She was the most desirable beauty in Hollywood, followed by a trail of broken male hearts. And now – the most “home” of all actresses. She has known her husband since the age of 17. But they’ve only been together for 7 years. She is an Oscar winner, a world celebrity, but the most important thing for her is her family. She loves steak with blood and fries and rarely talks about personal things. Our interview is that rare case.
She is ready to talk about Pedro Almodovar, her “film father”, her inspiration, her “most bosom, most trusted friend.” But, in fact, that’s all she wants to say about him. She is also ready to talk about director Bigas Luna, with whom she played her first major role at the age of 16, whom she considers the architect of her acting destiny, after whom she and Javier Bardem named their daughter Luna. About the recent death of the director, after which a void formed in her … But that’s all she can say.
“What details can I give here? It’s feelings.” And in the end, from her sincere closeness towards you, I lose my temper. In the hope that the caustic tone of her tone would at least discourage her and such a sweet, well-bred … locked door would open a little. Strange: my hopes were justified.
Psychologies: Listen, Pe (she asks to call herself that – “briefly and in a friendly way”). You have long, multi-part names in Spain. “No details” isn’t your middle name?
Penelope Cruz: I just don’t have a middle name. I have a double surname – Sanchez Cruz. Sanchez is my mother’s last name. I keep her.
Why?
I owe a lot to my mother. As everybody.
Again, no details…
Yes, if I start talking about my mother, then this interview will be only about my mother.
Don’t limit yourself. Speak up. So why do you keep your mother’s last name?
Well, because this is not only my mother’s surname, but also my grandmother’s surname, because my grandmother was the main person in my life until I was seventeen. Because all this Spanishness in me comes from my grandmother – devotion to what you have chosen in life, obsession with a goal, the inability to imagine that you can fail … All this Spanish “duende” – according to Lorca, the Spanish spirit: the will to live, so powerful, so desperate that it can lead to the grave.
And mom is the same. Her obsession was us – me, my brother Eduardo and Monica, my sister. She wanted to be a permanent presence in our lives. She was afraid to be distracted even for a minute. And she did it that way – and still does! – that none of us felt pressure, lack of freedom.
It’s just that we were completely protected, all childhood and teenage hardships … but I don’t remember anything like that, although, of course, they were … The security of her love was so … You know, I did ballet. Serious, classical ballet. At the age of six. Other girls were somehow stimulated to study, and my parents – my mother, and my father too – begged me to slow down. And I did give hope.
And, by the way, this was important for our family – my parents’ income was modest, my mother’s hairdresser did not bring much money, and after all, there were three children … But no – somehow my parents were not at all interested in the possible benefits from my successes. They were only interested in my well-being.
But I was obsessed … Not even with ballet – I would say, self-embodiment, in order to bring what I started to perfection, as I understood it then – as ideal 32 fouettes … That is why I studied ballet for 9 years, graduated from the Madrid Conservatory in the class of classical ballet. Then I studied ballet in New York for a year … But my mother was against all this, because she thought that I would hurt myself …
You know, mothers know better what’s good for the baby.
Even better than an adult child?
No, but it is important for a child to have just such a mother! And so, when people now ask me what the best advice she gave me, I say: she strongly advised me to have a good relationship with my mother. In the sense that without this rear you will not go far, no matter how far you go – even to Hollywood, even to the Antarctic.
And you as a mother, of course, follow the example of your mother?
Everyone has their own path and experience. My mother lived in other conditions – modest incomes, 12-hour work in the salon. Monica and I spent a lot of time there, we came after school, after ballet classes – because mom was not at home, and there was real life in the salon. And my mother’s life. There, in my opinion, I began to try on acting – constantly watching how clients reincarnate, acquiring a new image.
Mom was always a very adult person, she needed to feel like an adult – after all, I was born when she was only 20. And I … I gave birth to Leo, my first child, when I was already 37 and a lot had already happened in my life – ballet, passions, obsession with work, love, success. And it was important for me to remember what it was like to be a child.
When Leo started crawling on the floor, I wanted to see the world, our home, the way children see it. And I sat down all the time – on the floor, on the lawn
You know, when Leo started crawling on the floor – and he was one of those children who crawl into all the cracks – I wanted to see the world, our home, the way children see it. And I sat down all the time – on the floor, on the lawn – to look with childish eyes. I am close to the role that I played in the film “Frantic Basque” by Julio Medem “Ma Ma”, a woman who conquers death in order to be close to her child.
An adult still manages … And I try to help grow up.
