The 2009 TV series Javier Bardem will always regret not starring in: “I wanted to be there”
If you’ve been watching the Apple TV reboot of Cape Fear starring Amy Adams and Javier Bardem, then you’ll be aware that not only is it an excellent advert for never mixing business with pleasure, but also a timely reminder that, most of the time, Bardem is basically absolutely fucking terrifying.
The executive producers on the show are about as accomplished as you can possibly get in the form of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, and both men are evidently wise enough to know that the best way to get the most out of a show that is, after all, based on a story that’s already been made into two movies, is to focus on Bardem’s inherent scariness as much as possible, and so that’s exactly what they’ve done.
Bardem’s Max Cady is a barely-contained, multi-tattooed, muscle-bound psychopath, terrorising Adams’ family with a mental glee, licking people’s faces, cutting toes off, slaying families of raccoons and leaving them next to swimming pools: all manner of ‘Oh my lord, what’s he going to do next’ behaviour essentially.
He is undoubtedly what elevates the show from a passable bit of family drama, no matter how many clever ways of framing a scene might be on show, and you can probably bet he will be lining up to receive a few gongs for his work in Cape Fear once awards season rolls around.
Of course it isn’t his first rodeo in terms of putting in ‘I’ll just be behind the sofa let me know when he’s gone’ performances over the years; as we all know he came to prominence thanks to his role in The Coen brothers’ masterful No Country for Old Men back in 2007, instantly becoming one of the most iconic villains in film history and deservedly taking home the Oscar for ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
His portrayal of the oxygen-tank, bolt-gun-wielding Anton Chigurh was a movie-stealing lesson in quiet rage, and it made him one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood at the end of the 2000s. But that didn’t mean he got everything his own way. In what would have been one of the strangest casting decisions imaginable, a few years later, Bardem wanted to make an appearance in the high school musical comedy Glee, appealing to its creator, Ryan Murphy, to come up with a part in it for him.
Bardem told Jimmy Kimmel back in 2011, “I said to [Murphy] that I don’t sing at all, but I wanted to be there because I like the show. I think it’s great. I want to play this heavy metal rock and roll star…tattooed all over with nasty things in Spanish that nobody understands. And I will just be the chauffeur, while other people sing, I will just be like, ‘Yeah, that rocks’.”
Quite rightly, though, he knew it was an unlikely development, adding: “I think he’s afraid of it… I would love to [guest star], but I haven’t read anything”.
Not that missing out on ensemble sing-a-longs next to some lockers did his career any harm. Just a year later, he was back doing what he does best, as a crazed villain in the Bond movie Skyfall opposite Daniel Craig, his character of Raoul Silva being an ex-MI6 agent turned cyberterrorist, blowing all manner of stuff up, including Bond’s childhood home in Scotland, which seems excessive.
