Mark Harris Talks to Pretty Penny and Almodovar

“Someone asked me, ‘Is she a muse for you?,’ ” said Mr. Almodóvar, whose long-term collaborations with actresses, beginning with Carmen Maura through the 1980s, have been famously fruitful and sometimes just as famously volatile. “Well, yes. She is a muse for me in the sense that a muse is someone who makes you better than you are. I think I am a better director with her, because she believes that I am better than I am, and that blind faith gives me a lot of strength.”

“No, no,” replied Ms. Cruz, shaking her head and smiling calmly. “I know exactly how good you are.”

From Mark Harris’ great interview with the creatively fertile pair.