Penelopey Cruz and Javier Vardm might just be two of the best actors out there, but aside from that, they also happen to share one of Hollywood's most genuine love stories. These are their best moments. I think he's still not telling us the truth, but I think he speaks and understands Spanish because one time I changed something without asking him.
Um, and he looked like, "How come he know? " Really? This happened a few times.
How does he know that I changed like a tiny little word? who cares? And he knew before asking anybody.
And so I think he's lying. One of the most recent movies which the Spanish couple star in is Loving Pablo, for which Javier Bardam had to gain serious weight to get into the role of Pablo Escobar. In this interview, Ellen asked Penelopey Cruz how she felt about her husband's new look.
How did uh Javier gain that kind of weight? That must have been really hard to watch him. He must have been eating because he gained so much weight for that role.
Yes. Alo. So he was excited about all the junk food that he could eat for the role.
Yeah. So he likes junk food. Yeah.
But after the movie, he became also very very healthy. Yeah. Cuz that's hard to gain that much.
And then how long did it take him to to gain it and how much to how long to lose it? I think to gain it was fast. Yeah.
[laughter] The amount of stuff that he was eating. But then to to lose it, you know, takes a while. But but he's like Did you Did you like him with that uh mustache and that weight on?
No, not at all. You play this famous couple, but you are a famous couple. You and your and your beautiful wife, Penelopey Cruz, [applause] which doesn't make any sense.
Doesn't make any sense. I see the picture and I go, "What? What is this beautiful creature on Earth doing with that guy?
" But oh, I can think of a few reasons. Thank you very much. You're very kind.
When doing press together for the movie Everybody Knows, a reporter asked Javier Bardam an absurd question in front of Penelopey Cruz, only for Bardam to shut him down immediately. [laughter] Remember, [applause] I know you were recently photographed for something called uh Gentleman's Journal. There you are.
There's there's Look at that. There's some smokey. [cheering] But the photography, the photography is by Penelopey.
She's done a lot of photography over the years. Yeah, she's done some. And she told me, "One day I have to take some pictures of you where we can see some meat.
" And what do you mean by that? I was going to get [laughter] What did you mean by that? I was about to say how does she work with?
She's like, you know, is it is it better to work with someone you're so comfortable with like that? Because I feel so relaxed that then she takes advantage of that. She's like pictures of in places where nobody else will take a picture of me.
Like for example, in the shower, this is you guys, [laughter] right? This is [cheering] I want to point out this photograph is on the edge. It's on the verge.
It's on It's on the crack of what we're allowed to show. I did a lot of weights before the photo like wait. Okay, put the water now.
Do I look like relaxed enough? [laughter] Of course, working with your spouse has its pros and cons. In this next clip, Penelopey shares how she feels about taking romance into the workplace.
I love working with him, but it's not something that we want to do every year or every couple of years. It's once in a while. It's no like this movie we did two years ago but it's coming out now.
And also Asgard Farhadi film that we did we finished in December is coming out now. So it gives the feeling that now we're going to do everything together. You and Penelopey have have performed together.
You have a life on stage and offstage together. Is that hard? It is weird.
It is weird because it's like like for example we were doing this movie called loving Pablo based on the memoirs of the Pablo Escobar lover and journalist Birkhina Vayjo. She was playing Bkin. I was playing love uh I was playing Pablo Escobar and there were a couple of scenes that were very very very dramatic and very hard.
And when we finished to go back to be dad and mom for their for our kids, it was like weird. Well, especially to like a a troubled relationship. Absolutely.
And there was a day where I was actually sleeping on the sofa. She said, "I don't want to see you on your mustache. You you sleep out there because it was I couldn't shave.
I I was playing the part. " Uh so you you can do that and you can enjoy that, but not as long as you don't do it too often. But working together on set also means getting a lot of attention in public.
Javier being the humble man that he is, gives all the credit for that to his wife. The Emmys just last night. Of course, your wife uh beautiful wife Penelpy Cruz is there and they keep and you're with her and they just kept cutting to you throughout the entire Emmy broadcast over and over and over again cuz they're like we've got movie stars and they just kept cutting to you guys.
I mean, if anything, if you just looked at your hand, they were like, "Hi, there's looking at his hand. " Did you know that? Did you know they were cutting to you that much?
No, no, no. Otherwise, they would have paid for a paycheck. I would have asked for a paycheck.
[laughter] I guess he's more related to Penelope by the way she looks than me. But I was lucky to be near her. I got a shot.
Yeah. The only thing cooler than being nominated for an Oscar is you and your wife both being nominated at the same ceremony. Javier Bardam and Penelopey Cruz experienced exactly that in 2022.
You'd still be happy for the other if you didn't get nominated, but it's a big deal that you both got nominated. Absolutely. And my name was the first one because the actor went first.
I was nominated. I was very happy. But I was holding the the celebration until her name was called out or not.
That's And she was like, "Come on, enjoy it. " I said, "I'm not enjoying anything until your name is on. " And then when her name was on, then we celebrate.
Yeah. Yeah. That's amazing.
