- And there was a choreography about,
and then you hit him with this and you hit them with that,
and the director said, "Listen, fight, and I'll shoot it."
And we said, "Okay".
So that's what happened when you are 20.
When a director say fight, you fight,
and then we were hitting each other so hard,
and we were all bruised,
but we were happy because we got it.
Today, at 52 years old, if they say fight,
I say, "No, I'm going to the trailer, call the stunt guy."
Hi, I am Javier Bardem,
and this is the timeline of my career.
[blowing raspberry] [man growling]
[speaking in foreign language]
[kid crying]
My mom was an actress, and she was doing a TV series,
and there was a kid, a little child in the scene,
but the kid had got sick,
and my mom said, "I'll bring mine,"
and then they brought me to the set.
They took me out of school, which I loved.
It was, like, the 15th century,
and they were bringing these musketeers,
they were bringing these guns,
and they were playing with a kid,
and the kid was supposed to laugh.
I cried because I got real scared,
and the director, which is a genius,
called Fernando Fernan Gomez.
Some of the people in Spain would call him God,
because he was a writer, director, actor
that is really an icon in our country.
He said, "Okay, I'm fine.
He's a dramatic actor, I'm fine, I can live with that."
My career started as a dramatic actor
at the age of five. [chuckles]
[speaking in foreign language]
It was the real first main role in a movie that I did.
I was 21 and, Penelope, she was 16.
Jordi Molla, the other actor, he was 21 as well,
and it was the first chance,
it was the first chance for us to work on a movie,
and I remember everything.
It was an amazing experience of being free,
out of the house, doing a job in a different city.
We were so well-prepared,
and at that same time, so scared, so insecure.
And the most important of it all,
we were very good taken care of by the director, Bigas Luna.
If, in that moment, you have someone
that is more hard on you,
or can really push you too much, you may give up.
You may say, "I can't do this,"
and you may turn to be or become something else.
We were lucky, and because of Bigas Luna,
the three actors that I mentioned,
we are still working today.
[speaking foreign language]
What?
- I have some friends that can solve this problem.
- What kind of friends do you have?
- You know what kind of friends.
- What kind of friends do you have?
- Don't go away.
Reinaldo!
- This one was the first American production.
I was supposed to do a role.
The actor who was going to play Reinaldo,
for some reason, couldn't do it,
so Julian asked me to play the role,
and I said, "No, I don't want to do it, I can't.
I don't speak English, I can't."
And Julian, if you know him,
he's a beautiful heart of a man,
but he's very stubborn.
He said, "No, you are doing it."
And all of the sudden, boom.
And then some people started to say,
"You may be nominated for an Oscar."
I said, "Yeah, right."
The day there were the announcements made,
I remember watching on TV, and I got shock.
And then everybody was calling,
and you have to do a lot of interviews on the phone,
so I was doing interviews.
You hang up the phone and some other call will come in,
and they were friends, "Congratulations."
And I would say, "Come to the apartment and I'll see you."
And then after three hours, I opened the door,
and there were like 150 people in my apartment.
It became one of the wildest parties I have ever been.
Well, at some point, where we had a terrace,
and we run out of beer and alcohol,
and somebody called the fireman to fix the elevator,
because it was broken from so many people,
and the firemen came and we asked them to bring some drinks.
And the fireman put the escalator towards the terrace,
and were bringing boxes of beers. [chuckling]
And of course we said, "Come in,"
and some of them said,
"Okay, we'll have a beer with you guys."
It was a great party.
I mean, you are like, a milk cow
that gives milk all the time,
and then kicks over the bucket.
[speaking foreign language]
"The Sea Inside" is a movie
that I think is a pretty good movie,
with a very important issue
being told about the right to die.
Who decides our own right to die?
Religion, politics, justice, or ourselves?
And the movie's so beautifully done,
and dealing with such a subtle, delicate matter,
it's a love letter to life.
And it's a movie that changed
the sociopolitical panorama in Spain.
Now recently has been approved
the right for euthanasia in Spain,
which I think is a very important step
for any civil rights in any country.
[stirring operatic music] [heavy breathing]
[car exploding] [glass shattering]
The first award that was given to me,
was Critic Circles Award in Spain for "Jamon, Jamon,"
and then after that, they screened the movie "Fargo,"
and I was remembering watching that movie saying,
"Wow, man, what an amazing story,
what an amazing performance, what amazing everything.
Can you imagine to do one of those?
Nah, that's never gonna happen."
Cut to, "The Coens want to see you,"
years later, I say, "Right."
