Javier Bardem Interview For ‘Skyfall’

Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in ’Skyfall,’ the 23rd installment of the longest-running film franchise in history. In ’Skyfall,’ Bond’s loyalty to M (Judi Dench) is tested as her past returns to haunt her. 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. When Bond’s latest assignment goes gravely wrong and several undercover agents around the world are exposed, MI6 is attacked, forcing M to relocate the agency. These events cause her authority and position to be challenged by Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.  With MI6 now compromised from both inside and out, M is left with one ally she can trust: Bond.  007 takes to the shadows – aided only by field agent, Eve (Naomie Harris) – following a trail to the mysterious Silva (Javier Bardem), whose lethal and hidden motives have yet to reveal themselves. Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition), ’Skyfall’ also stars Bérénice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw, Tonia Sotiropoulou, Albert Finney and Ola Rapace. ‘Skyfall’ will begin its worldwide roll-out in the UK and Ireland on October 26th, with a North American release following on November 9th.

Without giving too much away, can you share some insight into where we meet Silva in ‘Skyfall’? He’s a man looking for revenge….

Javier Bardem: Sure. Silva is an ex-agent that used to work for MI6 and M. He’s angry, he’s angry because he was betrayed. Sam Mendes and I talked about the idea of him being a person who feels betrayal by his own mother, thinking about all of the rage that goes with that. Silva, he has been suffering that betrayal for years, which almost ended his life. So he wants some revenge, he comes back very strongly with a very well thought out plan, a very well put together plan. I think it’s great because it’s something personal, he’s not trying to destroy the world. It’s about being focused on the one person he wants to eliminate, M.

With the personal and specific goal that Silva has in ‘Skyfall,’ did that make delving into the character and story more approachable?

Javier Bardem: Yes. He’s sort of an angel of death – a very clean-shaven person who happens to be rotten on the inside. It’s always about who’s the person behind the character. It would be very difficult for me to play a role that I just saw as some kind of symbol. In this case, there is a man suffering, a man full of pain and frustration, who simply wants to fix the situation. Within that journey, there was room to be funny or aggressive, but I could perfectly understand who he was, and that helped me to portray him. So that helped me to have more realistic circumstances to work with and put it out there.

There’s a lot of emotional depth and complexity to the characters in ‘Skyfall,’ coupled with the action….

Javier Bardem: Definitely. I think ‘Skyfall’ has a lot of depth, because of the story of M and the relationship with her and Daniel Craig’s James Bond. And also the entrance of this other man who really was, in one way, in love with her. But he now feels deeply betrayed by her. So there’s this triangle in the film that really works on an emotional level. And that on top of the scope of a big James Bond movie, it’s very special, it makes the story more solid in the emotional weight of it.

How did you find the physicality of the role?

Javier Bardem: There’s some physicality to the role that you have to be prepared to do, but of course mine compared to Daniel Craig’s was nothing (laughs). Every time I saw him do stunts or action scenes, I was really impressed by how easy he does it. They’re demanding scenes, it’s a lot of work, you have to be prepared for that and committed for that. Also, unafraid of doing it, in the moment they say, “Rolling.” From the outside, watching him, I was thinking, “Jesus, if I were you, I wouldn’t be doing that!” (Laughs). I mean, I did a little bit, but nothing in comparison to with what Daniel did.

How was it working opposite Judi Dench in ‘Skyfall’? As you’ve said, both of your characters are closely linked. You two have a physical scene that you share as well, how was that?

Javier Bardem: I had the chance to work very close to Judi, and I was afraid because there’s some physicality in that scene, I didn’t want to hurt her. But Judi, she was such a delight to work with. She was there, just her looking at your eyes, being as relaxed as she is as an actress, it gives you so much. She was doing something very difficult which was to maintain the concentration of me going through the scene so many times because we had to do it several times, trying different ways of playing it. And she was there doing her job like such a lady, it’s a gift for an actor to work with Judi Dench.

Looking at the quality of actors in this ensemble, that must always help….?

Javier Bardem: Oh yeah. The cast: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and many others, it’s crazy! It’s like, “Well, not bad!” (Laughs). I interacted with Judi and Daniel, and also Bérénice Marlohe. I guess the word I could describe the experience working with them would be ‘easy’. It was easy in a good way, easy in a sense that they’re doing their job, and they’re doing so good as actors. You try to do your job and you interact with them very easily and things just happen, then you go back home and say, “Wow, that was fun and easy.” Which is the way it should be (laughs).