Oscar Should-Be Winners: Javier Bardem
by
findingDulcinea Staff
In the lead-up to the 80th Academy Awards on February 24th, we profile five nominated candidates—four actors and one director—worthy of 2008's golden statuette. The first is Javier Bardem, an actor from Spain who makes poignant characters and gripping scenes out of every role he plays. He’s a captivating presence on the mainstream scene, and has earned top accolades in his decade-long career, including two Oscar nominations for work in “Before Night Falls” and 2007’s “No Country for Old Men.”
Essential Facts on Javier Bardem
- Born in 1969 in the Canary Islands, Spain to a family of Spanish actors. At the age of six, Bardem began starring in films, and worked in films and television series as an adolescent. Learn more from Bardem’s IMDB bio.
- Bardem became the first Spanish actor to be nominated for an Oscar: Best Actor for Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” (2000). This year, he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” (2007), and is widely thought to be the category’s favorite.
- Bardem is romantically linked to fellow Spaniard and longtime friend Penelope Cruz, with whom he’s starring in Woody Allen’s upcoming film.
Bardem Q&A
In an interview with the popular film site ComingSoon.net, Bardem discusses 2006’s “Goya’s Ghosts,” in which he plays a priest during the Spanish Inquisition, who gets caught in a love triangle between the painter Goya and a jailed heretic (Natalie Portman), Goya’s lover and muse. In the interview, Bardem’s disdain for typical movie-star questions is clear. He is engrossed by his work, respectful of his costars, and interested in the grit and passion of performances. He waves away questions on celebrity trivia in favor of deeper analysis of his résumé and the talented directors he’s worked with.
Source: ComingSoon.net
Interviewed about his villainous role in “No Country … ,” which his interviewer, Manny the Movie Guy, calls “Hannibal Lecter meets the Terminator,” Bardem explains that his character has “his own principles.” His duty is to remind people that “fate is going to happen to you whether you like it or not.” Bardem comments on the infamous haircut he wore in the film, saying he thought it a perfect way to portray his character’s insanity.
Source: YouTube
Miramax also has several clips of the film available on YouTube, including this eerie clip of a phone call between Bardem’s and Josh Brolin’s characters, and an interview with Bardem.
Source: YouTube
The Bardem You Don’t Know
Bardem is a seasoned actor, even though he has only recently hit the big time in the United States with his role in the Coen brothers film. In “Javier Bardem, once the great unknown,” Kansas City Star columnist Robert W. Butler rightly tributes Bardem’s earlier prodigious moments, calling “No Country for Old Men” only Bardem’s “#3 or #4” best role. He goes on to describe the thrill of seeing Bardem in “Before Night Falls” (“It was a heck of an introduction”), and admires his versatility in “Mondays in the Sun,” for which Bardem transformed himself into a “great bear of a man—hulking, bearded, powerful,” and “practically unrecognizable.”
Source: Kansas City Star
Return Thursday to meet and up-and-coming big screen actress who, in 2008, received her first Oscar nomination.
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
