Call it a match made in crazy heaven, but Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz turned "Gothika" into a great friendship. Cruz says, "I really wanted to work with Halle. She's one of my favorite actresses. We connected from the beginning. I felt like I already knew her."

Berry adds, "When I met her I knew we would be girlfriends, and we are."

Both actresses dared to put their beauty on the back burner to dig into these gritty roles. Berry says, "She's so good in this, she just takes off the makeup and just goes down to that place. Everyone always says she's so beautiful. It was even more beautiful to see her be secure with her beauty."

Cruz adds, "In this case it would have been pathetic if we would have been wearing makeup."

Costar Robert Downey Jr. didn't seem to notice. He says, "They are smoking. I was there in a lab coat. I'm the doctor. You know how many triple fantasies could have gone through my head."

But Cruz is still Tom Cruise's girl. And despite busy schedules, the Cruises make time for each other. Cruz says, "We are not the only people in a relationship that work. Everyone is working and traveling, and you can always find a way to manage."

And while fame complicates her life, Cruz says she's addicted to the jet-setting lifestyle she's been living since first encountering fame as a teenage actress in Spain. She says, "It was scary then much more than now. Now sometimes there are things that are uncomfortable or things that shouldn't happen, but it can teach you or make you stronger."

Getting strong is exactly what Cruz is doing to prepare for her role in an action flick with Matthew McConaughey. She says, "I'm starting to go to the gym many, many hours a day. I've never done that before. I've been in Italy for three months eating pasta twice a day."