Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I cried with laughter after double Oscar nomination
Penelope & hubby Javier ‘went crazy’
EXCITED Penelope Cruz hurled herself to the floor after being nominated for an Oscar... and ended up in tears of laughter.
She was chuffed as hubby Javier Bardem’s name was read out – and beside herself when hers was broadcast too.
All hell broke loose when Penelope and Javier tuned in to this year’s Academy nominations live on TV.
Fellow Spaniard Javier, 53, earned his nod for Best Actor as Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. Penelope, 48, was nominated for Best Actress in Parallel Mothers.
Recalling the moment, she says: “That was really crazy. It was also beautiful. “Javier decided we should watch live and when they announced Best Actor and said Javier’s name, I started to scream. He was not moving, not reacting. I was like: ‘You can enjoy it. Do something, say something!’ But he was waiting because he thought maybe they would say my name too. I thought that would be impossible and then they said my name too. That’s when he started screaming.
“I threw myself on the floor. I was laughing and crying to the point that my mother heard me and she had to come to see if I was okay. “It was so strange. We felt very grateful.” The couple may have lost out to Jessica Chastain and Will Smith at this year’s awards, but they have both previously won Oscars.
Javier took home Best Supporting Actor in 2008 for his sinister role in No Country for Old Men, while Penelope won Best Supporting Actress the next year as the estranged ex-wife of Bardem’s character in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. The pair married in real life in 2010.
Penelope is now starring with Adam Driver in the upcoming biopic of racing mogul Enzo Ferrari. She also plays deranged film director Lola Cuevas in Official Competition, alongside Antonio Banderas and Oscar Martinez.
FRANKENSTEIN
Speaking of working with pal Banderas, she says: “We both loved it. This is something we have wanted to do for a long time. It’s incredible.
“I was worried everyone was going to hate me by the end of the movie because I had to treat them so badly every day. Lola is my own Frankenstein, made of a lot of people I have met and worked with. “I’m not going to say who exactly because maybe it won’t make some people happy. But it was so much fun to play Lola – she is totally nuts.”
Her favourite role, however, remains being mum to Leo, 11, and Luna, nine.
She adds: “That is my priority. My husband is also an actor so we try to take turns and to really make family the priority.” laura.connor@mirror.co.uk