| Javier Bardem Plays Men Full of Love and Hate |
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| Written by Brad Balfour | |
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 "Goya's Ghost" stars Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman  "No Country For Old Men" stars Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones  Javier Bardem has had a great year with two movies back to back  Bardem plays a psychopathic killer in "No County for Old Men" 38-year-old scion of an old acting family is now in the public eye more than ever. Not only has he logged time doing these explosive roles but has also for working with some of the finest directors of the moment from Mike Newell to the Coen brothers. In Mike Newell's "Love in The Time of Cholera,"Bardem plays Florentino Ariza, the love-struck suitor who keeps his flame burning for Fermina over 50 years; in the Coens' "No Country for Old Men" he plays the psychopathic Anton Chigurh cutting deathly swath while trying to recovering his bag of more than $2 million in drug money near the Rio Grande. These two parts couldn't be more contrasting. Though the Madrid-based Bardem has done more than 25 films and won various awards, it wasn't until he played the late homosexual Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas in "Before Night Falls" and as garnered a Best Actor Oscar nom, that he really got international recognition. Then he played Ramón Sampedro—a 55-year-old quadriplegic Spaniard who fought to end his own life—in "The Sea Inside" which drew further accolades to Bardem. Now with these recent English-speaking roles--ones that fully illustrate his range--Bardem is attracting more awards-oriented praise. Q: Are you surprised at your success in getting all these English-speaking roles? You've made the transition from a foreign-language actor quite successfully. Javier Bardem: Well, I see all these things as an actor. I live in Spain and my career is there. The exception is when I work out of Spain, but it's good that a year and a half ago it seemed that most of the offers were coming from the outside. I want to work. I want to work no matter where it is. I don't care where it is. I want to work and to do my job as good as I can but it's not something that I choose. It's something that happens. For example, Antonio [Banderas] really took that step [first] and really kind of made it. I'm not brave enough to take that step. I think that my performance in English will never be the same as it is in Spanish because of the language difference. So far, though, I try to work hard at what I do. In English, I work on the language so that it makes me feel at least comfortable with what I'm saying. Q: How do you feel about being the new brand of Spain star--the archetype of the Spanish male sex symbol. You're one of the biggest stars there and now internationally; you took that role in "Nine" away from Antonio Banderas. JB: What do I think about being a new brand? Q: In some ways people identify Spain with you. JB: That's bad. Q: What do you mean? JB: How can anyone define anything with me. First of all, that's not true. I'm only an actor from Spain. Beyond that, what they say or what they want to think about it or what they want to create out of it because they need to sell papers is fine. It's totally ridiculous that I would be a brand of anything. And about Antonio Banderas, I'm not taking away any role [by playing the lead in "Nine"]. The "Nine" situation is something that we're taking a look at, but I have—how do you say—the pleasure of seeing him onstage doing "Nine" and he was great. I also had the pleasure of going to see him and saying "Hello" after the play. I mean, I was blown away because of his energy. He was a master on that stage and that's pretty difficult. I don't know what's going to happen with "Nine," but I don't think that anyone can take the position or the place that Antonio Banderas has in this, and in any other market, because he has been a pioneer. And for all of the actors that are going behind him it's a great favor, what he did. He was the first person who took the bags, the luggage, and went to a foreign country without speaking any words and making a career. That's something that we should be really, really thankful for. Q: Did you find that your character in "Goya's Ghost" complements your character in "Love in The Time of Cholera;" sexuality is a big issue in both films. JB: The thing with "Goya" is that I don't see anything in common. He was a tough guy. [That's not the case with Florentino.] Q: One was sort of repressed and this one was far more free in a sense. JB: There's something that's really like a priest in this character, the way of hiding himself reminded me a little bit of "Goya's Ghost," but I try to avoid [doing] the same stuff. Q: On the other hand, were you able to find any humanity in your character in "No Country for Old Men" since he is a cold-blooded killer? JB: Yeah. I think that I tried to do a symbolic figure rather than a human being in there. The good thing is that I did it one month afterwards and this was like a clean shower for me. Q: Did you stay in character throughout? JB: Oh yes, I was a character even when I didn't want to. When I would wake up and take a shower, and I had the same haircut, there was so much grease on it, that it was still the same. And when I go out to buy milk, people get frightened. I guess the thought of working with them is something, that as a Spanish actor, is impossible to even imagine. Keep in mind that the first time I arrived in the States was in 2000, at the Georgia Film Festival, my agent asked, "Who would you like to work with?" I said the Coens. And he said "No, that's impossible, next." I said "Why?" And he said that's never going to happen. So when that possibility took place, I was really honored. But I had some problems with the character because in Europe we don't have problems with having sex on camera, but we give second thought to guns. So I flew in, talked to the brothers and they convinced me. It took like one second for me to say yes. So from there, I thought it was fun just to be there and kill people and go back to the motel and sleep. Q: Is it fun to kill people? JB: It's not something that I had fun with. I remember one day in the motel when I killed three guys, we shot that and waited for the next day, and the blood was all along the walls, I almost vomited. And I'm there to play the bad guy so its weird. Q: Does it have an effect on you? JB: No. It's only a movie, but its not something that I would like to do. For once I had fun. Q: You've recently introduced Woody Allen to Spain as a location for his new film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." What was that experience like? JB: Yeah. It's funny because Milos Foreman and Woody Allen are both masters, and they went to Spain and I worked in Spain with them, which is even better. They went there. I think that Woody Allen had a good time and he realized, I think, and as Milos realized, the great quality of people in everyone – in the crew, and the technical staff. The crews really work hard, but at the same time are very nice and warm. Both of them were really surprised by that because I guess that they were expecting something different. Q: How do you feel about making Gabriel Garcia Marquez classic "Love In The Time of Cholera" in English and not in Spanish since it is based on such a Spanish-language classic? JB: Once again, it's very well-conceived and you have to get onboard or not, though I would have preferred that it was in Spanish. There were many moments where I said, "Fuck. If it were in Spanish I could really make it another thing." That's because there's an understanding, a knowledge of the language that you can play with that's in the novel. There are certain words that mean something deep because they belong to your own memories and experiences, and you bring them with you and the character will go to another level. But when you're working in a foreign language you have to try and put that as surgery. You have to try and put those experiences into those words that don't mean anything to you, which is extra work. It's also a great experience too, though, because you have to really focus and you have to really be able to let yourself go as an actor and using the currency of a language that's not your own. It's a weird, kind of schizophrenic moment, but it's good. Q: Did the book have the same effect on you when you read it in Spanish and then read the script in English? Screenwriter Ron Harwood did a fine job with the adaptation. JB: No, that's impossible. I mean, I was always working with the book in Spanish. When I was shooting the movie I always had the book in my bag and I was always coming back to it and reading it and pulling notes from it. You're in this universe of what you're reading, the language of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in Spanish, and to go to set and say it in English was a weird situation. Sometimes I would get lost in the translation. It was obvious sometimes that I wasn't bringing what I could. |