Your family, parents, sister, brother mean a lot to you. You work on the design of bags, clothes, underwear with your sister. You made a promotional film in connection with your lingerie collection – and your sister played in it, your brother wrote the music, and your mother assisted on the set. You star in your brother’s videos. In my opinion, the family means more to you than is customary in our civilization in the XNUMXst century …
Oh right! In that sense, I’m old fashioned. For example, I was terribly upset by the divorce of my parents. I was in my thirties when they divorced. It is clear that dad, as he was, and remained for me one of the closest people. And by and large, the life of my parents no longer concerned me. It didn’t even concern Eduardo, my younger brother, who was over twenty.
But for me it was a blow – family ties are falling apart. Almost unbearable. You see, I completely rely on feelings – I understand with my mind that it is unlikely that anything will change for me and the people nearby, but the gap is a trauma for me. In Spain, families generally live. Large family communities. There is even a saying about marriage – that this is the union of not two, but two clans.
And how did these clans meet – yours, which you call proletarian, and the clan of Javier Bardem, a clan of intellectuals and artists? Was there any friction?
It’s funny that you ask. Because I fell in love with Javier’s mother before I fell in love with Javier himself. She is a great actress, Pilar Bardem. She even has a nickname – La Bardem. This means that in our country she is also a social force – a defender of all the weak, a fighter for social justice.
So, I was 18, and I desperately dreamed of playing in a film by Pedro Almodovar. At 17, I played with Bigas Luna in the film Jamon, Jamon, there were erotic scenes, and I became something of a teenage sex symbol in Spain … But I dreamed of a role, albeit a tiny one, with the great Almodovar.
All my life, Javier and I were somewhere nearby, met often, watched each other, of course. And the main thing is that we are together in the end
And then one day I was listening to the music of Morricone from his “Tie Me Up!” for the fiftieth time, and I was called to the phone. They said it was Almodovar calling. I prepared for a prank, but it was his voice! He invited me to audition for a small role. He was then preparing for “Living Flesh”.
My role is the first 8 minutes of the film. Even to the title caption. A young prostitute gives birth to the hero of the film. In 1970, on a bus, during the state of emergency declared by the Franco regime. And the kind mistress of a brothel helps her. She was played by Pilar.
She became a dream come true for me. 8 minutes we are on the screen. I myself am Pilar Bardem. In Almodovar’s film. No, we never had friction.
Listen, how did it happen that you knew Javier from the age of 17 – they starred together in Jamon …, and united only when you were already over 30, right?
Oh, I definitely don’t want to go into details here. All our lives we have been somewhere nearby, we are colleagues, we have achieved a certain fame, we often met, followed each other, of course. And most importantly, we are together in the end.
And Monica, your sister? She is a famous actress in Spain, but you are a Hollywood star. Did it hurt your relationship?
Monica is three years younger, but I feel like my twin. When we were doing collections for Mango and Agent Provocateur… I had the same childhood feeling when we locked ourselves in the bathroom – there was no more privacy in our small apartment – and cut out pictures of different outfits from magazines to apply them to the paper silhouettes of models . And argue about what suits whom!
There can be no envy or rivalry between Monica and me – in some ways we are parts of one whole. The hands of one person do not compete with each other
There can be no envy or rivalry between us – in some ways we are parts of one whole. The hands of one person do not compete with each other. I don’t really believe in rivalry at all. I am sure that everyone takes their place in life, in the profession.
Banality, of course, but everyone has their own way. I believe in common truths. They haven’t let anyone down yet.
But rivalry is a natural part of your profession, and when you came to Hollywood, you had to work your way into a new environment. And there is such an impartial opinion that a romantic relationship with Tom Cruise, the number one star, helped you a lot here …
When I talk about the correctness of common truths, I also talk about this: not everything in life is as simple as it looks. Yes, a three-year partnership with Tom got me noticed. I turned out to be “Oh, the chosen one of Cruise himself!”. But not the fact that it had a positive effect on my career.
Pedro Almodovar then carried out educational work with me – he threatened that I would hang in the category of “pinup beauties”, after which I would naturally disappear. And it’s true – because I became “the one that Cruz chose,” it limited me, locked me in the one-dimensional role of the hero’s romantic interest. But now…
Now I think we are all one of many.
And I do not believe in any uniqueness. Except in one situation – everyone has only one mother. Now I want to be the only one for Leo and Luna.
Queen move
The plot of Fernando Trueba’s tape is based on shooting in Spain in the late 50s, under Franco, an American film about Isabella of Castile, the queen-lover, the queen-adventurer. The main role in it should be played by a Hollywood star of Spanish origin. Here’s a rhyme for you: Cruz plays an actress who came from America to play the role of Isabella. That is, everything, consider as in life. And even more – “Queen of Spain” continues the story that Trueba began 20 years ago with the film “The Girl of Your Dreams”, when Cruz had not yet dreamed of Hollywood success. However, she says that she never dreamed of him. And yet she became a queen – whatever you mean by this word.
“Queen of Spain” at the box office from March 9th.