EXCLUSIVE: The lowdown on ‘The Counselor’ from Javier Bardem

Javier Bardem (left) and Michael Fassbender in ‘The Counselor’

Look back to the villain in “Skyfall” if you want to get a grasp of Javier Bardem’s acting prowess. Look back even farther, to his turn as a ruthless hit man in “No Country For Old Men” and even Julia Roberts’ romantic interest in “Eat Love Pray,” to see the breadth of his talent.

Bardem is coming back to the big screen via the upcoming film “The Counselor,” written by someone he highly admires, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. It would be a reunion of sorts for the two, since McCarthy also wrote “No Country For Old Men.”

Directed by Ridley Scott, “The Counselor” is a contemporary thriller about an American lawyer – known only as the Counselor – who gets tempted by the lure of a quick buck. He gets involved in a drug deal and finds himself in the midst of a Mexican drug cartel. In this one, Bardem not only stars with his gorgeous wife, Penélope Cruz, but also with Michael Fassbender in the titular role, Cameron Diaz and Brad Pitt.

Because of the Scott-McCarthy tandem, Bardem says signing up for “The Counselor” was “a no-brainer.” That aside, here are his other reasons:

Javier Bardem is Reiner in Ridley Scott’s ‘The Counselor’

The Script

“I was in London shooting ‘Skyfall,’ I got the script and I read it and… thought it was a fantastic script,” he says, noting the intense situations and conflicts in which the characters find themselves. “As an actor, it was like a gift to read that material because of those long speeches and scenes with great dialogue. So I was immediately drawn into it.”

His Character

Remembering Bardem in “Skyfall” isn’t so hard because he had such a strange look. He continues down this path with his character in “The Counselor.” Bardem shares, “The image of Reiner came to me immediately once I read the script… from the very first moment I understood that he was kind of a nightclub guy who has been victimized by others all of his life but is trying to show the world… that he’s in control of everything, especially in relationships with women.” In fact, when McCarthy visited the set once, Bardem recalls, “He said, ‘That’s a very funny haircut’ and at the time I didn’t know how to take it. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.”

Javier Bardem is Reiner in Ridley Scott’s ‘The Counselor’

The Challenges

Although Bardem had only met Fassbender and Diaz, with whom he has most of his scenes, one week before the shoot, he recalls them to be “very sweet and very easy to work with so you just go to work and try not to mess it up.” More than establishing rapport with his co-actors, though, he notes, “The scenes with lots of dialogue are a challenge and, also, Ridley will do everything in one take and then, or course, you repeat it from different angles… and they are long scenes with just two actors. In that way it’s like theatre.”

The Director

Describing Scott as “a sweetheart,” Bardem marvels at how the director “knows so much about movie making…” The actor relishes the freedom Ridley gives his cast “to go and do whatever you want, but at the end of the day you realize that you have done exactly what he wanted,” he says, laughing. “He knows what he is doing and he knows how to take you to where he wants to go. It’s an authentic honor to be directed by him.”

The Dark Humor

To Bardem, the film is “very McCarthy-esque.” He relates, “I think there are some great moments that are very dark but also very funny…that humor also helped me construct Reiner. He can make fun of almost anything, nothing is sacred for him.”

“The Counselor” opens in local cinemas on Nov. 13.

EXCLUSIVE: The lowdown on ‘The Counselor’ from Javier Bardem

Source: Mb.com.ph (November 09, 2013 at 12:22PM)

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