Bardem does bad again

Actor relishes villain role in latest Pirates romp

LOS ANGELES — Javier Bardem doesn’t specialize in psycho killers, but he does resign himself to a few memorable links to them.

He won an Oscar for his maniac assassin Anton Cigurh in No Country For Old Men and he earned great reviews for the twisted Bond villain Raoul Silva in Skyfall.

“I’ve played bad guy roles in very powerful movies,” Bardem says, “so I guess the echo is bigger.”

Add ghostly pirate hunter Captain Armando Salazar in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales to the Spanish actor’s list of creepy portrayals.

It is Salazar who is after Captain Jack Sparrow in the fifth high seas romp, which features lots of special effects action and broad comedy while including some old and new players.

The friendly Bardem, 48, offers his thoughts:

“We worked together on how Salazar would talk and thought about where he would come from and what his looks were,” Bardem says. “You would think everything is by the book on a big production, but it is the opposite. They really encourage you to bring your input.”

“It was just me with sunscreen,” Bardem jokes.

“It was three hours of makeup every day,” Bardem says. “Yeah, it drives you nuts. The first thing they do is to give you a coffee. They’re nice. It’s five in the morning. It’s cold.

“The second thing they do is to put glue all over your face with a brush ... and then they put these things that look like chicken breasts on you, and then you sit; can’t talk, eat or drink for three hours. And finally when they say, ‘Action,’ you have the rage of the character.”

“The (effects) came after the performance,” Bardem says. “They adjusted to my performance, which is good, because I was worried about that.”