Eiza González Was ‘One of the Lads’ on Set

On the set of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Eiza González says she may as well have been one of the guys!

According to the actress, 34, the energy she experienced while working on the World War II film — which has a mostly male cast including Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson and Cary Elwes — was far from unfamiliar.

“I grew up with a brother who’s 13 years older than me, and he is a Marine. So I know how to handle really strong male energy since I was really, really young,” the actress tells PEOPLE, adding, “I’m sort of a tomboy myself.”

“I’m girly, but my energy is quite… I have a quite masculine energy in the way that I carry myself,” she says. “So I am one of the lads.”

González’s “masculine energy” even became fodder for banter on the set of the Guy Ritchie-directed flick, which also stars Henry Golding, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Alex Pettyfer, Babs Olusanmokun, Henrique Zaga and Til Schweiger.

“They joke about it all the time, but I’m one of the boys,” she says. “In this set, it’s all boys, and I always navigated myself quite well.”

The Ambulance star credits not only her older brother but also the women in her life — including mom Glenda Reyna — for the way she navigates predominantly male sets like Ministry’s.

“I come from a very strong-willed mother. Latin women are pretty strong,” she tells PEOPLE. “And I come from a very strong grandmother as well.”

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As for her ongoing collaboration with director Ritchie — she is slated to star in another one of his films, In the Grey, next year — González says the pair simply clicked.

“When he likes someone, he really likes them,” the Baby Driver actress tells PEOPLE. “And it goes both ways.”

“I mean, you see it with [Henry Cavill], with [Jake Gyllenhaal], you see it with me, you see it with Henry Golding in this movie,” she says. “They come back and they come back and they come back.”

She continues, “I guess what I really like about working with Guy is I have to be quite sharp on the day. There’s no room for laziness because of his stylized way of working. He’s very specific with the way that he wants certain scenes.”

“He’s a creative guy that needs to feel the inspiration on the day, on the set, with the dialogue, with that mix of actors in the moment and where the story’s going and coming from,” González adds. “So you really have to be open, have an incredible, good attitude around it.”

The carefully curated energy on set also draws her to The Covenant and Sherlock Holmes director, González says.

“He has a team of people that we’ve been working with forever. And so energy is something very crucial on his set,” she says. “He has a ‘no a-hole’ policy on set. So everyone’s quite nice and friendly and the environment’s always fun.”

“You’re playing, so there’s always room to experiment on the day,” she adds. “And I think as an actor, that’s always exciting.”

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is in theaters now.