Twilight' star Ashley Greene, Freida Pinto of 'Slumdog Millionaire' fame and 'Easy A' breakout Emma Stone all pose for different covers of this month's Glamour, with shots done by photographer Matthias Vriens-McGrath.
GLAMOUR: How is it possible for you to maintain your privacy in India?
FREIDA PINTO: Here you have to do Bollywood films to be recognized, so I'm lucky. In the morning, I jog around the park with my sister in our building's complex. She keeps making fun of me because I wear big sunglasses: "Oh, it's the celebrity Freida Pinto with her big sunglasses on." And I say, "I'm doing it to protect my eyes from the sun!"
GLAMOUR: You've played women of several different ethnicities. Do you identify as an actress first, an Indian woman first, or neither?
FREIDA PINTO: I think people are starting to become more color-blind in the industry. Of course, my Indian-ness cannot be ignored. At the same time, if I am being considered for a romantic comedy, I would like if [the script] didn't try to inject as much ethnicity into the story as possible.
GLAMOUR: In Miral, you play a Palestinian woman who's orphaned. What drew you to this material?
FREIDA PINTO: The moment I read the script, I fell in love with the story, because it wasn't just a story about four women; it was a story of the people of Israel and Palestine. I felt if there were any way I could be part of this peacemaking process by lending a human touch to the character, I wanted to be involved. I wish people would [remember]that there are children and soldiers dying on both sides. You can't ignore the politics, but hopefully that won't become the focus of the film.
GLAMOUR: You were filming in Tunisia when the uprising happened there. What was that like?
FREIDA PINTO: Terrifying. There was a civil war going on. People were burning down shops and malls; there was killing and bloodshed. I was stuck in this massive hotel with 354 rooms and only six guests. The lights kept shutting down, and there was a 5:00 P.M. curfew. But I wasn't there by myself: Dev [Patel, her Slumdog costar and current boyfriend] came down to see me. I was so glad I had company.
GLAMOUR: Just as your career was taking off, you went through a breakup [with her previous boyfriend]. The Indian tabloids had a field day, accusing you of having been secretly married. How did you handle that?
FREIDA PINTO: I wouldn't have been able to if it weren't for my two heroes, my mom and my dad. Their understanding was all I needed. I've learned to develop a thick skin, but you're bound to be affected when you read something bad about yourself in the paper and it's rubbed in your face over and over. Once, I was at a Tube station in London, and some Indian-Asian guy came up to me and said, "Oh, it's the 'dump-dog' millionaire." These things happen in life. Forget about celebrities; [breakups] happen to college students, to people who've been in relationships for 20 years.
GLAMOUR: Now, you and Dev have been dating for some time. Have you set any rules, like never being apart for more than two weeks?
FREIDA PINTO: We recently realized we need a rule like that, because every time we think we're going to be together, something work-related comes up. But we can't put our careers on hold for this. We're not at the stage where we have the privilege to turn things down. So we'll say, "You have two days off? Let's find a way to meet up." I think you can always make it work if you want to.
GLAMOUR: Why do you think relationships so often fail in Hollywood?
FREIDA PINTO: When a doctor is performing an operation, his mind cannot be somewhere else. And it's the same with actors. You have to commit yourself mind, body and soul to a project in order to do justice to it. And temptations are rife in this industry, which is why I think it's important to know yourself before you try to deal with a relationship.
GLAMOUR: How does it feel to be a new face of Hollywood?
FREIDA PINTO: I'm happy to be accepted. That's all. That's where it ends for me.
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