Actress Eva Mendes was reportedly so petrified at the idea of watching herself moan on the big screen - she tried to talk her way out of a masturbation scene that opens her new flick ‘We Own The Night.’

Mendes revealed that she did everything she could to make director James Gray’s change his mind about the “uncomfortable scene”, but he was adamant that’s how his movie should start.

“I remember being so scared that morning and really trying to stall, but I just had to do it. Usually you feel that ticking time bomb but that morning it was a couple of hours of me and Joaquin and James just talking,” she said.

Mendes added that she talked herself into an oblivion and did the scene at last.

“I just talked myself into an oblivion and did it. That was the last scene we shot and we had three months of history together, which really helped. The scene is erotic but it comes from a place of love,” she added.

Meanwhile, the actress has revealed that she does her gardening in the nude - she said that she is so comfortable in her own skin, she even weeds her flowerbeds and trims her bushes while she’s completely naked.

Eva said: “I love being naked. I do everything in the nude, even the gardening!

“We’re Cuban, and it’s a hot island. Why not go nude?”