Ana de Armas immerses herself in Ruska Roma's criminal orbit to transform into a bloodthirsty assassin itching for revenge in 'Ballerina,' the first film derived from the John Wick universe, which hit the big screen this Friday.

Unlike John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves), who in every film is trying to leave Ruska Roma's underworld, her character, Eve Macarro, "is the opposite: she wants to enter, she wants to be part of it and discover this world," the Spanish-Cuban actress said in an interview with EFE.

Set during the events of 'John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,' 'Ballerina' follows Macarro, a dancer turned assassin who brings a unique, feminine voice to expand that universe.

"I immediately saw the potential of having a character like her in the franchise, and it also seemed like a very organic story, given the way they've intertwined it with the John Wick films, seeing this world from Eve's perspective and uncovering her origin story," explains the actress.

Behind a character marked by the murder of her family lies a "determined, very strong, and resourceful" young woman, aware of her body's abilities due to the strict training she has received to fulfill her sole mission: finding the perpetrators of her parents' death.

"Anything around her can turn dangerous at any moment, and she's a character with a deep wound in her past: she experienced a trauma when she was very young, when she saw her father killed, and there's always pain, anger, and confusion in the character that she needs to resolve," she adds.

Playing Eve Macarro was a long process for De Armas, who required several months of prior training to prepare for a character who is versatile in the use of weapons.

“Eve uses many different types of weapons in the film, and I wanted to get comfortable and get used to how each one works, how I could transition from one to another, and how I could use them in ways other than just as a weapon,” she explains.

For the actress, this preparation period, “regardless of the character or genre, is the best time.” “I love prep time, and in this (film) there was a lot of training, especially physical training, and many hours with the crew,” she said.

One of her favorite scenes, in fact, involves the use of grenades, a sequence she spent a week filming because the action scenes are quite long.

“We wanted the audience to feel like it was really me from beginning to end, performing this scene without any cuts. So, it was quite difficult to maintain the pace and intensity of that scene for so many days,” she admits.

Another challenge she faced was mastering fire, as “it's a very dangerous element” that was difficult to deal with during filming.

"The safety measures were extremely strict, and everything went well. I had the best possible equipment, but it's something that's difficult to control. A knife is a knife, and you have it at close range and you handle it pretty well, but fire is something that's alive," she explains.

The flamethrower, one of the many tools she uses to fight for survival, "was incredibly heavy and quite complicated, but I loved it and it was a lot of fun," she adds.

The film goes gradually in crescendo, further complicating the character's situation to the point where at times you don't know "whether she's actually going to get out of there alive or not, and that's due to the complexity and originality of the fights and action scenes," says De Armas.

Although Eve Macarro may initially seem like a rather selfish character, the actress acknowledges that "there's something very emotional and heartfelt" in her personality.

Throughout the film, "you realize that she wants to make a difference in someone else's life," which is why "I feel like she's a true hero in that sense, because she has a big, big heart," she concludes.