Cruz Duped by Depp

Pen&#233lope Cruz was literally blown away by her Blow co-star Johnny Depp. The so-called 'Spanish enchantress' — who plays Depp's wife in the biopic of drug dealer George Jung — knew Depp had a wicked sense of humor, but she wasn't prepared for his battery-operated whoopee cushion.

"We were doing a close-up in this very emotional scene on one of our first days of shooting," Cruz recalls to TV Guide Online. "Suddenly, I hear this, 'Phhhhwwwww.' I tried to ignore it and keep acting. Then, I hear a second one and I looked at the sound man thinking, 'Maybe it's him.' Then, there was a third one and the whole crew broke up. They were dying because they could see I didn't want to embarrass anybody by stopping the scene.

"I found out that Johnny has this fart machine, which is remote-controlled, and he had the control in his pocket and he was pressing it," she continues. "I felt so foolish that I was just looking for somewhere to run and hide."

Actually, Cruz — whose upcoming films include the historical drama Captain Corelli's Mandolin opposite Nicolas Cage and Cameron Crowe's romantic thriller Vanilla Sky starring Tom Cruise — admits that the stunt actually enhanced her performance in the film, which has grossed $25.9 million after 10 days in theaters. "I think laughing is the best medicine," she explains. "It can help you release whatever you're holding inside yourself. I am a clown myself; I love to make people laugh."

Cruz's sense of fun helps her cope with tabloid stories that have linked her to such leading men as Cruise, Cage and Matt Damon (her co-star from All the Pretty Horses). "I learned it doesn't do any good to confront what they put in the paper," she says. "They just print the opposite anyway. But I'm not complaining. I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. I'm not going, 'I would like to be home with a baby.' I'm not ready for that now. I hope someday."