Actress Paula Patton is featured in a photo shoot and article in the August 2008 issue of Esquire Magazine. Paula Patton co-stars with Kevin Costner in the upcoming movie, “Swing Vote,” in theaters August 1, 2008.  She is co-starring in “Mirrors” with Kiefer Sutherland, to be released August 15, 2008, and starring in “This Wednesday,” which will be released later this year.

Before landing a co-starring role alongside Denzel Washington in the 2006 movie “Déjà Vu,” Paula Patton had appeared in minor roles in “Hitch” (2005) starring Will Smith, and the 2006 musical “Idlewild.”  Paula Patton is married to Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Robin Thicke.

Photo credit: Matt Jones/Esquire Magazine
Via - AtlNightSpots.com - Paula Patton Esquire Magazine

UPDATE - Esquire has posted portions of the interview with Paula Patton.  An excerpt:

ESQ: You’ve filmed three movies in the past year. In Mirrors, the newest one, you play a coroner, a job that would seem to require a personality darker than yours.

PP: You only see me doing coroner work for like a minute. But I realized that what we do as professions affects how we act as people, big-time. So I went down to the L.A. County Coroner’s Office and I got to see people dissecting bodies. At first the coroner said, “No, I’m not different than most people.” But then he said, “Well, actually, I don’t have road rage.” And he listed all these other things he doesn’t do, because he’s seen so much senseless death that he knows there’s no reason to honk your horn or yell at someone. If you scream, “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!” at the wrong guy, he could kill you.

ESQ: Will any great art come out of these troubling times we’re in?

PP: It can. I think movies do it better than any other form. A movie is painting, it’s photography, it’s literature — because you have to have the screenplay — it’s music. Put a different soundtrack to a comedy and it’s a tragedy. A movie combines all those forms and forces you to pay attention for two hours with a group of people. And people aren’t as well-read anymore, so we share a common knowledge through movies. I’m rambling now. I’m not going to talk anymore.

ESQ: But it’s an interview.

PP: This stuff will go really well with the bra-and-underwear photos.

ESQ: Exactly!

PP: No, I’m not doing bra and underwear.

ESQ: Then what are you doing?

PP: Not bra and underwear. I have to draw the line.

Source: Esquire - A Woman We Love: Paula Patton

Photos: Paula Patton Esquire Magazine August 2008