This Saturday, May 16, in Cannes, Javier Bardem comes to defend L’Être aiméby Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen. He plays Esteban, a renowned filmmaker who tries to reconnect with his actress daughter, Emilia, whom he has not seen for ten years, by offering her a major role in his new film. But the reunion will prove to be more than tense. Two other Spanish films are in competition, including The Black Ballby Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who offers the leading role to his wife and mother of his two children: Penelope Cruz. A big first for the couplewho met in 1992 on a movie set.
“It’s funny, but above all we are very honored to represent Spain in Cannes this year. We experience it as a team, even if, obviously, each of us wants our film to be appreciated. But now, this moment has arrived where Spanish cinema becomes significant, and it is a sign that these three films are present in competition.” confides Javier Bardem without tongue in cheek in the columns of Parisian what saturday may 16
Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem got married in 2010 in the Bahamas
A constant collaboration since the couple has just filmed Bunker by French director Florian Zeller, in Spain. “It was great (to play together, editor’s note). We both appreciated Florian, who is an incredibly precise filmmaker with dialogue. Every scene he films reproduces the tension in an extraordinary way, I loved this experience”, explains Javier Bardem. Their love story began on the sets.
They first met on the Spanish comedy-drama Ham, Hamdirected by Bigas Luna, in 1992. But it was only in 2007, on the set of the comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona of Woody Allenthat the two actors let themselves go. 3 years later, they got married in complete privacy in the Bahamas, on the island of their friend, the actor Johnny Depp.
Javier Bardem avait déjà déclaré sa flamme à Penelope Cruz à Cannes: “To my friend, my love”
On January 22, 2011, they became the happy parents of a little boy, Leonardo, then, two years later, of a little Luna. In an interview given to Esquire, Javier Bardem spoke about his relationship with fatherhood: “Before you become a parent, you never feel this type of love. When I’m away from them for more than two weeks, it breaks my heart. I feel pain.”
Accustomed to remaining in the shadows to protect their relationship, the actor was an exception to the rule in 2010 at the Cannes Film Festival, when he received the acting prize for his role in the film Biutifulby Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu: “To my friend, my companion, my love,” he declared, before referring to their first meeting in 1992: “The most important thing we have is our past. We knew each other from the beginning and that’s important.”