Not only have they both been nominated, the actors have both won Oscars in the past. So Conan thought it was time to ask Javier Bardm where they keep their awards. You and [snorts] your beautiful wife Penelpy Cruz both have Oscars.
That is uncommon for a couple to have. Where do you guys keep your Oscars? Where do you Where are they in the house?
Do I say the truth? Yes. Say the truth.
Okay. Is in the night table. It's our night lamps.
We have put some light uh bulb. No, you haven't. No.
Yeah. Yeah. And are you being serious?
You put light bulbs on your Oscars. Yeah. we switch them on and we read with them and and we read a lot of books because that's the only way for us to remind us how good we are because [laughter] because the Oscars are there always on and then we re we we receive our people or guests at home like Joe Connor and John Lennon.
Yeah. On the bed reading books so they can see the Oscars. Wait, that's the truth.
Wait, you're saying that if uh Andy and I were to visit you and Penelope, you would invite us into your bed and we would be with you. Yes. With the Oscar lamps on either side.
Yeah. And they will we will all read books together. [laughter] Yeah.
Well, that's how it starts, Javier. Exactly. But it turns out Javier Bardam has a new answer loaded every time he's asked this question.
Javier, how are you? Thank you so much for being here. Okay, so both you and your lovely wife Penelopey Cruz have Oscars.
Where do you keep them? Uh, where do we keep that? In a place that is not so obvious that we can see with the corner of our eye.
So, it's not it's not like they are there. So, and if you miss them, you go there in secret and you hold it and then you go back. [applause] United.
[applause] responsib with us. The laid [applause] them. I would say that's the first movie that I did where I had a very important role to play.
I was 21 and it's the first movie that my actual wife did. He was 16 and that's when we met and it was a very important movie for many reasons because of the movie and what the movie meant for both of us and how helped our careers and also because we met. You've made this film with your beautiful and talented wife Penelopey and you know she she is such a good actor that there's actually a scene I'm told where she had to she's getting this terrible news panic attack.
Yeah. And she has to as an actor she has to have a panic attack in a scene and she actually induced a real panic attack to such a degree that people got worried and called an ambulance. Yes.
And I mean that's an incredible. They were doo doo and then they were hey can I take a picture? Oh no.
Is that true? Say would you mind to have to check the heart rate first? Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But let's do a selfie.
Come on guys. [laughter] Uh really they cared more about the selfie than first establishing she's okay. Yeah.
Well, that's not true. The truth is that they really uh did a great job and she was fine. But it's true that when you are working on an emotional level and you have to create these emotions or these sensations sometimes when they say cut they don't go away.
And she had to do this situation where she have she has this panic attack and it was it was tough on her. Yeah. Of course, when you operate on the level of Javier Bardm, you don't necessarily have time for the more artificial side of Hollywood.
You really don't know most of the some of the celebrities that are Yeah. Like I saw yesterday someone called something like Kard Kardashian or something like that, right? What do you mean?
What do you mean? Yeah. This is You don't know who they're Kardashians are.
I swear. How do you not know who they're Kardashian? First of all, why should I?
Exactly. [cheering] [applause] It's a great thing to be able to share this, but it's not something we can do every every year because I think it would be risky. But unless he calls us, if he calls, we say yes, for sure.
For sure. And I [laughter] don't make every thing. Well, I really don't know what to say.
You've caught me out. It's an honor for me to be sitting next to this gentleman who's produced one of the most Spanish films that a director could make, even more Spanish than a a film made by Spanish director. Like his wife Penelopey, Javier Bardam is also a bilingual actor.
He was once asked about his English in an interview where he went on to give some incredibly insightful thoughts about acting in a foreign language. And I consider myself Madeno from Madrid. Yeah.
And I love Madrid. It's a great city. How did Hayabarm learn English?
I learned English by listening music, by listening AC/DC and trying to understand what they were saying. And of course, I learned how to curse in English and I learned the bad words. And I still love those lyrics.
I guess now it's easier to act in English than it was, let's say, let's say 15 years ago. But still, it's always it's always demanding and it's always hard to let yourself go. I still have to work a lot in order to feel comfortable [music] with the lines.
When I work in Spanish, I can let myself go. At the same time, in a way, I'm less shy in English than in Spanish because I have less attachment to it. So, I can jump off a cliff with the English because I don't have memories in English.
It's not like when you speak your own language on your mother tongue where everything is related to an emotion. She came towards me. She went, "I am so glad that this is you.
" And I was like, I've seen your imitation of me before in that show. [laughter] I know what you do. She goes, I'm so glad it is you.
I'm like, I'm so glad it's you. And as I presented her the BAFTA, I kicked her really hard in the toe. [laughter] No, I don't remember that part.
No, but I promise you next time I see you, I will be able to do your accent and I will imitate you. [applause] When the man That's a woman. [applause] [applause] Amidas [applause] and obviously such a big award season for you.
So much crit critical acclaim. Same for Penelopey. How special is it for you two to be on that journey together?
It is it is unique. I mean the fact that we are celebrating both nominations in the same year it's something that makes it way more special as you can imagine and we just want to enjoy it for what it is. I mean no expectations it's just the fun of it and also celebrate the blessing of being able to do a job that we love and also be recognized.
