-Our first guest tonight is an Academy Award-winning actor
you know from movies such as "No Country for Old Men,"
"Skyfall," and "Dune."
He plays Desi Arnaz in the new film, "Being the Ricardos,"
which opens in theaters December 10th
and is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video
December 21st. Let's take a look.
-I didn't check the wrong box. -You saw the headline.
-You can see the headline from outer space.
-Then please -- -Grandpa Fred raised me
from when I was age 4.
He cared about the little guy. He cared about workers' rights.
It was a tribute to him. And to say that I --
-Grandpa Fred, Grandpa Fred. Grandpa Fred was wrong, Lucy!
Yes, he didn't tell you the part where they throw your father
in prison for the crime of being the mayor of a city.
I was chased to this country, Lucy!
Believe me, you checked the wrong box!
-Please welcome to the show Javier Bardem, everybody.
[ Cheers and applause ] Hello, Javier!
-How are you? -How are you?
-Very good.
-I just want to get this out of the way,
because I am a huge fan of your work.
I also think you have had some of
the greatest hairstyles in film. [ Laughter ]
And "No Country" gets a lot of attention,
and, look, we all love the "No Country" hair,
just for anybody who is foolish enough
not to have seen the film. [ Laughter ]
But you know what I think gets overlooked, Javier?
"The Counselor." This --
I think about "The Counselor" all the time.
[ Laughter ] -Yes!
-And that looked to me, like -- That's your hair, isn't it?
-It is my hair, and it took like a good hour and 30 minutes
to put that thing up. [ Laughter ]
But I guess I was scared. It's a character that is always
on the edge of his nerves, because he's so anxious
and so scared about what's gonna happen next
that his hair should be like -- beh! -- like that.
[ Laughter ]
-Yes, it's very clear to tell this is it not a calm man
who would ever do that to his hair every morning.
You know, we know you -- You know, you've played
some very memorable villains over the years.
I would imagine, you know, obviously, Desi Arnaz was known
as a much lighter character.
This film shows the more complicated side of him,
but I have to imagine, as a person,
he was fascinating to play.
-Yes. He was a very complex person.
I mean, like we all are, I mean, come on.
We all have shades and light inside of us.
He was a great entertainer. He was a great --
Very intelligent mind that was running the production
of the "I Love Lucy" show.
He was running Desilu Productions.
He -- But most of it all, he was a husband
madly in love with his wife, that wanted to protect her
and wanted to protect the show,
and at the same time, he was a foreigner,
one of the first foreign people in this country in the '50s
who was capable of really making room for himself
and being respected for what he was,
not for what he was coming from.
-Aaron Sorkin directed the film, he wrote the script.
He's known as a writer with a very specific
style of dialogue that I love a great deal.
Was it stressful to do a Sorkin script, or is it just a thrill?
-It is stressful, because he's very demanding.
It's so rich in detail and layers that you have to
bring some organicity, some truth to it --
truth in the sense that that's why they hired you,
to bring the flesh and blood of those beautiful,
masterfully words -- masterful words that he put together.
But the same time, he gives you room
to bring your own take on it.
And he's -- he was so generous and so caring,
and I'm very protective, as well, because we --
all of us were so scared of playing these iconic characters.
Like, he was always calming us down.
-That's a very helpful thing for a director to do.
You also had to do some singing. You had to play some congas.
Was that something you knew coming into the film?
-Yeah, I knew that I had to do it,
and that's why I was like, "Oh, no!"
He said, "You can you sing?" And I said, "No."
[ Laughter ] "Well, can you play the congas?"
"No." "Okay.
Well, then you better learn."
[ Laughter ] And I learned.
I was -- I learned through -- the conga playing,
through one of the most masters of the whole drumming world,
which is Walfredo Reyes Jr., which is a master.
But all of it through Zoom, which is kind of weird
to learn to sing and play the conga through Zoom.
It's like -- It's strange. But it happened.
It was fun. It was great.
-And now, do you think you'll continue to play the congas,
or do you think -- -Yes, I'm touring.
I'm touring. I'm opening a show next --
[ Laughter ] I'm opening on Friday
in New York. -Oh, great, great.
-Madison Square Garden. -We'll put up information
for tickets, if anybody wants to --
-It's only one song, but, oh, my God, what a song.
[ Laughter ]
-You're doing a one-song concert?
-One-song concert of two hours.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
Hey, so you grew up in Spain. Did you know "I Love Lucy?"
Was that a show that they play over there?
-Nothing. Not that I know.
I guess some people might have seen the show
back in the '60s there, or in the 50s,
but I didn't know anything. I just start to dig into
what it was, the whole show and Desi and Lucy,
like years before the project happened.
Once I knew that the project was happening,
I started to really investigate
about those two amazing, iconic people.
-You also did a fair amount of painting,
I read, over the pandemic.
Was art something you've always done?
-I like to paint. I like to draw and I like to --
But it's something that I will never expose or show anybody.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
-It's not that good. You don't want to see it.
-Now, you're married to Penelope Cruz,
and I'm just wondering, is that --
would you ever use her as a model?
Is she someone that you ask to sit for your painting?
-No, no, because, otherwise, the result will be
so far from what she is. [ Laughter ]
She's is a beautiful person, and the result will be
such a disaster of a painting
that you don't want to face that.
-You know what? You know how I know
she loves you very much? -Why?
-Because she was in this film with you,
and she stayed with you. [ Laughter ]
-Exactly. Exactly.
And that hair will stay for hours after I wrap.
Let me tell you. -Yeah.
So, you guys were in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"
together, as well, but you've known each other
for years before that. Correct?
-We worked together the first time in the year '91,
in a movie called "Jamón Jamón."
And she was 16, I was 21.
Yes, that's where -- that was the first movie that we did.
Her first movie and my first movie was the same one.
-That's fantastic.
What an incredible start to a relationship that is.
And then, I also want to ask before you go, you're in "Dune."
How was that experience for you?
-I loved working with Denis, and I'm so excited
that it's going to happen, the second movie.
-And is it true you're going to play --
In the second movie, your character
is going to play the congas? [ Laughter ]
-Yeah, I can now play the congas in the desert,
surrounded by camels. It's gonna be great!
Denis doesn't know it yet, but that's gonna happen.
I'm gonna bring that into the conversation.
[ Laughter ] -That's great.
Thank you so much for being here.
It's just a delight to talk to you,
and congratulations on the film. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you very much for having me.
-Javier Bardem, everybody.
"Being the Ricardos" in theaters December 10th
and on Amazon Prime Video December 21st.