Penelope Cruz talks about escaping abusive director

Penelope Cruz had the power to say “no” the beginning of her career.

One of Hollywood's hottest bombshells, claims that there was a period when she wouldn't allow herself to be seen in all-stripped romantic scenes.

Throughout her remarkable career, the 49-year-old Spanish actress has mesmerised audiences with her sensual roles, including her 2009 film Nine where she stripped down to stockings and a sultry laced corset, and her 2012 thriller Twice Born, which had sizzling intimate scenes with Emile Hirsch.

However, she declined her first major break in America as a twenty-year-old actress-to-be when she learned she would have to undress for sultry sex scenes.

In order to audition for the role, young Penelope—whose most recent film, the biography Ferrari, opens on Boxing Day—flew from her home in Spain to the USA. However, when she arrived, she was shocked to discover that the German director had forgotten to inform her that she would have to strip off for the part.

She explains, “The first opportunity I had to do a casting the director said, ‘You need to sign this clause that says you will do a couple of sex scenes’.

“I was very shocked by that because it was not in the script before. I was in LA alone and I said, ‘I don’t understand because I had this script for a year and that was not there’

“I didn’t like that game, I didn’t like that I was not told before I got on that 14-hour flight” she further recalled.

“I said, ‘No I am not signing’. They said, ‘OK, you’re not doing the screen test,” adding “I went into the room and I spoke very little English, but for some reason that day I could speak English.”