'Balance, coordination... endurance and grace'

Ana de Armas unveils a new John Wick heroine in Ballerina. She tells us more alongside co-star Ian McShane, director Len Wiseman, and more - the film is in cinemas this weekend

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Elegant, feminine, graceful, beautiful: the words commonly associated with ballerinas are not often shared to describe intimidating, dangerous assassins - but that's what makes Eve Macarro so formidable.

The heroine at the heart of Ballerina, the newest edition to the electrifying John Wick franchise, Eve - a ballerina-turned-assassin trained by the same skilled group as Keanu Reeves' Wick-shows how fearsome and menacing a slight, strong young woman can be in a killing role. Portrayed by No Time to Die and Blade Runner 2049 star Ana de Armas, Eve is a complex, thunderous assassin and student of the Ruska Roma, a shadowy institution that uses its rigorous ballet training to hide its true lessons in contract killing.

"Balance, coordination, flexibility, discipline, endurance (and) grace," 37-year-old Cuban-Spanish actress de Armas says, are all key components of ballet training that are applied to being an expert assassin.

Her femininity is also a boon, she adds - a trait that allows her to catch larger, burlier combatants on their back foot.

"I think it's a moment of realisation where she understands that everything that she thought she was at disadvantage with (when fighting a) big man, she could use it in her favour," says de Armas.

"Everything was turned into something that they couldn't see coming. Being a woman, her size, being quicker than them, being smaller, it was actually a plus... (allowing her to take) control of the situation and make them play the game her way."