Javier Bardem has just left a movie theater in Madrid, where he screened his new animated musical movie “Spellbound” for his kids — Leo, 13, and Luna, 11 – and 15 of their friends. “They loved it,” Bardem tells me during a phone conversation. “But they were fed up with me rehearsing at home because I was singing all day long just to make sure that I could more or less get a vowel together. They were like, ‘Stop it, dad! Stop it!” But then when they saw the animation, they were absolutely mesmerized.”
“Spellbound” marks the Oscar winner’s first animated film. Directed by Vicky Jenson with music by Alan Menken, Bardem stars alongside Nicole Kidman and Rachel Zegler. The story follows a teenage princess on a mission to break a curse that has transformed her parents. I won’t spoil the movie, so let’s just say the story tackles heavier issues not usually addressed in children’s movies. “It’s so smart, it’s so powerful the message that it brings,” Bardem says. “It’s about love. It’s about as long as there is love in the family and you prioritize love, any family can work. It’s a movie I wish I could have watched when I was 10 years old.”
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“Spellbound” follows Bardem’s frightening turn in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” as the brothers’ sexually abusive father, José. Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch) are currently serving life prison sentences for the 1989 murder of José and their mother Kitty (Chloë Sevigny).
Bardem said he paid particular attention to Chavez and Koch to make sure they didn’t allow the darkness of the project get the better of them. “At the beginning of the journey, I said, ‘Guys, let’s remind ourselves…and try to remember that we are loved, that we have families that really care for us, are respectful towards us, they love us, and people that we can’t wait to go back to because we love them,”” Bardem recalls. “’And let’s play the game that this story is demanding for us as actors. But let’s not forget that it’s a game. It’s a fiction. I’m not going to, in any way, put anything of myself into this, and I don’t want if I do or say something that you may expect because it’s written, but also some other times it may not be written or addressed on the notes, and it may happen, please don’t take it personal. This is José, Kitty, Erik and Lyle.”
Bardem and his co-stars did not reach out to Erik and Lyle or their family before or during filming. “I didn’t want to,” Bardem says. “First of all, I didn’t know much or more basically anything about the story when [series co-creator] Ryan Murphy talked to me, because it wasn’t that big in Spain. And then once I dig in, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really, really sensitive material. But then I tried to read and search for material where I could see or understand more of him, but there wasn’t any. He was only based on what people were saying about him, especially his children. I knew I had to trust the research Ryan and [co-creator] Ian Brennan did. It was all there in the writing. So I said, ‘I don’t need to talk to anybody.’ And also I was very, very…the word is not scared, but I never felt for a second that I would be able to sit down with the murderers.”
The brothers are currently waiting to hear if newly elected Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman will review their case following ousted George Gascon’s announced in October that he was looking at new evidence that defense attorneys say prove José sexually abused Erik and Lyle over many years. Koch has been advocating for the brothers’ release after visiting them in prison with Kim Kardashian. “It’s so complicated,” Bardem says. “What I do think and what I do feel is that it’s time for them to be listened to again if they are bringing new evidence as they are, as I’ve heard. If that is the case, I think it’s pretty fair to listen to them again and listen with a different set of ears.”
About a week before I talk to Bardem, Denis Villeneuve said in an interview with Deadline that he’s “in the writing zone right now” for “Dune: Messiah,” the third installment in the sci-fi franchise. Bardem played Stilgar in films 1 and 2, but insists he’s not certain he’ll be back. “I know that I’m in the book, so I should be in the script. If I’m not, I will be very angry and I will let him know. I will go to Canada,” Bardem says. “Seriously though, I totally love him. I adore him. Whatever he wants, and whatever he decides, it will be fine for me. Absolutely. He’s one of a kind. He’s an extraordinary human being. Such a loving man, fun, funny as hell, and a real worker.”
Bardem’s son certainly wants to see him in “Dune 3.” “When he saw ‘Dune 2,’ he stood up in the theater and said, ‘That’s my dad,’” Bardem recalls. “But then at the end, he said, ‘But you haven’t had any sword fighting.’ So now I have another demand for Denis Villeneuve. If there is such a thing as ‘Dune: Messiah,’ please give me just a little sword fighting that I can show it to my kid.”
