Catherine Zeta-Jones: 'A Good Script Is Like Finding Gold' (VIDEO)

Posted February 8, 2013, 10:00 pm   •   by Todd Gilchrist   •   0 comments

Since making her breakthrough in 1998 in The Mask of Zorro, Catherine Zeta-Jones has enjoyed a remarkable variety of acting opportunities: cat burglar, pregnant drug lord, a vaudevillian inmate, a hard-edged chef, and in her new film, Side Effects, a mysterious psychiatrist.

But after working with director Steven Soderbergh for the third time, Zeta-Jones says she immediately recognizes the difference between a project that will offer her real challenges and one that challenges her only to find something – anything – to do with a lackluster role.

“Moviemaking has got to be on the page,” Zeta-Jones tells Celebuzz. “When it jumps out at you on the page, it’s going to jump out at you on the screen. And to find a good script is like finding gold.”

“It’s when you have the script that’s not so good, an you’re going, ‘okay, what I going to do to make this anything kind of interesting?’” she continues. “And the work I’ve done with Steven has always been on the page.”

In Side Effects, Zeta-Jones plays a doctor who offers a second opinion to a psychiatrist (played by Jude Law) trying to find the right prescription for a patient’s depression. What soon unfolds is a complex web of murder and deception where nothing is as it initially seemed.

Zeta-Jones credits Soderbergh for offering her opportunities that she might not otherwise enjoy – opportunities which buoy her continuing enthusiasm for acting.

“The characters he seems to cast me in are certainly not one-dimensional,” she says. “And as an actor, to be able to read a script and find those nuances and surprise an audience with the twists and turns of the character is terrific.”

What do you think of Catherine Zeta-Jones as an actress? Watch Celebuzz’ exclusive video interview with her above, and then let us know in the comments section below.