Compared to his celebrated co-star Nicole Kidman in the hit production “Being the Ricardos,” film critics initially treated Javier Bardem like he was chopped liver, or some guy who was pulled from the cast of extras. Perhaps they weren’t paying attention or didn’t do their homework.
Bardem, 52, has had an impressive career of his own spanning 30 years in Europe and Tinseltown. The Canary Islands native starred in over two dozen films in Spain before getting his first break in Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” in 2000. Barden portrayed Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas and received an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In 2004, Barden won Best Actor in the Venice Film Festival for his role in “Mar Adentro,” which was later introduced in the United States as “The Sea Inside.” But he finally hit Oscar recognition as Best Supporting Actor for his role as a sociopathic assassin in the 2007 movie “No Country For Old Men.”
Suddenly Barden was earning praise from Hollywood big shots like Francis Ford Coppola, who compared him to Jack Nicholson, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, who first brought Barden to the famed director’s attention. In 2010, Javier won his fifth Goya Award for his role in “Biutiful,” and again was nominated for an Oscar. He dedicated the successful performance to his wife Penelope Cruz and their new born son Leo Encinas. Then in November 2012, Bardem was given perhaps the highest honor an entertainer could receive…a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.
During the next 10 years, Bardem has been incredibly busy, cherry picking the best opportunities. Among those included working with Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Pfeiffer and Ed Harris in the horror flick, “Mother,” and working along side his spouse Cruz in the acclaimed feature film, “Everybody Knows.” But when Aaron Sorkin selected Bardem to play Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos,” the Los Angeles media went into a major hissy fit. How could someone from Spain portray a Cuban bandleader when there were so many Latinos from the Americas who would have been more appropriate for the role?
Actually, Sorkin was spot on in approaching Bardem for the part because he knew something the press hadn’t discovered. For years, Bardem was intrigued with the career of Desi Arnaz, a trailblazer back in the day as a musician, actor and businessman. He was aware of the fact that Hollywood producers were not thrilled with the idea of a Latino like Arnaz married to Lucille Ball would become a sitcom favorite in the conservative early 1950’s. As things would develop however, the pair formed Desilu Productions, the second largest independent film company in the world. So decades later, the time was ripe for a reunion and movie buffs received it with open arms.
“The similarities were a lot between Desi Arnaz and Ricky Ricardo in many ways,” notes Bardem. “But this is a story about the people behind the scenes, behind the show.
“You don’t need to be a Lucille fan or an ‘I Love Lucy’ fan to understand the stories,” he continues. “It’s about two people who love each other very much. But we don’t know if they’re going to be able or capable of being together for several reasons.”
The Amazon Studios production of “Being the Ricardos” has been a huge success and the new odd couple, Bardem and the Australian-born Kidman, have both been nominated to receive honors in the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The event is set to be aired February 27th on TBS.
“We worked very hard to earn those characters because they are so iconic,” said Bardem after receiving the news. “We depended on each other so much during the shoot, so I guess that’s what has been recognized as well.”
Obviously, two professionals worked their magic.
