Does ‘F1’ Star Javier Bardem Remember His Movie Locations?

Condé Nast Traveler

Condé Nast Traveler joins ‘F1’ star Javier Bardem to test his movie location knowledge. From the action-packed chases of James Bond to the vast deserts of Dune, can he remember where his most iconic movies were filmed?

Transcript

00:00And I felt like, okay, there's a life, there's a life with, there's a life beyond this haircut.

00:07What business is it of yours? Where I'm from?

00:11Friendo.

00:14Hello, I am Javier Bardem. I filmed in amazing locations. Let's see if I remember them.

00:19Well, this is obviously no country for all men, and I would say the location is New Mexico, right?

00:38It was New Mexico. We're going to say Marfa, Texas, but no, it's New Mexico.

00:42Yeah, Las Vegas, New Mexico.

00:43Las Vegas, New Mexico, exactly. Yeah, great moment, great scene.

00:49How much?

00:51The 69 scene.

00:53And the gas.

00:56It was my first true American movie with a whole American crew that always speak English,

01:03and that's like almost 19 years ago. So for me, I felt very isolated. And I guess that

01:14translated into the character that I play, which is a very isolated person from the world,

01:19but detached from the world. When you see that a person like that character is used to walk this

01:27landscape, and somehow you really have to reflect that in his behavior, because he belongs to that land,

01:34and that land is within him. So of course, it has a special direct effect in his way of moving,

01:44speaking, hearing, listening, acting.

01:46New Mexico, it was the first and last time I've been there.

01:49And not because I didn't want to come back. It's because life didn't take me back there.

01:54They took me to this beautiful spa made in the nature whose name I don't remember,

02:00but it was very spectacular. It was one of those days that I felt like,

02:05oof, relief of the character in some ways. Like, I was with Josh Brolin, who I adore,

02:14and some other people from the crew, and I felt like, okay, there's a life. There's a life with,

02:19there's a life beyond this haircut.

02:21I remember being on the top of one of those dunes and see the valley underneath, the valley of sand

02:41underneath. And it was humongous. It was like a sea of sand. It was absolutely spectacular. It's one

02:49of those things that you are so blessed to witness because of the work you do.

02:54And you realize that what they pay you for is to wait. The acting, you do it for free,

03:00because it's a luxury. I would say this is Dune 2, and this is The Desert of Abu Dhabi.

03:09I think this is the scene where the sandworm riding happens, no? Yeah.

03:14Shy Hulu decides today if you become Freeman or if you die. It took Dune, if I recall, like three

03:23weeks to shoot that scene, that sandworm riding. And that's why it's so good. When you see it,

03:28it's absolutely like a goosebump.

03:30It took Dune 2, and that's why it's so good. And that's why it's so good.

03:36On my side, I just have to witness it happening. And of course we didn't have a sandworm being

03:44right in front of our eyes. It was just a tennis ball going like that.

03:51But since we knew what he was doing with the sandworm unit, and we saw some of the things that

03:58they were doing and some of the shots were already shot, we had that in our minds. And that's why

04:04we really believed that that little yellow tennis ball was a big, huge sandworm.

04:16Abu Dhabi is fun for the kids, so that's the place my kids want to visit because they have

04:22tons of parts to go to, and the Ferrari world, and Dubai nearby. And they were in that

04:28location, and we had lots of fun doing crazy things on the dunes. I won't do that because

04:35I'm very clumsy, and also I have an insurance policy. I cannot harm myself when I'm shooting,

04:39but they will do slides through the dunes. And that was fun to watch. They had the greatest time.

04:46It was fun to watch. It was fun. It was fun to have the whole London subway for us. I mean, that part.

04:59They changed some of the aspects of that slide because in reality you have this

05:17bumps, these things that avoid people to do it, but they took them out. Of course, otherwise they won't be seen.

05:30Was that in any way a childhood fantasy of yours?

05:32No, it was very uncomfortable to do.

05:34Hmm. Ah, yeah.

05:45Is this Barcelona? Yeah, this is Barcelona, the attraction park in Barcelona for Woody Allen's movie

05:53Big Cristina Barcelona. I see why you love your fiance. He's very charming.

05:57Yes, yes, he's lovely. And very well suited to you. I don't think I like the way you say that.

06:05And that day again, they shut down the whole thing for us to shoot the scene, and it was fantastic to be

06:11in such a beautiful area in summertime with those beautiful actresses playing a romantic lead.

06:20It's like, wow, what a gift. It was fun. And Barcelona is an amazing city, as we all know.

06:27And the view of the ocean of Barcelona from this park, it's one to see, for sure. It's a must, if you go there, to go here to this area.

