Barcelona Lovers Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall

Barcelona Lovers Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall
The stars of 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' steam up the screen when they're not channeling Woody Allen's tragicomic neuroses.

By Karl Rozemeyer

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Woody Allen's latest outing, the sensually sun-drenched Vicky Cristina Barcelona, charmed critics at Cannes with its return to what Woody does best — typically neurotic, upwardly mobile protagonists caught between what they want and what they think they want.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) has her life all mapped out, down to her impending nuptials with the nebbishy Doug (Chris Messina). Her best friend Cristina, on the other hand, is a restless and nubile wanna-be boho only certain of what she doesn't want. When the two jet off to Barcelona for their last summer of freedom, they expect to spend a few months resting and enjoying the art of Barcelona. But when the dashing painted Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) makes them an offer they can't refuse (no matter how much Vicky might want to), their lives become much more complicated indeed. When Juan's ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), shows up on his doorstep fresh from a suicide attempt, things get even more confusing, volatile, and sexy.

Fresh off his Oscar-winning turn in No Country For Old Men, Javier Bardem chats exclusively with Premiere.com about working with Woody, why he is nothing like his sexually direct playboy character, and why you won't see him as Pablo Escobar any time soon. British stage and TV actress Rebecca Hall, who recently had heads turning for her role opposite Christian Bale in The Prestige, talks about acting opposite Hollywood's sexiest leading man, why her character fears unleashing her passion, and her upcoming role in Ron Howard's Oscar-bait Frost/Nixon.

JAVIER BARDEM

At the Cannes press conference, Woody Allen talked about the tragicomic aspects of Vicky Cristina Barcelona, noting that, while he hopes there are funny moments, by the end of the film the focus is on the tragic elements. Given Allen's famous lack of specific direction, what were the challenges in nailing the balance between comedy, tragedy, and sex in relation to Juan Antonio?
I think that is the one of the aspects of the genius of Woody Allen's dialogue. It is very difficult for an actor to receive really brilliant dialogue that really tells you the direction to go. It is true that when you are working with Woody Allen, he doesn't give too much direction, but I guess he relies on, first, the actors he chooses, and second, the dialogue he wrote, because as a good classic writer, when you have that material, you know exactly where to go. He leads you exactly in the right direction, and then you start reading and you see how the arc of the behavior of the character starts and what he goes through at the very end. So that, plus, in talking to us — because he talks! — and telling us, "Yeah, this may be a comedy, and this may be fun or not, but this is really a drama." This is a movie about people trying to find answers about something that doesn't have any answer, which is: how to approach love? What is the best way to approach love? Who knows? At the very end, the whole story gets another kind of bitter taste, because there are people harmed by the experience that they had in these couple of months. And I think that once you read that in the story, understand that, and know that the director wants you to go in that direction, you do it.

Although Woody Allen is a notoriously hands-off director, he requests that actors stick to the script. Yet, correct me if I am wrong, watching the fireworks between you and Penélope, it seems that a lot of the dialogue was improvised. Was that the case?
Well, [Woody Allen] likes to not take credit for that, but it is not true. What we said in Spanish, it was a literal translation of what he wrote. But it is true, that when I am working in Spanish — because it is my mother tongue —' I know it is better to use that word rather than the other so you add that or you take out that word. But the thought, the idea, the pace, the whole thing is something that he wrote. And he likes to say that it is not, but it is true. Who would dare to change any Woody Allen dialogue? I wouldn't.

Compared to say Ramón Sampedro [The Sea Inside] or Anton Chigurh [No Country for Old Men], one might assume that Juan Antonio is perhaps the closest to your own personality. Not so much in that he's a Don Juan, but his ability to speak with complete candor and absolute directness. There's no ambivalence about him. Is that more your personality?
Not at all. When I was reading the script, when I saw the first scene with me approaching that [restaurant] table with Scarlett [Johansson] and Rebecca [Hall], I was like, "How in the world do you do that scene? How in the world do you say those words?" I guess it is not as strange as some of the characters that I have played, and that is what makes it more logical [to think] that it is closer to the actor who portrays that character. But, I think, with anything you give it your all. I am not them. They are not me. But at the same time, I have all of them inside of me, so you had better pull the trigger in order to hit [the target].

