Javier Bardem Only Accepts Gigs Like Dune on One Strict Condition

Summary:

• Javier Bardem, one of the most respected actors in today’s industry, confesses he never separates from his family for more than 2 weeks while filming.
• The actor admits his pure love to the process of filmmaking, emphasizing the importance of living his personal life as well.

The giants of the cinema industry should strike a balance between work, as filming of a movie or a series requires a lot of time, not days, but months and even years, and personal life. Many of them sacrifice the latter part of their life, dedicating themselves much to their profession, while the wisest ones manage to keep everything in order.

A great example of an actor’s work-life balance is given by the acclaimed Javier Bardem, an Oscar-winner, famous for his roles in No Country for Old Men (2007), Biutiful (2010) and mother! (2017), who is happily married to his colleague in art, Penélope Cruz.

Even though his appearance in the first Dune movie as Stilgar, the leader of the Fremen tribe, was quite brief, his screen time in the second chapter of the epic saga increases as his character plays an extremely significant role in it. Therefore, he was required to spend a lot of time far away from his family and their home in Los Angeles.

Bardem has revealed his secret of participating in such a long shooting (and it has been reported the biggest part of filming was held between July and December 2022) and continuing remaining close with his family, Cruz, to whom he is married for over 14 years, and their two children, in a recent interview with Wired.

The actor confessed that when accepting a role he has a clear condition he would have the possibility to see his family at least once in 2 weeks.

“I don’t ask for more money, I don’t ask for a bigger trailer, I ask, like, ‘I want to be with my family,'” he admitted.

Being extremely dedicated to his matter of life, Bardem also believes that money doesn’t exceed the value of pleasure which he receives in the process of filming, and his work for the Dune movies hasn’t become an exception.

He said he was also genuinely amazed by the amount of work which was previously done for him “to be able to just play a scene with Timothée [Chalamet] in the middle of the dunes in Abu Dhabi”.

Such a childish delight is quite rarely seen while talking about big figures of the cinematography, as it often seems to be put on the conveyor without paying enough attention neither to families nor to the enjoyment of the process. Luckily, Bardem presents an example of how a highly demanded actor can manage his own life.

Source: Wired