Why Javier Bardem “really hates” violence in movies
From No Country for Old Men to Dune, in his time, Javier Bardem has starred in a variety of violent flicks, with action something he’s come to be closely associated with. Whether it be the movies above or the likes of Skyfall, The Counselor, or even Mother!, Bardem has lent his talents to a host of graphic titles with a variety of gore. However, this is all ironic, as Bardem “really hates” movie violence.
When speaking to GQ in 2017, Bardem revealed that he hates violence in real life and on-screen to the extent that he even jokingly admitted he had to think twice about entering into a romance with his wife, Penelope Cruz, because of her feisty nature. The actor said that despite some of his most famous roles coming in violent movies as the villain, he shields his eyes when watching.
The Las Palmas native explained that his intense hatred of violence in all forms stems from having a regrettable fight when he was a youth. “From that moment on, I couldn’t stand violence,” he said. “I still can’t even watch it. I can’t bear it.”
Unsurprisingly, Bardem conceded that starring as the central antagonist, Anton Chigurh, in the Coen brothers’ 2007 hit No Country for Old Men was a great struggle. Notably, the film has many violent scenes, with the unflinching Chigurh thought by some to represent the angel of death.
“So if I hate violence so much why did I do No Country For Old Men, right? I know, I know”, Bardem continued. “But you should have seen me off camera, playing Anton on that movie… when the camera stopped rolling I would beg the Coen brothers’ please take that gun out of my face guys, please…’.” Clearly, the Coens thought it was rather comical that the man they had cast as a bowl-cut grim reaper was weepy at the site of a fake pistol. As he recalled: “Man, they would be laughing their asses off.”
It might seem strange that Javier Bardem hates violence. Still, I would wager that this aversion to it has helped him create some of the finest on-screen villains due to his appreciation of the real-life implications of the subject matter. There’s an authenticity to be found in his roles, whether it be as Chigurh, Raoul Silva, Stilgar or others.
As the director Wim Wenders pointed out that violence is so often wrongly represented as sexy in movies, TV and music when the truth is “that it’s really very ugly.” Bardem’s understanding of that helps him to portray it at its most affecting edge.