And then I sat down and I read the script,
and I didn't get it.
It's like, "What is all of this?
This is crazy."
And they said, "We want you to play this character."
I said, "Listen, he speaks English,
he loves violence, he is violence and he drives,
I don't do any of those things, I can't do it."
And they said, "Well, that's why we want you,
because you can't do any of those things
and you may have fun with it."
So I go, "Listen, it's the Coens, I'll try."
And then I went to New Mexico
and I sat down in a makeup trailer,
and they came with a photograph of a brothel
in the border with Mexico in the '50s or in the '60s
with a guy photographed with this haircut
and two prostitutes.
And I thought, "What does this mean?"
And they said, "Well, we want you to look like that."
I said, "Okay."
And then the hairdresser, Paul,
which passed away recently, amazing hairdresser,
in a second, with my own hair, he made [imitates snipping],
and I saw it and I said, "Yes, I have to make this movie."
I mean, this is such a Coen brothers look.
And, because it was funny, it was ridiculous, it was fun.
And then that in comparison with what the character is,
would make a very good Coen brothers character to play.
I remember the gas station scene.
I was so scared.
It was one of the first scenes
to shoot, actually, in the gas station.
I was nervous because it's a long scene,
and it's a lot of blah, blah, blah,
and I worked so hard on the dialogue, on the lines,
and I start to play the scene,
I see how good the actor is,
the actor that plays the guy in the gas station.
He's great because he really plays fear
and insecurity to a different level.
So it reminded me to one of the most golden laws in acting.
When you are going to play a king,
you don't have to act like a king.
You have to make sure the people
around you treat you like a king.
Kings don't go like this, kings kinda go like that,
but people around you have to be like this.
The scary part of that scene is not so much my character,
but the actor who really recreates fear in an amazing way.
And it was a couple of takes boom, done.
I was like, "What, really?
After months of preparing, and this is it?"
I was so insecure, but they are the Coens
and they know what they're doing.
Don't put it in your pocket, it's your lucky quarter.
- Well, where do you want me to put it?
- Anywhere not in your pocket.
Where it will get mixed in with the others
and become just a coin.
Which it is.
[speaking in foreign language]
Well, "Biutiful" was a very demanding movie for sure.
It's the story, the character, circumstance.
It's very, it's heavy,
but also it's a gift of a character to play,
and it's beautifully written.
The story is very heartbreaking,
and the director is a genius.
It was the first movie where Alejandro
would do a story about one character alone.
And of course it was a role that left me touched
by quite some time after I wrapped.
But it's a movie that I'm very proud of,
and I think it's one of his best movies, for sure.
And, at the end, it speaks about love, about generosity,
about empathy for others, for the foreigner.
About how much you can trust in the other,
in that one that you don't know,
knowing that he or she is a human being
that is going to be capable
of really holding you when you need it.
[speaking in foreign language]
And, one by one, they start eating each other
until there are only two left, the two survivors.
And then what, do you kill them?
No, you take them and release them into the trees.
But now they don't eat coconut anymore.
Now they only eat rat.
There was a moment where I was
shooting the scene on a crystal cell,
and then I was supposed to say the lines.
Like a blank, I said, "Sam."
"Cut, any problem, Javier?"
I said, "Yes, the problem is that I just realized
that I'm in a fucking James Bond movie.
It's like, M and James Bond are looking at me.
I'm the villain, Jesus, I'm in a James Bond movie."
And in that moment, it's, "Okay, hahaha, let's shoot."
And we were rolling,
and we were going to play the scene again,
and then Judi Dench's cell phone starts to sing,
and the ringtone is [imitates Bond music].
It was, like, surreal.
Like, "Really, that's your ringtone?"
And it was fun,
but at the same time, it is a dramatic scene,
so it's like, "Come on, guys, let's focus."
Working with Sam Mendes is a gift,
it's a joy, it's amazing.
It's so rewarding in every aspect.
And I said to Sam one day, "Sam, I love you.
Thank you for giving me this chance, it's been great,
but I have one favor to task.
I know that the tone of [imitates Bond music]
is gonna be for Daniel, as it should,
but just give me one [imitates Bond music]
while I'm on the screen, please."
And he gave it to me.
I said, "Thank you, I have that."
- Latest thing from Q Branch.
It's called a radio.
[helicopter whirring] [suspenseful music]
- Yeah, I don't like hanging around
with married women, I don't.
So the next time we are going out,
you're not going to be his wife.
- No? - No.
- Will I be his widow?