You've described Juan Antonio as being someone with a "wound to be healed." We know that Maria Elena has stabbed him once before, emotionally as well as physically. How would you describe their relationship? Dysfunctional and co-dependent or passionate and intensely meaningful in a strange way?
I think Woody Allen, first of all, does something really smart and wise, which is to put all these stereotypes and clichés in front of us, and then little by little, not only does he make fun of it and destroys them, but at the very end he ends up taking us to see what is behind those labels and clichés, which is people. People who share the same fears, needs, impotence, and dependence. No matter where they are coming from or what they are pretending to be. And that is a great thing. And the insanity that is shared by all of them is [a fear of] not finding what they are looking for. And the extreme of that is the relation between Maria Elena and Juan Antonio, which is a place that doesn't move forward because it is stuck in interdependence and this insanity thing of "I need you as much as I need you be far away from me" — which is something that we can see all around us in the world. And, I guess, the confrontation between these two characters is what makes Scarlett and Rebecca's characters to really realize what they had been [involved with] over the last two months.

Woody Allen talked about how he feels that Juan Antonio is an inherently decent character who simply wants to have a good time with these two lovely young ladies, but when he finds himself attracted to Vicky more than just sexually, decides to back away rather than creating a more complicated situation. Is Juan Antonio afraid of getting hurt if he pursues Vicky only to find that she's unwilling to break off her engagement for him?
I always saw Juan Antonio as a projection of an image that not only women could put on men as in this kind of easy[going] man [who is] careful, protective, secure, but also a tender, free artist. But [he's] also an image that men put on some other men, as in, "I would like to have the courage to be Juan Antonio." But I think that, in the end, that is a character that he creates in order to hide the truth of it, which is fear, which is the childish need of being protected by a woman. We could go to Juan Antonio's past and see what happened when he was five with his mother. But he can't stay more than five minutes alone. And that is a curse. Because of that, he needs to be the way which he is, which is direct and fast. [laughs]

I read in June that you and Joe Carnahan were still in talks about the script for Pablo Escobar. Joe said something like you're a marked man but that he'd get you! Is this still moving forward?
Not that I know of. I have talked to him. This project has been in and out for quite a long time, and I know that this material is spectacular, and I know him, and he is great director, but I don't think it is going to happen, as far as I know, with me in it. It has been something that has been in and out. But I am sure he is going to do it, and it is going to be fantastic, because the role is pretty is amazing.

You were in talks with Rob Marshall about Nine, and pulled out due to exhaustion. Will we ever see you in a musical?
No, that is something that is kind of... I read the script, and the work of Anthony Minghella is truly impressive, and I had the chance of working with Rob Marshall, and he is a multi-talented director and the nicest person. He is truly a nice human being. And it is going to be something unique and beautiful — that is why actors and actresses of such high quality are [involved]. But in my case, it was about timing.

REBECCA HALL

What can you tell us about developing the character of Vicky under Woody Allen's direction?
I think what makes [Woody Allen] brilliant is that he writes quite truthful scenarios about human conflicts. He doesn't plow in with answers. He just presents situations, which are quite human. I thought it was interesting to deal with that as an actor, and I am always attracted to parts that are one thing and its antithesis all at the same time, and Vicky very much is that. And it is not just that she is more repressed and sensible, but she is enormously passionate and sexy and warm and romantic underneath and vulnerable. And that is a tricky thing to balance, but it was there in the writing, and I just sort of trusted that. And, yes, he doesn't say a lot. And actually, in not saying anything, he says everything, if you know what I mean. He just trusted [us] to do it. And that trust does give you a lot of confidence.

So he gives few cues but asks for actors to stick to the script... Was this a very different experience for you from, say, Christopher Nolan on The Prestige?
We did stick to the script, but one of the first things that Woody said to me when I got on set was, "Okay, here we are. Stand there. Say what you want." And he would say that every time I arrived. He would say, "I have written this, but put it in your own words." So he wasn't [dogmatic] and every word has to be there, and most of it was rehashing of what he had written [anyway]. I mean, the sense is there. And the great thing is he shoots so much in one set-up so there is a sense of continuity, so you can try it several ways and you can sort of muck around with that until you find what feels truthful.

Being the only Brit in a cast of mainly Spaniards and Americans must have been an unusual experience. On the big screen, you have never done an American accent. How much work did you do with a voice coach to create a regional accent, and did you build a back story for her? We know she's studying Catalan history and Woody Allen has said that she's conventionally middle-class. How did you interpret her background and accent?
I interpreted her as conventionally middle class too. I didn't work with a voice coach at all. I did it all myself. Not to boast, because it does sound a bit boasty, but it was important to me to make it specific, and I wanted to find a voice that did suit that type of American that is educated, slightly WASPY, Upper East Side. It is a distinctive voice. It has to have that elegance and that slight pretense but at the same time quite hard and strong. So I did spend a lot of time working on it. But I have to fess up and say that I am not totally alien. My mother is American, but she has a very different kind of voice! [laughs] Nonetheless, I do have a foot on the other side of the pond.