06:37The way that movie was shot, it was very fast. He does one take. We were, as an average, shooting like five hours per day,

06:45no more than that. The rest of the time he was playing the clarinet. And it was summertime in Barcelona,

06:51which means it was packed. It was a city packed of tourism, tourists. But also it had this magic

06:58flavor to it of summer, Spain, the coast, the sea. And it was a celebration of what it means to be

07:07in the Mediterranean coast. I've always seen this movie as a big, nice, intelligent, smart, funny joke

07:13about prototypes. The Latin lover and the American girls that fall in love with them and the crazy

07:20Spanish, Latin woman that gets in the picture. You know, I always have your best interest.

07:26Well, not when you try to kill me. Yeah, that, that small detail. Yes.

07:31And that's what it is. And beneath, underneath that, there is a criticism about all these prototypes

07:38that we put in our heads. But some people, I guess, especially in Spain, took the movie like literally,

07:44and they thought that we were making a portrait of Spain. That's not what it was. It was a big,

07:52smart, funny joke about prototypes. And it worked pretty well, I think.

08:00Well, that's home. The Retiro Park in Madrid. All my childhood and part of my youth have been here,

08:08right in this spot around this area. This is the pond. And lately, I took Conan O'Brien to row a boat

08:17with me. That was fun. He came to Spain and we did this episode of Conan Must Go and we had a blast.

08:23How much I love that guy. He's so funny. He's so smart and intelligent and generous. And he's really a

08:31genius. Is it Javier Bardem? Is it Bardem? Yeah. I was forced to be here. I would have loved to take

08:39him home and to be at home and give him a meal and cook for him and do that. But we were on a schedule.

08:47It was really extraordinary.

08:49This is April Love. This is Bali. I think this is the little beach where Julia Roberts and I had a scene

09:03where I invited her to come with me to my boat and sail away and start a new life. And she prefers not to.

09:14Great scene. And what a luxury to have the chance to work with her. Amazing actress. Great woman.

09:21I have the perfect camping spot. Just you and I and 400 pirates.

09:29I remember being able to, again, going to some locations that you may not know or heard of unless

09:39a good location team of the movie will take you. And, uh, and once we get there, once we get there,

09:45I was, I'm mesmerized by the quality of the water and the beauty of it. And, and it was all for us

09:53because we have to shut it down for us to be able to shoot the movie. So it was like a luxury like to be

09:59there on our own and, and be able to jump in the water with no body around.

10:04You are slender and elegant in the distance, but up close you are round and fresh.

10:17Hmm. Let me guess. What is this?

10:21This is, uh, India, no? No? It's not the Taj Mahal? What is it? I don't recall. What is it? You have to

10:32handle with this. I don't recall.

10:34This is from F1. This is Abu Dhabi. Oh, wow. This is Abu Dhabi. Okay.

10:43I'm offering you an open seat in Formula One. The only place you could say, if you win, you are

10:51the absolute best.

10:55Shooting in Abu Dhabi in the city instead of the desert for Dune was a different, different experience

11:03because we were all immersed in the racetrack and it was all about the racing week and being in the

11:10race. And we couldn't see much of what it was out of the racetrack, but the energy that involved for

11:18all the crew and the team and, uh, to be so awake and alert about what we have to accomplish in the

11:27movie while they were actually doing the race, it was very, very high adrenaline, adrenaline high,

11:35because we have to really do our takes, our shots in a very short period of time and do it

11:44well, because we cannot do different takes. We cannot go back and redo it. So it was a very energetic

11:52moment of focus and teamwork. I love that.

11:58You plus him. Boom. I got a team.

12:04The end of the movie and where we shoot the end of the race competition in Abu Dhabi, that's by far

12:12the moment where I felt absolutely taken by the craziness of what we were doing because we

12:19accomplished it. And it was also the wrap for the film. They've made it. We've been able to really

12:26belong to the F1 world and be really inside the kitchen with, along with them. And not only that,

12:34but we, we can also share the podium with the real drivers. It was crazy. All of that, while the

12:41fireworks were exploding and the people were cheering up, it was, it was a day to remember for sure.

12:47I have heard that you do not like driving yourself. It's not that I don't like driving. It's like,

12:53I don't, I barely drive. Yeah. I mean, I can't take a car from here to there, but no more than that.

12:59Did the movie change that for you? Was there a moment where you...

13:02No, it made it worse. Like, those guys go way too fast for me. I mean, no, no, not interested in that.

13:10Well, I did it. How do you think I did it? I don't know. I tried my best, I guess, in all these locations.

13:17I don't know.

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