Penelope Cruz's Big Bottom  5/27/06

Penelope Cruz had to put on three kilograms (6.6 pounds) in weight so her bottom was big enough to play a young mother in new movie Volver.

Director Pedro Almodovar insisted the actress fully become the character she played - and that also meant learning domestic skills.

Cruz explains, "I put on three kilos and Pedro asked me to stay at that weight level during the filming. He said a big bottom would push me down closer to the earth.

"And it was necessary to do those things - otherwise how could anyone believe that I was the working mother of a teenage girl.

"I had to learn to cut, slice, chop and prepare food as if I had been doing it every day for years.

"It had to look natural, not fake."