Penelope gives us the plain truth: I’m not that glamorous

Penelope Cruz can do a mean impersonation of Kenneth Branagh.

We were chatting about the new film version of Murder on The orient express, in which Cruz appears alongside her friend Judi Dench, and a who’s who of top stars including Derek Jacobi, Josh Gad, Daisy ridley and Michelle pfeiffer.

How, I wondered, did they all keep themselves amused on set? ‘Well, sometimes there were quizzes,’ oscar-winner penelope said, stifling a laugh.

Imitating Branagh at his most sonorous, she told me: ‘Kenneth walks in and he says: “From Shakespeare . . . who remembers the two plays that start with a female monologue?”

‘of course, the only ones who had the answers — always — were Judi or Derek. ‘They know Shakespeare like the back of their hands. It was so funny, because Judi and Kenneth are fun together; and she teases him. It’s lovely to watch.’

She also introduced the ensemble to a game called Werewolves and Villagers, which involved a lot of fibbing. ‘ The lying came in useful for the film, as a lot of people tell lies in Agatha Christie films,’ Cruz said, solemnly. In the new Murder on The orient express, Cruz plays pilar estravados, a mysterious missionary. ‘She’s very plain,’ the actress declared.

‘She has to look like this because she’s very religious and not at all interested in seducing anybody. She carries a lot of guilt and believes that religion is saving her. It’s her only companion.’

Cruz said she didn’t want estravados to be ‘ a glamour queen’. ‘I think there’s sometimes confusion [because of] how I look on a red carpet,’ she said.

‘I play the role! I remember for one film, Don’t Move, I wore an ugly wig and didn’t shave my legs. nobody asked me to do that, but I wanted to feel, and see, how people would look at me wearing strange clothes; and my legs full of hair, and with that terrible wig.

‘listen, I’m no stranger to looking different. I played a nun, for pedro (Almodovar) in All About My Mother, who is having a relationship with a transvestite. The nun wore prada. But whatever needs to be done, I will do it for the part.’ equally, when penelope is at home with husband Javier Bardem and their two children, she doesn’t dress up to the nines to go shopping. ‘ every day when I’m not working on a film,film I am at home — and it’s a very normal, practical lifestyle. I wear my jeans and a T-shirt and I go to the supermarket, which is just what other mothers do.

‘I will never give up being able to do normal, important things in my everyday life.’

every now and again, though, everyday life goes out of the window. During

the six weeks she worked with Branagh on Murder on The orient express, Bardem and the children came too.

‘We take turns to work, so that we can always be together. Javier came here to london with the children; and I do the same thing on his films,’ said Cruz. ‘I could not go off for six weeks and say: “You all stay home while I go.” I could not do it.’

Cruz said she was looking forward to meeting up with the orient express cast when the film premieres in november.

The actress is currently portraying Donatella Versace in ryan Murphy’s TV drama series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

And then she and Bardem will star in an untitled thriller to be directed by Asghar Farhadi — the Iranian film-maker who has won the foreign language oscar (twice) for his movies The Salesman and A Separation.