[speaking in foreign language]
- Well, in "Loving Pablo," I was a producer as well,
and I said, "Well, there's only one actress
that can play this role
as good as I can imagine and it's my wife.
I don't care if you don't wanna do it.
I'm the producer, you are doing it.
And you know what, you're not gonna get paid."
[chuckling]
And she said, "Okay, okay."
But we can take the kids
and we going be together in Colombia, blah, blah,
and also because she loved the project.
She loved Fernando Leon, which is the director,
the story, and the character.
I think it's one of her best performances, hands down.
And it was intense.
The relationship between Virginia
and Pablo Escobar was very dramatic, intense and brutal.
And there were scenes where I knew that, doing it,
both of us will take a different depth.
We'll go further because we know each other,
and we know that we can go far with it,
but it was a great experience.
It's a movie that we all are very proud of.
You are breaking my heart.
After all that I've done for you.
- What have you done for me?
Nothing.
- Name what you want.
If it's in my power to grant,
I'll give it and ask for nothing.
- I ask for this, do not seek our sietches.
Do not trespass in our lands.
- "Dune" happened because Denis Villeneuve
called me and said, "I want to sit down with you,"
and when Denis Villeneuve wants to sit down with you,
you go there and sit down and listen.
And he said, "I have a small role.
If there is such a thing as the second part of the book,
the role will be bigger,
and I would love you to do it if you want to."
And I said, "Of course I want to.
I don't care if there's a second movie or not.
I don't care how big or small is the role.
I love what you do as a director."
And then it happens, as it usually happens, actually,
that those great directors
are also great people, great human beings.
We were in Jordan and Hungary shooting,
and he's creating a world of his dreams.
He is a product of his dreams, and you can tell.
He plays with all the elements.
He's so exquisite in the detail of everything.
And at the same time,
he gives you the room to enjoy and be yourself.
"Bring whatever you want to bring
to the character, I'm here,
and if it works, you're more than welcome."
And I love being with such an amazing team of people,
behind and in front of the camera, so talented, everyone.
Being part of a movie like this
is, like, something big, it's an honor.
- Won't you stay?
We would honor you.
- Honor requires that I be elsewhere.
[speaking in foreign language]
"The Good Boss" is the Spanish entry
for the Oscars for this year,
and is being recognized with 20 nominations for Goyas,
which is the record-break history,
in the history of the Goyas.
And it's a movie that speaks about
the abuse of power in a working place,
but we threw a lot of sense of humor.
Also, a very social statement
that really punched you in the stomach
when you finished the movie.
And I think it's one of the greatest movies
I've had the chance to be in,
and for sure one of the greatest
characters I've ever played.
It's playing now in the States,
and every joke lands as it lands in Spain.
There's no lost in translation situation,
and it's great because the world that this movie represents,
it's universal, it's not local.
[speaking in foreign language]
♪ Babalu ♪
Five years ago, when I start to hear about this project,
I start to dig in into that.
I know who Lucille Ball is,
but who is this Desi Arnaz?
And I was drawn into it and I start to watch the shows
and hear him talking in the talk shows,
and I start to read the book,
and was immediately drawn into his energy,
I mean, his revolutionary way of thinking in many things.
And they first went, as they should,
to other actors that had more Cuban roots,
and when that didn't happen, they came to me,
and it was like, "Yes, with all due respect,
I'm honoring the origins of the character.
I will do my best,
and I will worship the role, as the role deserves,
because of what he represents to the Cuban community,
the Latin community, and also to the TV world,
and it's been a great experience.
And, again, a very demanding one.
Very demanding because, when you have
the fine, beautiful, exquisite writing
of Aaron Sorkin, you have the heights
and the depths that you need as an actor,
but at the same time, that's a great responsibility
and commitment as an actor to fulfill that with honesty.
I talked to Aaron, I said,
"I think we need the "Babalu" moment."
And he said, "Are you up to it?"
I said, "Well, yes.
I don't know if I will be able to achieve it,
but we have to put it on because it's his trademark.
And I had the chance to rehearse
the conga playing with Walfredo Reyes Jr.,
which is an amazing drummer in the world.
And then the day came and I was so nervous
that I was hitting so hard the conga
that I start to bleed, the fingers,
and the conga drum was full of blood.
And as you can see, the scene is very spectacular.
It's very powerful.
If I could talk to my 17, 16, 18-year-old Javier,
I would say, "Man, I'm 52 and I'm still
making a living out of this.
Wow, congratulations, it's happening.
Don't take anything for granted
and earn it, worship every opportunity that you have,
because then, if you're lucky,
you may end up being an old man still working."
[soft jazz music]