Javier Bardem Speaks

7th April 2012

In an interview with Spanish TV network TVE, Javier Bardem explained his connection to the Bond story, the way he approached his character and how he brings the adversarial attitudes of his character on set.

"It's a very beautiful and fun adventure," says the lead "Skyfall" villain. "yesterday I was on set with Albert Finney, with Judi Dench, with Daniel Craig." Bardem expressed delight with being part of the 50 years of the franchise and ruminated about his memories of watching Sean Connery and Roger Moore as James Bond when he was a child. But it was more than the celebrations that drew him to this film: "It's cool, and the coolest thing and what's most important is the material. When I got it and saw the character, immediately you forget a little that it is a James Bond film and you realise that it is a great film and that's what attracted me. I said, "man this gives you a lot of possibilities". Obviously it's a James Bond film and it has everything you expect from a Bond film."

And it's not just martinis, girls and guns this time, he says, "besides that there is a super-powerful story and a character with meat to put your teeth in and enjoy doing."

The journalist pressed for a little bit more detail about the Spaniard's character whose picture and name were recently leaked to the media.

Explaining why Raoul Silva will be blonde, Bardem says, "I don't know, there is also something that Sam [Mendes], the director, told me a short while and he was right: James Bond films are midway between reality and fiction. Therefore it is a very good and very fertile terrain to play the characters with a certain freedom. It has to do with a real situation and there has got to be seriousness playing it but it's more open, it gives you more air so that you can work and imagine more. And that is very fun because you're not doing absolute fiction, it's not a superhero picture, but it's not a completely down-to-earth film. It's something in the middle that's very good and very fun for an actor."

He says that the character is certainly out to give 007 a hard time: "I'm completely decided to give him a hard time and the truth is that I get to do it. Doing it in the set is a different thing [to reading it in a script]. The character puts Bond into some curious and interesting difficulties and one has to do it [for real], to give the idea that you are the villain. Otherwise there is no point in doing it. You have to put the actor in a difficult situation, that's the objective. In that sense Sam is helping a lot, he's an amazing director. And I'm delighted to be working with Daniel, he's a guy with balls, he's a really hard working guy, super-compromised with what he's doing. For him it's strenuous, six months of shooting everyday, in addition with a lot of physical demand and the guy holds on super-committed."

"He's an actor who is doing some amazing scenes. As an actor I look at that and I say great, and like it. And then he's very much a clown, which I love, the moment they say cut. And he's a guy who brings a lot of humour and a lot of lightness to the thing because obviously these are very long days and and for him it must be, it is difficult. So it's an amazing experience!"

Above: Javier Bardem interview [in Spanish]...

Thanks to Sandy at MI6Community.com for the translation...