Question: What's it like heading out there to do a Q & A in front of thousands of rabid fans, do you feel a certain responsibility to those people with your portrayal of Lara Croft?

Answer: Yes, absolutely. When I first agreed to do Tomb Raider I knew there was a big fan base for her and only really agreed until I read some poll that said I was "approved" by them - that they were okay with me doing it. Then I felt much more comfortable. But yeah, she's a hard character to step into and have the confidence to play and I think they'll be happy with the second one. We really listened to them and what they wanted more of and I think we've given them [a film] that's closer to how they see her.

Question: How do you do that? What things did you particularly respond to?

Answer: People seemed to really want to know her more. If you're going to do a film about her, you want to get to know this woman. She's not this person behind glass - she's very much a friend of everybody and with everybody and open. They wanted to know what she feared, what she loved, how she lost a fight, how she felt about everything and what her sense of humor was - everything - just making her more human. The game is really complicated and that's what people like about it - it's a difficult game. So, we wanted the puzzle to make sense and make for a really strong plot and a really strong puzzle that you could be with her on and try to solve with her.

Question: What are the differences in the puzzles between the game and the films?

Answer: I suppose with video games you're more interactive, so that's probably the difference. In the film, it's more in your imagination as to how you would be interactive with the characters. It's just like reading a novel or watching something far away from you. With the video game, you're actually a part of it.

Question: Can you talk about working with Jan De Bont on this one as well as some of the big action set pieces that are in the movie?

Answer: Yeah, he was great and he is great with action. He was working as a cinematographer for a long time, so he's really epic when it comes to the way he shoots things. Something that makes these different from other films is the sense of adventure and is in other countries and you want it to be huge and epic and brilliantly shot and he was able to do that. And also he wanted it to be more of an action movie and darker as opposed to a fantasy.

Question: You really got the crap beat out of you during the filming of the first one - was there any trepidation about heading in to do another one?

Answer: Yeah, well, I'm a sucker for punishment, so I go right on in there. I like to be challenged and beaten up and get back up again, so I did like it. It was harder this time. I really don't love the water and there are a lot of water sports, but we felt that they had to be in the second film.

Question: Why did you want to be famous?

Answer: (glances wryly at the sea of paparazzi) Yeah, right now I'm questioning that! (laughs) I never wanted to be famous, but I always wanted to do everything that I wanted to do in life. And sometimes when you do one thing successfully, they let you do so many more things. So, I wanted to do a lot.

Question: I know you like to do a lot of your own stunts, but were there any in this movie that you would've liked to do, but weren't allowed to?

Answer: Yeah, there was a certain "base jump" that they wouldn't [let us do]. They let us "land" and do part of it and do certain jumps, but not the actual one. I think there are only about ten people in the world who know how to use those flight suits.

Question: Will you talk about the challenges of being a working mom and how you plan around that?

Answer: (laughs) Everybody keeps asking me that, so I'm worried I'm not planning enough. Being a working mom is difficult, but I feel I'm very different...I'm very fortunate. A lot of working moms don't get to see their kid - they're away from their child all day long. My son is on set with me and he travels with me every day, so I'm fortunate that I can ask for that. He was teething through Tomb Raider and there were a lot of days where I was tired and didn't want to do anything (laughs), but having a kid makes everything so wonderful and he is just the most beautiful blessing in my life. It just makes life worth living.

Question: What are you doing for his birthday?

Answer: He loves elephants at the moment and planes, so something to do with elephants and planes, but I'm not sure yet what.

Question: With games and movies overlapping so much these days, how involved are you in evolving the character from the game onto the screen?

Answer: Yeah, I do - especially on the second one. I was allowed to get more involved, but a lot of it was - and I know there were some aspects of her that people love, like her body, which we altered to make her more human, but still make it like the game, but there were some things where I thought we could make her more of a universal woman and something that everybody could relate to and not just so specific, but there are little things we adjust. I don't think we're that different, me and her. I think there are certain things - the way she does things, the music she likes - we tend to fall into a lot of the same categories, so I like a lot of the choices that are naturally made for her.

Question: Are the Tomb Raider movies geared more specifically to a female action hero than they would be for, say, Indiana Jones?

Answer: No, it's actually quite the opposite. In the beginning, there was a lot of it being "she's a girl" and how she'd fight from a girl's point-of-view and her enemies would be because she had a problem with men - she'd kick everybody between the legs and all this kind of stuff that was very specific - and we removed all that because it was very important to me that she would fight anybody. She's just a fighter and she has no chip on her shoulder about men and she likes men and women and she's just a traveler and a fighter, so no, I don't think - with the exception of the aspects of her that are a woman and her friendships and her emotions, she's very much a woman.

Question: How do you approach a fantasy character like Lara differently than you would a character based in reality?

Answer: I think the only difference I take into consideration is the fans and what they know about it. If it was somebody else, I can really make up everything myself - I can decide everything. With Lara, there are certain things even down to her clothes or down to different things about her that are already decided and you can't change her too much.

Question: Are you ready for the fans in the other room? Are they all Tomb Raider fans?

Answer: I have no idea what's waiting in the other room. We shall see. I really don't know. That's really why I'm here - to meet with all the fans because that is what this event is and I'd heard about it. I really don't know what it's going to be, so I'm curious.

Question: How do you feel about being set up as a big female action hero after Tomb Raider?

Answer: I don't really put much thought into it. I love doing these films and I love her specifically as an action hero, but I don't think I want to just do action movies. There's more to her, so that's why I like her, but also the adventure and the "lady" aspect of her and the intellectual and the lover and all that. But certainly I'm a very active woman and I love adventure and I love all that kind of stuff so I'd never step down from it, but I feel pretty satisfied with the Lara Croft films.

Question: There don't seem to be a lot of visual effects in the trailers to Tomb Raider 2, unlike Tomb Raider - are there many visual effects in the sequel?

Answer: There aren't a lot of visual effects. There are some fun ones. There's one fun one in the beginning. I think there were two different moments of that kind of stuff.

Question: So it's mainly practical effects and stunts?

Answer: Oh, yeah.