Eva Mendes’ Kids Were Unimpressed With Her Performance in ‘Hitch’
Actor Eva Mendes worked alongside Will Smith for the first and only time in her career in the 2005 movie Hitch. With Hitch being a romcom, she thought it would’ve been a nice comfort watch for her kid. However, Mendes’ daughter didn’t react like she thought she would.
How Eva Mendes’ kids reacted to ‘Hitch’
Mendes has taken a long break from the spotlight to spend more quality time with her and Ryan Gosling’s kids. In some households, a tried and true method for family bonding is watching a movie. But when Mendes was asked if her kids watched any of her own movies, she gave a surprising answer.
“No. They haven’t,” Mendes said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “But they don’t really care. They don’t care.”
It wasn’t for a lack of trying on Mendes’ part, however. She did show her kids a clip from Hitch. The scene in question was a bit where Mendes accidentally falls into the Hudson River. It was an important take for the actor, who initially had reservations about doing the comedy stunt.
“So I faced a fear that day, and I did this stunt, and I was proud of it,” she said.
Mendes figured seeing the scene would help her daughter overcome her fears as well, and possibly even lighten the mood. But unfortunately, the scene didn’t mean to her kids nearly as much as it meant to her.
“One time, one of my girls was scared and I was like, ‘Oh, opportunity to show off,’” she said. “And I played it for them and I was like, ‘This is Mama facing her fear.’ They were not impressed. At all. They were just like, ‘Oh, cool, mama, can we go outside?’”
Eva Mendes leaving acting to take care of her kids was a ‘no-brainer’
For Mendes, it wasn’t too difficult of a decision to leave acting behind for her family’s sake.
“It was like a no-brainer,” Mendes once told E! Online. “I’m so lucky if I could have this time with my children.”
Without the distractions and the constant travel of the film industry, Mendes was able to spend as much time with her kids to her heart’s content. Although her husband, Gosling, was also a constant presence in their lives, he maintained his acting career much more than Mendes did. But Gosling didn’t mind his wife taking time off to be with her kids. According to The Other Guys actor, they silently agreed with Mendes’ change in lifestyle.
“It was almost like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, ‘OK, he’s going to work and I’m going to work. I’m just going to work here,'” Mendes said. “He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job.”
However, there was a point where Mendes was feeling the itch to do something creative. In a 2020 interview with Sydney Morning Herald, she noted that she was eyeing a comeback from a distance.
“I feel like, as far as my ambition, it didn’t go away, it just shifted onto the children,” Mendes said.
She also noted that she admired actors who were able to maintain their careers while fulfilling their motherly duties. It was a juggling act she wasn’t sure she could do, but she seemed willing to give it a try.
“I applaud and look up to those women who can do it all, but I’m not one of them, and, thankfully, I have a choice not to work and I realize how fortunate I am that it’s even a choice. I’ve been so happy to be able to incubate with my babies, but now they are four and six, I’m starting to feel like my ambition is coming back,” Mendes said.
