Bardem Speaks

All of the good movies are based on how that story was told. And you cannot do it with a bad script, that's for sure, no matter who.
Javier Bardem

An award doesn't necessarily make you a better actor.
Javier Bardem

Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.
Javier Bardem

But don't call me an actor. I'm just a worker. I am an entertainer. Don't say that what I am doing is art.
Javier Bardem

Celebrity is very weird.
Javier Bardem

I do respect people's faith, but I don't respect their manipulation of that faith in order to create fear and control.
Javier Bardem

I don't know how to drive a car.
Javier Bardem

I don't really care where movies come from as long as they're worth making.
Javier Bardem

I enjoy my job as long as I can create a character, otherwise it's boring.
Javier Bardem

I live in Spain. Oscars are something that are on TV Sunday night. Basically, very late at night. You don't watch, you just read the news after who won or who lost.
Javier Bardem

I look at myself, and I see a Spanish person who's trying to be understood by an English-speaking audience and is putting a lot of energy into that, instead of into expressing himself freely and feeling comfortable.
Javier Bardem

I truly don't have any formula for the choices I make.
Javier Bardem

I want to act because I don't know how to do anything else.
Javier Bardem

I will work with a director who has good material because at the end of the day, that's what counts.
Javier Bardem

My concern is to continue respecting my work as I've done since I began as an actor and I could only do that if I'm strong enough to keep on doing what I think best in an artistic way.
Javier Bardem

Now, there are so many movies, so many festivals, and so many awards going on, each judged with each other, like your work is worse than others and that's not fair. How can you tell what's best and what's worst from these awards? We're talking about art.
Javier Bardem

Some quality performances and movies have a chance to be rewarded, but it's not like it's a bible.
Javier Bardem

Sometimes I say to myself, what are you doing in this absurd job? Why don't you go to Africa and help people? But I cannot help people, because I am a hypochondriac.
Javier Bardem

The award is important in order to bring people to the movie theater. That's the only principle meaning of any award.
Javier Bardem

The only thing I can do is act, but it's not something I even feel comfortable doing. It costs me a lot, because I'm a shy person, even if I don't look it.
Javier Bardem

There are so many movies and it's a waste of time and a waste of money. Basically, movies are made with what it costs the external debt of all Africa.
Javier Bardem

This great imperialistic world called the United States has made us believe that an Oscar is the most important thing in the world for an actor. But if you think about it for five minutes you realise it can't be.
Javier Bardem

We actors always say how difficult and physically demanding a role was. But give me a break, it's only a movie.
Javier Bardem

We live in the moment now where this whole movie business is crazy.
Javier Bardem

What does my performance have to do with Russell Crowe's? Nothing. If I play Gladiator and we all play Gladiator with Ridley Scott in the same amount of time, maybe we have a chance to see who did it best.
Javier Bardem

When I was doing Arenas dying of Aids, I watched Philadelphia 13 or 14 times, because I thought Tom Hanks was making good choices.
Javier Bardem

You are always concerned about the makeup work, especially when you are going to do a character movie instead of an action movie.
Javier Bardem