When beloved thespians take on roles in faceless blockbusters, fans can often get a sinking feeling in their chest, knowing that their talents probably aren’t being put to their best use. However, from an actor’s perspective, a big tentpole movie not only offers financial incentives, but an opportunity to work on a production where an incredibly gifted and huge crew of people are coming together to create something spectacular on a grand scale. And often, that alone is its own reward.
Speaking with The Los Angeles Times, Javier Bardem said as much about his turn in this summer’s “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” as he explained why he signed onto the movie.
“Beyond a good paycheck — which is important to keep doing other kinds of movies — when entering into a movie like this you know you are going to be surrounded by top-notch crew members and cast who expect to create something fantastic,” he said. “And on top of that I knew it was going to be very fun. There are not many opportunities to make a movie that is this fun. They dress you like a pirate, they give you a sword and you come into a genre you’ve adored since you were a kid. It’s great to do something you’ve been enjoying for so long since you were young.”
You know what? If that means it allows Bardem to go off and make something like Darren Aronofsky‘s “mother!,” for example, that’s just fine by us. Speaking of which, he says he can’t say anything of the film, because he has no idea what it’s about. Hmm.
‘Dead Men Tell No Tales’ is now playing everywhere. “mother!” opens on October 13th.