That's when you do need a director who says okay kids I see you're playing but that's going in the wrong direction.”

There is a scene in the film where Berry has to venture down a crack alley, was it a real one, we asked? “It was,” says Berry. “It had been swept for needles and we had to get shots. Tetnus and something else but we were in crackville.” She must have missed the tennis ball on a stick then? Berry laughs and assures us that she didn't. The only bit that was hard for her, she says, was that she had to wear closed shoes and she was really into flip flops at the time.

This is Bier's first American film. We wondered why she chose this one. “At the point where I read the script I'd probably read about 200 scripts and there are very few scripts which are not cartoon like characters and I think most are boring. This was not and I was very moved by it. I've been hoping to make a movie in English for some time.” We asked Bier if, because of this, she had the freedom to make the film the way she wanted and whether it turned out right. She says it definitely did, “I don't feel in any way that I made any kind of compromise. At all times Dreamworks were greatly encouraging and supporting. At any time you read the script I never know how its going to turn out. I know what's intriguing but I don't know how it will be at the end and it is an organic process.”

Berry stars alongside Benicio Del Toro who is both a wonderful actor and a natural comedian. “You know the beauty of Benicio and the beauty of life and people when going through hard times is that there are comedic moments, comedy is a necessary emotion part of healing and grieving it's in our nature. It helps us deal with the unthinkable, the fact that comedy was infused throughout the movie in subtle ways and sometimes grander ways I think was really reflective of what life is all about. No situation is utterly dour the entire time we do manage as people to find the funny and that helps us deal.”