That the worldwide stars Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas had by no means spent greater than two minutes collectively on the massive display is a stunning fact.
They’d a quick cameo collectively in Pedro Almodóvar’s “I’m So Excited” (2013), and although they each characteristic in that director’s 2019 movie “Ache and Glory,” their characters inhabited completely different time intervals and thus shared no scenes.
That modified with “Official Competitors,” now in theaters, a biting satire in regards to the movie business and the artistic course of from the Argentine administrators Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn.
Cruz, 48, performs the eccentric and curly-haired auteur Lola Cuevas, whereas Banderas, 61, is Félix Rivero, a vacuous and self-centered actor forged reverse the seemingly modest however dedicated Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez). Because the trio rehearses for Cuevas’s upcoming film, every of their unscrupulous and egotistic motivations rises to the floor.
Collectively through video name from New York, the place they attended the movie’s U.S. premiere on the Tribeca Competition, the Spanish actors mentioned their against-type roles and their ideas on awards. These are edited excerpts from the dialog.
Had there been different initiatives you had deliberate to work on collectively earlier than that didn’t occur due to scheduling or different mishaps?
PENÉLOPE CRUZ: No. That’s the weirdest factor. There had not been issues that we had been each provided and that one among us was in a position to do and the opposite one couldn’t. Pedro [Almodóvar] typically tells us his concepts of issues that he wish to make with us. He teases us mentioning the potential of making a remake of “Marriage Italian Type.” We might like to make that with him, however we by no means know if he’s simply joking or if it’s a doable actuality.
Antonio, between the fame-obsessed Félix and the condescending Iván, who would you favor to be?
BANDERAS: Félix is boastful and frivolous, however he’s additionally good. If I needed to choose being one of many two actors within the movie, I’d nonetheless in all probability select Félix. Iván is sly and pretends to have this purist ideology about artwork, however the second you’re distracted, he may steal your pockets. He’s a harmful character. When Iván pretends to obtain an award in entrance of the mirror, he represents how individuals, within the movie business however much more so in politics, can turn out to be the very factor they criticize.
Have you ever ever encountered anybody that resembles Lola and her techniques in your profession?
BANDERAS: The humanities, and within the movie business specifically, are a subjective world the place there are a whole lot of impostors. It’s straightforward to cover behind the subjectivity of the sector. For instance, within the nice faculties of performing equivalent to Stanislavski’s methodology or Stella Adler, the methods that assist actors carry out come from many years of testing. However there are many swindlers who attempt terribly weird processes and inform you that the reality about performing is behind the teachings they’re promoting. And there are naïve people who purchase it.
Penélope, who had been you channeling or mimicking in your portrayal of the capricious Lola?
CRUZ: I can’t say their names, however I used to be impressed by a couple of individuals, though not all of them from the movie business and never all of them girls. The administrators and I had watched a whole lot of video interviews of those individuals to take notes of the outrageous issues they might say [laughs]. I created a Frankenstein character primarily based on them and what all of us shared on the strangest issues which have occurred to us on set.
How helpful was the eye-catching wig on your transformation?
CRUZ: The wig helped me loads, as a result of when Lola enters a room, she desires to be seen. She at all times believes that what she has to say is extra attention-grabbing than what anyone else has to say. She just isn’t good at listening to others and could be very lonely as a result of her ego devours her. She is unbearable, however it was so enjoyable taking part in her.
In a single scene, Lola tortures her actors by destroying their treasured trophies. What do you are feeling in regards to the significance of awards in relation to that scene?
CRUZ: I had fun with that scene. However since a few of them had been our actual awards, I didn’t need to go loopy and by chance break them for actual, as a result of we’ve labored arduous to get them. They’ve worth, and one ought to be pleased about them.
BANDERAS: But when we give it some thought, the trophy is the materialization of one thing that has already been granted to you. Which means that for those who win an Oscar, you may put it in your nation residence or on the highest of a tree or lose it, however the truth that you got the Oscar will stay on document within the historical past of cinema. Our attachment to the materialization of a second is extraordinary, and what Lola does is probably some of the coherent scenes within the film by saying, “Detach, man! That is symbolic. Even when I destroy this, you’re already the winner of no matter it was.” It’s humorous how a lot we love medals and glossy issues.
CRUZ: I don’t suppose Lola analyzes that manner, Antonio. She destroys her personal awards however on the similar time is able to capturing the whole film once more solely with Félix taking part in each characters. She is aware of precisely what occurred to Iván. However she doesn’t ask questions as a result of she doesn’t need to know the reality. The one factor she cares about is shifting her movie ahead. She’ll proceed caring about awards greater than anything in her life.
Do you retain your awards in a very particular place?
CRUZ: No, simply at residence. However after I had simply gained the Oscar, I took it to the seashore with me for a couple of days.
BANDERAS: So he may get a tan [laughs].