How do you interpret Juan Antonio? Do you think he backs away from Vicky because she is about to be married?
Yeah, I do. I think that is his conflict. I think everyone in this film is faced with the conflict of thinking they are one thing and acting out their life accordingly [but] in their instinctive internal life behaving differently, and trying to control that. Just as much Vicky controls what she is scared of in life by mapping it out and behaving in ways that she has mapped out, I think Juan Antonio does [the same].

Can you talk about working with Javier Bardem? In person, he seems extremely outgoing and fun to be around. Does that translate when he is on set working?
Yes. A hundred percent. He is really charming and a lot of fun, and he is very good at playing very serious brooding, intense characters, and I supposed I had a certain type of terrible expectation that he would be that. And he is not at all! He is very fun and spirited and funny, actually.

Woody Allen has said that for the role of Vicky, he looked for someone that would be contrasting to Scarlett and Penélope's characters. Did the three of you and maybe Patricia Clarkson hang out and get to know each other to develop a sort of bond and to spot the differences between your characters?
I think we all got on, which was a bonus. I don't think we made an attempt to get on for the sake of creating that dynamic between all four of us. It happened quite naturally. I think it happened in the casting, and it happened mostly in the way that they were written. In many senses, it was also in the fact that Maria Elena, Vicky, and Cristina are stereotypes of different types of women: rigid and together or indecisive or plain all-out crazy, fiery temperament. They are all sort of stereotypes, but I do think it is interesting that over the course of the film, you can see elements of each one of us in the other one.

Had you been to Barcelona before?
No. I hadn't. Not at all.

And this was your first experience shooting on continental Europe as well, right? It must have been a bonus that you were shooting in and around nearly every major tourist site.
Yeah. Absolutely. I know — it sort of took the pressure off having to go out and do it on weekends.

Woody Allen said in connection with this film that once love is fulfilled it is never romantic again. You can have other qualities of love but never the romance. Without giving away too much about the ending, what do you think the message of the film was?
Well, I think when he makes those comments, I think it is more in the sense of romantic tradition. I am loath to say that romance is dead when it is fulfilled. I know what he means. It is that really interesting and age-old thing of worshipping something from afar and thinking it is going to be everything and putting everything into it, and then getting close up and realizing that your object might have bad breath or something. I don't think that Vicky allows herself romance at all. I think she would prefer not to deal with it, because it is too scary. Because if she lets herself off the leash, she is not quite sure what she would be capable of or how much she might [lose] herself. And, I suppose, what she learns is that you can't really control it because it is unpredictable, and you either ignore it and don't necessarily live a passionate or fulfilled life or you follow it up and deal with all the risks that it entails, which in many ways is just as impractical. It is quite pessimistic, I suppose. Well, maybe just realistic.

Your upcoming projects look amazing. Can you tell us about Frost/Nixon? With a Peter Morgan [The Queen; The Last King of Scotland] script and Ron Howard [The Da Vinci Code] directing, it sounds great.
No, it's fantastic. I play someone called Caroline Cushing, who is a real person, still alive and well and living in Los Angeles, but she is English. And she was David Frost's girlfriend at the time. She is very upper class. Well, Peter Morgan has written her — and the reality may be slightly different — as a bit of a well-to-do, glamorous English divorcee who is very fun-loving and flirtatious and full of life and couldn't be more different to Vicky if she tried.

And then you have the Nicole Holofcener project, the director of Lovely and Amazing. Is this a pure, straight-up comedy?
I loved doing that! Like a lot of her things, it has elements of both. It is about two apartment buildings in New York. Me and Amanda Peet are sisters, and I play a rather sad character who works in a hospital and has given up a lot of her life to be a provider and [care-giver] for her dying grandmother. And in the apartment next door to the dying grandmother, Catherine Keener lives with Oliver Platt. It is about how all the characters are trapped. It is a very different kind of role and quite sad, actually. But it has got funny parts as well. I loved doing it and think that Nicole Holofcener is absolutely brilliant.

And finally, are you going to be Emily Brontë?
I don't know if that is actually happening. I don't know if they can make it happen with my scheduling, which is a real tragedy. But at the moment I am doing a film of [Oscar Wilde's] Dorian Gray, with Colin Firth and Ben Barnes, and then I am doing a trilogy of independent films with Channel Four, although I am only in one of them, based on these novels by a writer called David Peace set in the '70s about these rather horrible murders that happened in Yorkshire. Very dark and very different.