Just like the characters she plays in her movies, Michelle Rodriguez is a woman who knows what she wants and goes after it.
Sitting across from the make-up-less queen of action, her half-leg flat boots, skin-tight leggings (from which every muscle protrudes) and cropped leather biker jacket fulfilled my every expectation.
The quick wit, intelligent conversation, impeccable manners and a passion for learning, education and immersion were an added bonus, a discovery I admit I wasn't quite prepared for.
The 32-year-old is always one step ahead, which should, in theory, make her a closed book. She knows what you'll throw at her. She understands the stereotypes of her casting history. She's ready for questions about her sexuality — my advice, just don't. She's even happy to reveal details about her brushes with the law.
But somehow, no matter what the topic, Rodriguez will surprise. Not in a "shock, horror" kind of way but in a way which intrigues and leaves you wanting more.
Describing herself as "a school kid" hungry for more no matter what the lesson, the American-born Fast and Furious actress says "to walk with respect" is the biggest lesson she's ever learned and will never forget. "Oh, and to not be angry," she added with a quick, searching look, something she often does when answering questions.
"Angry doesn't solve anything. It took me a long time to learn that lesson. I used to get so angry my heart would hurt and [I would] get this feeling in the pit of my stomach when I would see injustice. I would focus on the injustice so much."
With a list as long as her arm of drink driving stops and briefs stints behind bars (to cancel out hundreds of hours of community service), Rodriguez admits she was something of a wild child but says she doesn't draw comparisons between that and the characters she plays.
"They [the characters] are such exaggerated aspects of reality," she says. "The closest I've ever come to The Fast and Furious is probably at 23 years old, being on Sunset Boulevard chasing a Ferrari and I popped a 180," she said rolling her eyes and smashing her hands together violently. Luckily for Rodriguez, the officer on duty did see the actress and the character as one and the same. "Thank God the cop loved the franchise," she said. "He just warned me instead of locking me up for that one."
And this is my point with Rodriguez. Where other actresses would have kept that last, probably a tad controversial piece of info to themselves, she is happy to share. Because to her it was something she learned from and therefore screams positivity.
"Maybe hanging on top of a truck going 80mph in Jersey when I was a kid was also stupid, but that's about as crazy as I got in real life," she said with a worrying air of calm.
But with maturity came tolerance. "As I got older things changed," she said. "‘Oh my God, no wonder I'm so happy,' I thought one day and I knew it was because instead of focusing on the injustice, if I focus on the solution and the energy that solves the injustice, my energy shifts and I become a happy person again."
Harnessing anger
The change resulted in Rodriguez attracting "happy people" as opposed to "rebels and anger" and in turn taking her along a path of success. "It's like harnessing your anger and making the gun love," she laughed holding her hand up in the shape of a gun, acknowledging the irony. "It sounds corny, but it's cool. If you can harness that you'll be happy all day."
When it comes to the movies she's starred in — Fast and Furious, SWAT, Machete and James Cameron's Avatar — this is a girl who doesn't compromise.
Insisting she typecasts herself, Rodrigez says the "love story girl" could never be her, adding Cameron would know better than to ever offer her such a role.
"Ooh I love you. I can't have you. But I want you," came her over-exaggerated Oscar-winning micky take. "Bluuurggh."
While she has a clear respect for the legendary director, describing him as a "walking encyclopaedia" and careful not to openly speak negatively of the man, Rodriguez says she is still looking for her "rare find" in a movie mentor.
"There are the types of directors who see the potential in you to be other than what you are and will push you. Those are rare," she said with seriousness. "That's like the one per cent of all the directors out there. That is something that I haven't come across in 10 years. Then you have the directors who exploit the aspects of your nature. They just see what you've already done and then see how you could pull that off with perfection. They perpetuate that motion. That's usually who I've worked with. They just see that I can do this really well and just run with it. But the ones who see potential are the ones who win you Oscars. Those are the one per cent. I haven't come across those people yet."
That said, Rodriguez is proud and happy to have landed the roles and, perhaps more importantly, the sequels she has to date.
"I feel proud, I feel proud, man," she said revealing her next few months will take her to a new European location to film the sixth instalment of Fast and Furious.
"It pays to have the kind of taste that's appreciated universally. I like that. Because it keeps me working and it keeps me active."
‘Need for speed'
In her mind, even though the first movie was released more than a decade ago in 2001, this is one franchise which has no end in sight. "It will go until aeroplanes take the place of cars. Even then I think it would evolve," she says.
"You're talking about the need for speed. You're talking about every human being in the developed world — and even in a third world country — having access and at some point in their life driving a motor vehicle. The possibility of moving faster than your human body can physically take you is a thrill of the imagination that everybody likes to stretch and everybody has access to.
"So of course you're gonna love to watch movies that exploit that."
What may come as a surprise is Rodriguez was in the UAE to DJ. Ahead of a performance at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, she told tabloid! how that all began.
"I love watching people dance and have fun and enjoy themselves," she said with a big smile before adding "and be nice and sober enough to enjoy it".
"DJing is a great way to still have fun but maintain the right frame of mind and stay out of trouble. I didn't start partying until I was in my early 20s and when I did start I'd just come into money because I was doing all these good movies and I just partied so much. All around the world.
"It became kind of like addictive to wanna be following these circuits of congregated people enjoying themselves all the time. So after a while, in my 20s, when I exaggerated so much at having fun, I was like, ‘I need to control and moderate the amount of fun that I have.'"
Partying in france
Telling herself "this isn't sustainable" she channelled her energy and learned the ropes from friends.
"The Cannes Film Festival was the best because everybody gets dressed up and since I don't go to horse races or anything like that I don't get to enjoy such a thing. The circuit in St Tropez is very interesting. I like to party in France."
And when this busy lady isn't DJing in exciting venues she's writing her own screenplay.
"It's been 13 years. I always wanted to write," she said. "It's called the Matriarch Society and it's about a secret society of women that's been around since the Renaissance era. It's kinda like Bourne Identity meets Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I pay a lot of attention to detail and my imagination is just insane."
Instantly a child again, on the topic of the UAE her eyes light up and she shuffles forward.
"I'm trying to take everything I can from it. I'm like a kid. I'm trying to enjoy everything. Walk with respect as much as possible."
That word again. She says it, she means it but she needs it in return. Michelle Rodriguez, you have mine.
