Actors relate to characters in unusual tale of romance

By Nicole Rodriguez

The cast of "Deliver Us From Eva" enters the conference room at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills nearly half an hour late, an entourage of at least 20 publicists, make-up artists, and assistants tailing behind them.

Seemingly unaware of their tardiness, they settle themselves at a large conference table at the front of the room, laughing and joking amongst each other as though they were at a party rather than a conference room filled with college press.

Actress Gabrielle Union ("Bring It On"), who stars as the title character in the Feb. 7 release, smiles brightly and asks for the first question to begin. Although the press is obviously annoyed by the holdup, it seems impossible to hold a grudge against someone who seems so genuine and cheerful at such an early hour in the morning.

"Gabrielle has been on the verge for a while," says director Gary Hardwick ("The Brothers") of his leading lady. "She's a wonderful actress, very gifted and with marvelous comic timing. She's sexy, and she can make you laugh or make you cry. You want to watch her to see just exactly what she's going to do next. She has all the tools of a leading lady, and at a young age too. I am very happy to be able to say that I was the first filmmaker to give her a chance to step out in front, in position number one."

Union's co-star James Todd Smith ("Any Given Sunday") heartily agreed. "[Gabrielle] is skilled, beautiful, and smart. I think that audiences will be seeing a lot more of her. I enjoyed working with her tremendously."

Smith, formerly known as rapper LL Cool J, sees "Eva" as "an opportunity for me to show people that I can do different things as an actor."

As for her character, Union describes Eva as "very rigid - everything is very black and white for her. She basically gave up her life at 18 to raise her three younger sisters. In doing so, she gave up all of her hopes and dreams. As her sisters grew older, Eva began to live vicariously through them, much to the chagrin of their boyfriends and husbands.

"I loved it and her. I loved how she relates to her sisters, and how she relates to Ray," Union continues. "She is flawed, yet you still want to pull for her."

The cast has to admit that they all have a bit of this character in them in reality, particularly Union.

"My little sister just started college and I had all kinds of opinions about what her major should be, what kind of guy she should date, how many shots she should have per night ... but I realized that in the end you kind of need to let them go and make their own decisions."

Smith added, "One cool thing about this film is that everyone has a bit of Eva in them. I think the foundation of everything [Eva was doing in the film] came from a place of love. Sometimes you can do things with the best of intentions and things don't always work out that way. And what she has to learn is that even too much of a good thing is bad, and that's what Ray helps her figure out in his own special way."

Union also feels that the film will ring true with a lot of real-life couples because of the subject matters it stresses. "Ultimately this film is about compromise, which I think is the reality of most relationships. I'm a newlywed, I've been married for a year and a half, and I think that it comes down to learning how to give a little without losing everything."

Hardwick agreed, saying "I'd like for people to come away laughing, but also acknowledging that love is above all the best feeling. I'm really happy to be a part of this movie."

Says Smith, "I think Gary is brilliant, I think the cast did a great job. I feel lucky that my first leading role could be a in a film like this. It's not too big and it's not too small, it's right in the middle where it should be.

"It's a cool movie and it has a lot of heart and I feel great about it."