Expect some strange sights in the year ahead forJavier Bardem.
(Voiced byShawn Mendes, you might bet he figures it out.)
Like that moment when you discoveredChristopher Walken is an incredible dancer, the revelation is both spooky and thrilling.
Columbia Pictures
We spoke to Bardem, 53, from Budapest, on a break from theDuneshoot.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s surprising to see you enjoying yourself in a musical.
Do you have some kind of inner theater geek aching to come out?
Columbia Pictures
JAVIER BARDEM:No, I don’t.
You’re being very deferential to your collaborators here.
Oh, my God, yes.
It’s so hard to be able to move and act at the same time.
I’m only a man.
And not a dancing crocodile.
Can you give us a little peek into that?
Was Lyle a person in a motion-capture suit?
There were three different realities.
First, there’s an actor in the scenes where we have no singing.
He was doing a fantastic job because you need lots of patience.
But most of the time, you are working with an empty space.
That is strange, because you have to imagine everything.
It took me a little bit to accommodate to that.
That’s the reason why we do what we do.
It really is fun seeing this side of you.
Did you work with Shawn Mendes or was that all in post?
It was all in post.
We recorded the songs separately because we both have different schedules.
It’s only now in the promotion where we are starting to know each other.
It’s fun because he’s adorable, and his voice is crazy, huh?
So you did your entire contribution to the film without even knowing that Shawn would ultimately be cast?
They were in talks, but you know how it goes.
Things take time, especially when you are targeting such a big name like Shawn Mendes.
I read the book years ago to my kids, one of them.
I would say it’s more popular in the States.
We live in Spain, but we travel back and forth.
We want to see that."
Sometimes you do one for the kids.
Did you feel a personal connection with Hector, your character?
One of the first questions I asked the directors was, “Why are you calling me?
That’s such a weird choice.”
In a way, I’m a foreigner in this genre.
But Hector works hard and really puts in every effort possible to be part of it.
Hector helped me to liberate myself, to be more like “Who cares?
Go, have fun, enjoy, move freely.”
Do people still quoteNo Country for Old Menback to you,friendo?
There are a lot of people out there that still think I’m killing with cattle air-gun machines.
I mean, if you’re not smiling at them in the elevator, I get that.
It was only a movie.
I’m just going to my floor."
Meanwhile, that’s another stranger you’ll be haunting forever.
To belong to a movie that is, for sure, one of the bestCoen Brothersmovies ever.
You’re soiconicin it.
Meanwhile, did your work onLyle, Lyle, Crocodilehave any effect on the shoot ofDune: Part II?
Well, it’s a different monster.Duneis happening as we speak.
I shot today, I shoot tomorrow, and it’s a great experience to be on this set.
There’s so much talent in front and behind the camera that it’s kind of scary.
Stilgar it’s a different rhythm than Hector.
Hector, he doesn’t have any pressures.
Stilgar, he has a whole tribe to look out for.
There’s more responsibility to Stilgar as a human being than Hector, let’s say.
And fewer dance numbers.
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodileopens in theaters Oct. 7.
