeaway coffee in hand as she shares heart warm adoration for the man she considers both a 'brilliant dynamic filmmaker' and now, her friend.
'There is something to be said about a director who can create a style under their name, and he's one of the handful of people that has been able to do that, and cross genres and do so many different styles of films and be really good at it,' she explains. 'I've been an enormous Guy Ritchie fan since I can recall, and so it is pretty surreal now. Sometimes I go back to my 12 year old self, and I think, 'wow, if someone told me I was gonna be a Guy Ritchie girl, I would have never believed it'.'
But believe it she should. The actress, who was born and raised in Mexico City, kickstarted her career on Mexican television after being inspired by her Fountain of Youth co-star Natalie Portman. 'I'm not even saying this to be funny. I grew up watching Natalie and I was just always incredibly taken by her,' she laughs from behind the Zoom screen. A string of TV shows in Mexico in her teen years, led to a move to Hollywood, where she's since gone onto star in projects such as Baby Driver, Hobbs & Shaw, Netflix's Three Body Problem, Guy Ritchie's The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and In The Grey, which is due to be released later this year.
It was while filming on location for In The Grey that Eiza first heard about Ritchie's Fountain of Youth, but never imagined her luck she would be cast in a third project from the filmmaker. 'He was already prepping for Fountain of Youth, and we were in the winnebago. Henry [Cavill], Jake [Gyllenhaal] and I were all discussing the movie and he [Ritchie] asked us who to cast. Never in a million years, when I was doing In The Grey, would I have thought he would have offered me Fountain of Youth. And so when my agents called me, with 'you have an offer for Fountain of Youth. And I was like, 'Wait, are you sure?''
In Fountain of Youth, Eiza plays the character of Esme, a mysterious figure who is working against the estranged sibling duo of Luke and Charlotte Purdue played by John Krasinski ('he's so funny and charismatic' she notes) and Natalie Portman, on their mission to discover the titular fountain of youth. Esme is determined and doesn't let anything get in her way, something Eiza finds within herself. 'That definitely is a trait that I can relate to,' she ponders. 'I'm not as 'killer' as she is. She's a protector, and so she's willing to do anything she needs to. She has a lot of humour in it, which I really appreciate. She's lethal in a funny way. And I can relate, definitely to being driven the way that she is, but definitely not as a cutthroat as she is.'
Fountain of Youth is a fun family treasure hunting movie, but with a key meaning at the heart of it. The actual fountain itself is an eternal bliss filled life in liquid form. Does Eiza think it's possible for a life filled with bliss to exist I ask her? 'I think it's a mental state, and it's the deep message of the movie.' She answers. 'And so yeah I believe so. I think we have the power to enjoy this once in a lifetime ticket to this amazing thing called life, and it's in our hands to make it as blissful as possible. Mindset is everything. You could be living a very normal, mundane life and be incredibly blissful and happy, or have the most 'amazing exhilarating' lifestyle and not be happy still.'
For Eiza, moments of bliss come from spending time with animals and being with her family. Her father passed away when she was younger, and she has one older brother and her mum, both of whom she is very close to. 'Seeing my mother achieve something big, or my brother, or seeing my nephew's excitement about simple things that gives me so much joy,' she reflects.
Though not what the movie sets out to achieve, hearing the title Fountain of Youth, I can't help but be struck by thoughts of the current conversations swirling around Hollywood about women, age and beauty standards. Having previously worked with Demi Moore [on upcoming project I Love Boosters], the star of The Substance, the 2024 movie that perfectly encapsulated these questions, I ask Eiza if the pair ever spoke on these issues together.
'My introduction to Demi is very different. Her daughter Rumer [Willis] is one of my good friends, and so I bonded with me over Rumer. Demi is such a family woman, I think she's an incredible mother. She's a girl's mum. And when you're around a woman that has birthed three beautiful women, she has a deep, beautiful understanding, and I think she's stepped into this place in her life where she's just in the most beautiful state as a human being talking around age, women and the hardships that come with it and the public eye. It was so beautiful to see her talk about it so openly,' she responds.
As well as the two Guy Ritchie projects she has coming out later this year, Eiza is keeping herself very busy. She's currently filming seasons two and three of Netflix's Three Body Problem, and working on writing of her own. 'Being in a consistent job, like Three Body Problem, where I'm very clear on what I'm doing has allowed me to sit down and write. So I'm really excited.'
One thing fans of Eiza's are very keen to find out is if the actress will be playing the role of Evelyn Hugo in Netflix's adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. On that, Eiza remains very tight-lipped.
'I'm not in talks of being in anything because I don't even know what's going on with the project,' she says. Eiza is a self-described 'pen pal' of Reid, after the pair connected over social media, and has read Reid's other books including Malibu Rising, Daisy Jones and The Six, and Carrie Soto is Back. While Eiza won't be committing to anything re the famed part just yet, she does have a lot of love for the book.
'I love Taylor. I think she's an incredible writer. I love that book. There's very few books that we have for Latin women like that. It really has such well rounded, relatable but sexy, interesting, dynamic characters like Evelyn Hugo, and I'd be honoured [to play the role].'
As we wind down our call and Eiza gets ready for more interviews, the conversation turns to art. It's a prominent theme in Fountain of Youth, as in Da Vinci Code style, the siblings hunt for clues to the location of the Fountain of Youth in famous art works and artefacts. It's something Eiza explores in her own life too, as she paints water colours and sometimes sketches while on set.
'Robert Rodriguez taught me when I did my first ever job in the US you should never have a phone with you on set, because it turns off your creative mind. You want to keep the side of your brain that is firing in the creative space on, and so in between takes he had an art room he would force his actors to paint in in-between takes,' she reflects. 'It just keeps you in this really blissful [moment].'
As we go to hang up, Eiza smiles warmly and encourages me to enjoy the rare English sunshine. I understand why Ritchie keeps booking her. Her energy is infectious, welcoming and above all, filled with bliss.
Fountain of Youth is available on Apple TV+ now
