Spanish star Javier Bardem thanked a BFI London Film Festival crowd for getting out early on Sunday morning to attend a Screen Talk session with him.
Bardem, whose other half, Penelope Cruz, is also enjoying some time in the spotlight this year (thanks to a trifecta of buzzy films: La Bola Negra, The Invite and Bunker), is in the British capital promoting his and Cruz’s Bunker as well as The Beloved, in which he co-stars with Victoria Luengo.
During the talk, Bardem reflected on a glittering career, from his early life growing up in one of Spain’s most prestigious acting families to winning an Oscar and, this year, finally conquering his fear of the stage.
In one of the session’s lighter moments, Bardem, known for roles in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) and the Dune franchise, spoke about initially declining one of his most iconic roles, as the villainous but sexually magnetic former agent of Judi Dench’s M, Raoul Silva, in 2012’s Skyfall.
The actor said about turning down the part at first: “I guess I was nervous. Like, ‘What am I doing in the James Bond movie? What can I do?’ But then we sat down. Sam Mendes is a genius, and we went through the reading of it, and he was so open to what I was proposing, which had to do with the sexuality of the guy.”
Bardem was thinking outside the box when it came to his depiction of Silva, and pitched this to the filmmaker. “I said, ‘Listen, all the villains have done everything to destroy the world, but what about becoming personal? What about something besides destroying the world? [Like] he wants to have sex with Mr. Bond?’ And [Mendes] said, ‘I’ll talk to the studio and get back to you,'” said Bardem, erupting into laughter, before referencing one of the movie’s standout scenes where Bardem’s character suggestively strokes the thighs of a tied-up Daniel Craig.
“The studio was very brave,” continued Bardem. “And I think that scene lasts in the memory of the audience… Because we went a little bit further with it. It’s a way to say, ‘Okay, how do you really put Mr. Bond out of his place with a situation that he hasn’t been there before?’ And the way he comes out of it is brilliant.”
Bardem expressed his disbelief, to this day, that he shared the screen with Dame Judi Dench, and even confessed to forgetting his lines when Mendes first called action because he realized where he was. “[Mendes] said, ‘Cut! Javier, what’s going on?’ [I said], ‘Well, sorry, I just realized that I’m in a James Bond movie. Excuse me, I just saw Judi Dench and James Bond looking at me and said, ‘Fuck! I’m in a James Bond movie! Sorry, let’s do it again.’ I was absolutely taken by the joy of it.”
Unfortunately, the Bond franchise star was not probed on who he thinks would make a good Bond for Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming movie for Amazon MGM Studios, as rumors continue to swirl around who might next don the tuxedo of Ian Fleming’s beloved spy.
Bardem took the crowd through a prolific filmography, particularly some impressive Spanish-language projects such as Jamón jamón (1992) and Biutiful (2010). When the discussion came to his Oscar-winning turn in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men (2007), the audience was shown the nail-biting coin toss scene between Bardem’s terrifying killer Anton Chigurh and supporting actor Gene Jones.
“Half of the Oscar I have is his,” said Bardem about Jones, who only appears in that single, four-minute scene. “Because he plays fear, the insecurity and uncertainty so beautifully that he makes the scene,” explained the star. “I do my part, but he does the horror. He’s fantastic. That’s what I mean: You are not working alone. You need your partners. You need to create a moment of commonality.”
Toward the end of the session, when Bardem was asked about what advice he has for aspiring actors just making their start in the industry, he joked: “Choose another job. Why would you do that to yourself?” He then continued: “No, it’s a great profession. And in this world of AI, where many other professions are going to go, unfortunately, down, to be able to be a person who shows emotions and has a connection with the audience, it’s an important job to have and to preserve, because it creates a connection between us.”
Florian Zeller’s Bunker, also starring Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger, follows a renowned architect offered the chance to secretly design a survival bunker for a billionaire who is convinced that the end of the world is near. As he lets himself be seduced by this morally ambiguous project, his wife begins to question their marriage.
Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, meanwhile, stars Bardem as a two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker who casts his estranged daughter in his new period piece.
The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs Oct. 7-18.