MY LIFE AS A PIRATE & DAD Javier Bardem has fun playing bad guys but his favourite role is playing with his kids.
The Oscar winner has fun playing bad guys— including in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’—but his favourite role these days is playing with his kids
“What I like the most is to play characters, not to sell tickets”
There’s no better time to take your kids to work than when your workplace is a life-sized pirate ship. “That’s one of the reasons why you do it,” Javier Bardem says of his role in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Son Leonardo, 6, and daughter Luna, 3, his kids with wife Penélope Cruz, had a blast on the Australian set. “To be on a real boat and see the cannons and see the people dressed like pirates—that was like a Disney ride for them,” he says. Costume designer Penny Rose even made the pair their own pirate costumes. But Bardem wouldn’t let them see him in makeup when he was playing the undead, decaying version of his character, a vengeful former navy captain: “They’re too small for that.”
Bardem, 48, is no stranger to playing memorable bad guys—from tormenting James Bond in 2012’s Skyfall to rocking the scariest bowl cut in movie history as an assassin in 2007’s No Country for Old Men, for which he won an Oscar. Meanwhile, the star—he has also showcased his romantic side in films like 2010’s Eat Pray Love— has been building a happy family life with Cruz, 43, his wife of almost seven years. After first meeting as young actors in their native Spain, they reconnected while co-starring in 2008’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona and struck up a romance. Now they alternate movie roles with their private life at home, mostly in Spain. “The life you have built with your family is the most valuable thing, and I don’t like that being interfered with by people who are not invited,” he says. “It’s that simple.”
Bardem comes from a long line of performers (his mother, grandparents and great-grandparents were actors)—but his success came slowly, starting with bit parts on Spanish telenovelas. His breakthrough in Spain came in 1992’s Jamón Jamón opposite a then 18-year-old Cruz, but it was years before he made his name in Hollywood. He’s an actor’s actor, more comfortable performing a role than promoting one. “What I like the most is to play characters, not to sell tickets,” he says of Hollywood’s promotional machine, including his 2008 Oscar campaign. “It’s not about bringing people and attention to your movie anymore, it’s about you,” he says. “There’s so much noise around you it’s so easy to lose yourself.”
Bardem’s fondest memory of his Oscar win is dedicating it to his mother, Pilar. “I remember being there onstage, being able to speak Spanish and dedicate it to my mum,” he recalls. “For what she meant and what her parents and her grandparents meant to the legacy of what I am today.” Pilar, 78, is thrilled to watch him on the big screen. “I brought her to a special screening of Pirates in Madrid and she loved it,” he says. “I enjoyed watching her watch the movie. She had a great time eating the popcorn.”
But Bardem’s favourite activity is reading to his kids—and watching them blossom. “We create these worlds and I love when they read back to me,” he says. “My 6-year-old reads and it’s fun because I can see the imagination. It’s crazy.”