After graduating from the USC film school, Paula Patton got her big break — producing surgical documentaries for the Discovery Channel. She promptly learned how to handle the operating-room gag reflex: “You detach yourself. You think, I need that shot of him getting the liver out, and the gore doesn’t affect you.” Still, a face like this doesn’t need to be hidden behind a viewfinder, so we’re glad Patton stepped in front of the camera. She’s since starred in the OutKast musical Idlewild and will be seen this month alongside Denzel Washington in Deja Vu, the Tony Scott-directed story of an ATF agent who travels back in time to prevent a woman’s murder. And those years behind the camera weren’t a complete wash: Apparently, working with her mega co-star requires a similar sort of detachment. “You gotta psych yourself out. You have to go, ‘Who’s Denzel? What has he ever done?’” Patton says. “But I never said it to him. Nothing’s worse than getting a movie with Denzel Washington and then having to say, ‘Yeah, I got fired. I talked back to Denzel.’” (Source)