What was it like to shoot for Wanted?

It was demanding but it was also very nice, a lot of fun. They put my time kind of chunked together and gave me weekends off and limited my hours so I could be home with my kids, so they were very nice. It was fun for me to get back to that. I mean, there’s a side to me that people know that is a humanitarian, there’s a side to me that is a mommy, but I think like all women there is a side to me that likes to get down and dirty and have fun and jump around. I’d missed that a little and I think it’s good for me to do that every once in a while.

One day your kids will look at films like Wanted and say ‘hey mom, that was impressive…’

They’ll finally think I’m cool because now I’m not really. It’s like my son will ask me to play a video game and I suck at it and he’s like ‘oh mom!’ or there will be some sports thing. His favourite game is Madden which is American football on the computer. And I’m terrible and Brad’s (Pitt) terrible. We are both terrible. He wins all the time. We don’t even understand it properly. It’s that classic thing of a kid with a computer and we go ‘What? How did he do that?’ And mom is the dork who can’t figure out the plugs so one day they’ll see the films and see that mom is not a total dork.

You have tattoos in Wanted. Was it nice to put some more on instead of having to cover them up?

Yes, it was. It was my idea, but I didn’t have to push them. I think they wouldn’t have asked me to take mine off but to make it so that it wasn’t me, it was a little removed from me, we added some more. But I loved it. It was hard for me to not want to go and get tattooed when I finished the film ‘Oh, eight more tattoos feels fine! I like this!’ It was quite a few more, maybe four or five on my arms and a big piece on my back and I had two on my butt. I was tempted to keep them.

Did you get any injuries filming Wanted? No, not on Wanted. I had one on Tomb Raider, the first one. It was silly but it’s always the dumbest things that get you. Like the big, crazy stunts are fine. Like I had to run and jump over a box (laughs). And the floor was wet and I ran and jumped over the box and I landed and my ankle just snapped. I had such good physical therapy that I don’t feel it now. But I tore the tendons, not completely off but I ripped the tendons and I came back like two days later with a cane.

Did you have a stunt double on Wanted?

I have this great stunt double who I have worked with forever, who is called Eunice Huthart, who is from Liverpool. She is amazing. She did Mr. & Mrs. Smith. She is the influence for Maddox’s understanding of football; she got him into supporting Liverpool. We’ve done quite a few films together — Tomb Raider, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Wanted. But the great thing about her is that she knows me very well so she can help set up a stunt in a way that makes it safe and that actually allows me to then do it myself. For example, with the car sequence in Wanted she will be the first one on the hood and put the strap on. It’s like a very short harness that goes around your hips and it’s hooked to the bottom of the car, so you can slide but you can’t slide off the car. But she’ll test that first and slide all around it and then she’ll say ‘alright you’re good to go’. So in the film I get to do the majority of the stunts but she makes it safe for me.

What sort of preparation did you do for Wanted and did it feel harder training this time?

I didn’t get in the great shape I was in for both of the Tomb Raider films because I just don’t have the time with the kids now (laughs). I used to be able to just train all the time and it’s a totally different life. And you know, my body has changed, I’ve had a baby and I’d breast fed so you feel like ‘OK, I’ve got to retrain muscles that have not been doing this for a very long time and just get myself back into shape’. But when it comes to just running around and stuff, I’m used to that at home and you know, four kids is harder than an action movie! (laughs).

What was James McAvoy like to work with?

Oh he is so funny; he’s such a great guy. I think that’s why people are going to like the film because it does have all these interesting elements of an action movie but the main character you are watching is James and he really represents every guy with the shit job and a girlfriend who is cheating on him and everything about him isn’t cool. And then he is brought into this thing, The Fraternity, and we change his life and he becomes one of us. But it’s interesting because it’s James’s introduction into action movies so people will be watching his transformation into it directly, and he does do it, he’s very physical and he’s great.

Could you handle yourself if you had to?

I think so. I think there are certain combat skills, certain fighting skills that would come out. I tend to want to throw an elbow. I don’t know why. All the punches and the head-butts and the kicks I’ve learned and I always want to get somebody with my elbow — that’s my first instinct (laughs).

And is that empowering?

Sure. I think it’s good for anybody, any woman, man or kid, whoever, to learn a skill when it comes to fight training whether it be kung fu or boxing or kick boxing because self-defence is important. We want our kids to learn it. They are going to get into a fight some day so they might as well learn how to take care of themselves.

You do some spectacular driving in the film. Do you like to drive?

It’s funny, the other day, my girlfriends rented a sports car for me to drive around in. So Brad and I just drove around in a sports car all day. It was fantastic. It was a Mercedes with the suicide doors. This new sports car that had just come out. I love to drive. It was in LA. But in general at home, because of getting followed and things like that and with the kids, I don’t drive very much at all because I don’t like being stressed out and being followed when I have kids in the car. So it’s a pleasure that’s been denied to me. But hopefully when we come to other countries and we’re here for a few months, I would love to rent a car and race around the back roads of France.