Penélope Cruz, on the way to the Oscar: “It’s incredible to be nominated together with Javier”

“Every time I have experienced it with incredible emotion, but today has been stronger for me. For being nominated together with Javier [Bardem]for being a film by Pedro [Almodóvar] and for the way of living that character. I need to process it,” the Madrid actress acknowledged at a special meeting organized this Tuesday at the office of El Deseo, the production company of the La Mancha brothers.

But it is not the first time that Cruz will step on the red carpet in Los Angeles. She has been nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress, for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (with which he got the statuette) and Nine; and one for Best Leading Actress, for Return. “When they said my name I fell to the ground, the same thing that happened to me with Return“, he revealed between laughs.

When they said my name I fell to the ground, the same thing that happened to me with ‘Volver’

The 2022 Oscars have something of a Spanish accent. The national production has been highlighted four times, including Alberto Mielgo for his animated short windshield wiper, to Alberto Iglesias for the soundtrack of parallel mothers and Javier Bardem for be the Ricardos. “He didn’t react, I had to yell at him,” said Cruz. Once recomposed, the actor has also mentioned the shared moment.

They were watching television embracing “with a thousand hearts” and he has been “shocked” to hear their names. She still hadn’t given him time to react when they pronounced Penelope’s from Los Angeles. “We have been very happy and we have hugged each other strongly,” Javier Bardem described. “To be sharing this is something extraordinary, we are very freaked out, very happy and very moved.”

Historical memory, in Hollywood

“I would have been very excited to see Pedro among the directors, but he couldn’t be happier for us,” Penélope Cruz recalled. Curiously, something similar to what happened in 2002 has happened. That year the Spanish Film Academy selected Mondays in the sun by Fernando León de Aranoa for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, but it was not nominated and finally Hollywood awarded the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay to Talk to her (2002), another film by Almodóvar.

Now the situation repeats itself. The director from La Mancha opts for two nominations for parallel mothers while the good boss, the bet of the Spanish Academy, has not passed the cut for Best Foreign Film. “The fact that I am nominated for a film in Spanish makes it more exciting. And if it is a Pedro film on top of that, it is something quite round. When I dreamed of working with him, I did not dare to dream of these things,” he conceded. the interpreter.

I like that historical memory is present through Pedro’s message

Cruz has dedicated a few words to the two topics on which he pivots parallel mothersmotherhood and memory: “I like that historical memory is present through Pedro’s message, that he can travel. Furthermore, he does so from a place that speaks of human rights and goes beyond political debates. Each person will be able to watch in their history and find some lesson so as not to repeat the same mistakes”.

Regarding femininity, the actress has recognized that her driving force every day on set was women. “She wanted the character to be able to honor such a threat in any situation,” she has said, referring to loss and solidarity between mothers. “I have a friend who is experiencing something like this and everything that has to do with the film is something that makes me think of her and that child,” she admitted.

Finally, the actress has made an appeal in defense of the Spanish industry – “it needs a lot of support and it is not something that I can change, but I can contribute my bit” – and to boost the public’s interest in cinema: “It breaks me heart to see that all theaters are closing. I can’t imagine a world without which going to the movies is not part of our lives”.